BoxRec

I have noticed on Dempseys record that he had a lot of inactivity while being the HW champion. 14 months before his first defence, only defending the title once in 1921 & 1922 then 12 months later he defended in 1923 made another defence 2 months after but then didn't fight for another 3 years. What were the reasons for this? Also was there any public outcry for him to be stripped or just any public outcry at all?

p4p1 wrote:I have noticed on Dempseys record that he had a lot of inactivity while being the HW champion. 14 months before his first defence, only defending the title once in 1921 & 1922 then 12 months later he defended in 1923 made another defence 2 months after but then didn't fight for another 3 years. What were the reasons for this? Also was there any public outcry for him to be stripped or just any public outcry at all?

Basically he had made a lot of money in his title win and defenses and was too busy living it up to give a damn about defending his title.

Back then a champion was not expected to defend his title frequently. Most of his predecessors did not defend the title even once a year.

..joe louis was the fighter who defended his title soon after he won it, and defended more often than those in he past. ezzard charles defended his title in the shortest time after winning it, if you count him as winning the title in the first walcott fight which everyone but mike fleischer did.he also defended it often. just check the records of louis and charles. when walcott won the title from ezzard, jersey joe froze it for a year.

p4p1 wrote:I have noticed on Dempseys record that he had a lot of inactivity while being the HW champion. 14 months before his first defence, only defending the title once in 1921 & 1922 then 12 months later he defended in 1923 made another defence 2 months after but then didn't fight for another 3 years. What were the reasons for this?

Basically Jack was living the high life, mingling with all the Hollywood stars of the time. He was quite the celebrity of his time, I believe that he even fancied himself as a Hollywood star because he's been in a few films, as can be seen here:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0218727/?ref_=tt_cl_t4
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0218727/bio

p4p1 wrote:Also was there any public outcry for him to be stripped or just any public outcry at all?

I know there was a lot of controversy surrounding "the long count" fight with Tunney... And there still is as a matter of fact.

But no, the boxing public recognised Dempsey as the number one man of his weight division... When Dempsey fought Firpo, he was expected to steamroller him... People didn't give Firpo the credit that he was due, but Jack knocked him out anyway.

#1- Whenever Dempsey did defend the title he made so much money (more than anyone else prior to him regardless who the opponent was) that he could relax for long periods of time. Why be active when you're making $250,000 in the Depression per fight?

#2- When he wasn't defending the title he was making between $1,000-5,000 a week doing exhibition matches and tours in jerkwater tank towns. That was very hard to walk away from.

#3- The movies were calling, as Dempsey did well over a dozen serials and films while as champion. Each of these productions made Dempsey tens of thousands of dollars. Again, that was very hard to walk away from.

#4- If it wasnt exhibitions or films he was cashing in on, it was public appearances and vaudeville types tours, like his predecessors had done in the past. Again he was making tens of thousands of dollars off of this, and again it was very difficult to walk away from all this easy money.

Was there public outcry for this man to get back into the ring and fight again? Sure there was, but the majority of the outcry wasn't because people felt Dempsey was ducking or dodging anyone, but the mere fact they wanted to see this man more. Whether he was loved or hated, people couldn't get enough of seeing Dempsey. He was every bit as famous in many respects as John L. Sullivan and Muhammad Ali were. He was easily the most recognised athlete in the world. Sure, we bring up that he didnt fight Harry Wills, Sam Langford, etc. and sure there was some outcry in those days over that, but it was easily forgiven of Dempsey because he was such huge business. After all, his fights with Carpentier and Firpo (two soft touch opponents) made him into a superstar. The public didnt care who he fought as long as he was in the news or near to their home towns.

For a heavyweight champion of his time, Jack Dempsey was fairly active for the first two years of his reign, making three title defenses during that time. Things changed dramatically after his bout with Georges Carpentier, which resulted in the first million-dollar gate in boxing history. For the bout, Dempsey received a guaranteed purse of $300,000., which dwarfed all of his previous purses. Despite the fact that Dempsey received such a huge purse, it was thought that his manager, Jack Kearns, made a big mistake by not having his charge fighting for a percentage of the gate in addition to getting a guarantee, which would have resulted a far bigger purse than $300,000. In short, Dempsey's price went up dramatically afterwards, which meant that only huge bouts were viable enough to get him into the ring again.

- Chuck Johnston

There was a lot of outcry for Dempsey to defend. In 1921 or 1922 the New York State Athletic Commission (which basically led boxing and was trying to consolidate its control) issued a rule, the first of its kind, that champions in all divisions would be forced to defend their championships at least once a year against their top contender. This was aimed primarily at Dempsey but also at champions such as Johnny Kilbane and Johnny Wilson who had fallen out of favor with the commission. Georges Carpentier was basically outside of their control so they ignored him and focused on the synthetic "light heavyweight championship of america" which had never existed prior to Tunney-Levinsky and would cease to exist when Tunney moved up to heavyweight. The press and public made regular jabs at Dempsey particularly during the period from 1923 to 1926 with some calling for him to formally relinquish the title if he had no intention of defending it. By 1925 the situation had come to a head and much of the NYSAC commissions time that year was spent trying to force Dempsey into activity. Particularly against Harry Wills.

Dempsey's significant periods inactivity as champion:

July 4, 1919 to September 6, 1920 1 yr two months

July 2, 1921 to July 4, 1923 2 yrs (his bout with Jimmy Darcy was not a defense. I dont know why people keep saying that. It was an exhibition. Darcy was Dempsey's stablemate, sparring partner, and a middleweight to boot. The fight was advertised as an exhibition and the fighters wore big gloves. One or two Buffalo papers the following day reported that it had been a title defense tongue in cheek because of a largely ignored rule in New York that stated exhibitions were not allowed. This is ridiculous though as exhibitions were fought numerous times in New York and in fact within a short time Dempsey fought another exhibition over in Syracuse against Jimmy Darcy which I have photos of. Both are in training gear and wearing big gloves "pillows." That bout should NOT be considered legitimate. Some people just want to be able to say they found an undiscovered Dempsey championship, whatever.

September 14, 1923 to September 23, 1926 3 years.

When you consider that Dempsey was champion for seven years thats pretty significant. A year stretch is forgivable, particularly in the context of the day. But two years is pushing it and three is really bad.

I agree. The first four years were not bad considering the era. However, 3 years was way too long. I don't consider the Darcy fights as a title defense either.