A Quick Dempsey Story

[APerno]

.

Back in the late seventies, in New York City, the taxi cabs did not yet have auto-locks on them, and it was a common sting for teenage gang-members to spot a taxi caught in traffic and jump the passenger in the back seat – they would swing open both back doors and jump the passenger from both sides – one would grab the passenger while the other would rip at his clothes until he found the wallet, and then they would make their escape.

One day a couple of thugs saw such an opportunity, and old man just sitting waiting to be robbed – they jumped the car – but the old man turned out to be a seventy-something year old Jack Dempsey.

When the first kid reached for him, Dempsey nailed the kid with a right hand, knocking the kid on his butt, then Dempsey turned and nailed the other kid with his left. Dempsey jumped from the car, grabbed the one kid by the collar and threw him up onto the hood of the taxi and held him there until the police arrived.

It must have been a funny scene in the lock-up that night when the gang banger had to explain to his compatriots that he got his butt kicked by a seventy-something year old man.

[Kalan]

About 20 years ago I was at a policeman's ballroom dance. 2 retired cops started yelling and threatening each other. It turned out they were 85 and 83. One said "you want to take this outside?" the other said "I'll beat your brains in."

They went out to the parking lot and a bunch of us followed. We made most of the women stay inside but a few of them forced their way out. Somebody warned "you guys are going to have a heart attack" and one of the combatants said "He might. I won't." the other yelled "BULLSHlT' Get your dukes up MFer."

They tore into each other like a couple of teenagers. Both got some great shots in. We shouted encouragement. "GOOD SHOT!! GET HIM!! YOU GOT HIM." They wound up on the ground rolling around and punching each other. They bounced back to their feet and kept swinging. It's the adrenaline. They were pumped. Finally they punched themselves out and it slowed down to a crawl. Somebody stepped in and said "You guys are all beat up and your clothes are wrecked. Let's call this a draw. I hope Medicare takes care of your doctor bills." They started laughing, shook hands, and went back inside. They were heroes for the rest of the night. I've seen about 50 street fights, but always between young guys. That was the only serious fist fight between old men.

[Controversial]

https://youtu.be/zW_wHYd7hP4

Here is the old dude

http://boxrec.com/boxer/23414

[BroughtonRulesRefuge]

- The story I always heard was Dempsey stepped out of the cab when they tried to mug him in front of his restaurant after attending Ali-Frazier FOY. I'd imagine he was expecting big business after that fight, so he stood over their flattened carcasses and instructed the cabbie to go inside and call the police and send out some reinforcements. In context as Arthur Mercante put it in his autobio-

""Mercante noted...New York City has been called the city that never sleeps. It was never more so that night. Celebrations and talk of the fight echoed throughout Manhattan. Two spectators in the Garden had actually suffered fatal heart attacks from the excitement. On his way back from the fight, Jack Dempsey, seventy-six years old, knocked out two muggers outside his restaurant on Broadway. Clenching his big-knuckled right fist he told me later: "I can't go long, Arthur, but I can still punch a little.""

[Caractacus]

""Mercante noted...New York City has been called the city that never sleeps. It was never more so that night. Celebrations and talk of the fight echoed throughout Manhattan. Two spectators in the Garden had actually suffered fatal heart attacks from the excitement. On his way back from the fight, Jack Dempsey, seventy-six years old, knocked out two muggers outside his restaurant on Broadway. Clenching his big-knuckled right fist he told me later: "I can't go long, Arthur, but I can still punch a little.""

yeah, thats how even the average American man use to talk as recent as 40 years ago.
BTW
There was a good thread here once (since vanished)
about that and about other boxers who were mugged.
Jimmy Wilde aka The Ghost with the Hammer in his hand was one of the sadder stories.

[Caractacus]

or maybe it was over at the cyberboxing zone.
some joker there claimed it was a publicity stunt.
but obviously it wasnt.
It happened shortly after they moved the location of Madison Square Garden if I remember correctly,
and buisness was falling off,and the riff raff from Times Square increased.

[APerno]

Here is yet another version of the story -

In 1973, Jack Dempsey, at 78 years old, was leaving his famous Jack Dempsey’s Broadway Restaurant, in Manhattan, to go home, when a mugger hurried into his cab after him. Before he could demand money, Dempsey turned around, socked his left hook across the man’s chin, and knocked him sprawling out of the car, out cold in the gutter. Dempsey closed the door and the cab drove off.

This one doesn't include Dempsey calling in the police. Guess there are more than a few going around

Never trust the Internet !

[Kalan]

A few fighters I knew got mugged... Mostly guys who weren't too bright... It's better than getting shot to death -- and that happened to a few boxers I knew as well... Leon Spinks was robbed of 45,000 dollars after being knocked out cold...

http://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/16/sport ... obbed.html

[Caractacus]

A few fighters I knew got mugged... Mostly guys who weren't too bright... It's better than getting shot to death -- and that happened to a few boxers I knew as well... Leon Spinks was robbed of 45,000 dollars after being knocked out cold...

http://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/16/sport ... obbed.html

so where was "Mr. T" when he was needed then ?
(perhaps he wasnt hired yet ?)

[Caractacus]

From 1990 (at age 73 y)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gYIeeN78dA

[Kalan]

If you were ever a top professional boxer you can still hit... You don't have a lot of strength or speed in your 70's or 80's... You don't need much to blast a novice on the chin. Driving right hand straight in probably won't connect well, but the chin comes up so the left hook should flatten 95% of antagonists.

But pro boxers do get beaten in street fights... Duilio Loi sure did when he squared off with an angry motorist after they gave each other the salute.

Sandy Ferguson sure did when he started throwing dishes in a restaurant.. The owner could take a hard wallop and throw hard himself. He flattened Fergie

[Caractacus]

was that when Duilio Loi had Alzeimer's Disease tho ?
My guess would be the punch that Billy Conn used was probably a left (his best punch),
since he didnt remember,it probably done out of reflexive action.

[Caractacus]

Here is yet another version of the story -

In 1973, Jack Dempsey, at 78 years old, was leaving his famous Jack Dempsey’s Broadway Restaurant, in Manhattan, to go home, when a mugger hurried into his cab after him. Before he could demand money, Dempsey turned around, socked his left hook across the man’s chin, and knocked him sprawling out of the car, out cold in the gutter. Dempsey closed the door and the cab drove off.

This one doesn't include Dempsey calling in the police. Guess there are more than a few going around

Never trust the Internet !

I wouldn't be surprised if some goons tried to mug him more then once.
His resturant used to be near the old Madison Garden/Times Square area in NYC if I remember.
Then they moved Madison Garden.
Times Square started going down-hill in the 1930's
then really started getting dangerous after WWII.
If you want to get a feel like it was like back in the 1970's,
watch the film TAXI DRIVER.

[APerno]

Here is yet another version of the story -

In 1973, Jack Dempsey, at 78 years old, was leaving his famous Jack Dempsey’s Broadway Restaurant, in Manhattan, to go home, when a mugger hurried into his cab after him. Before he could demand money, Dempsey turned around, socked his left hook across the man’s chin, and knocked him sprawling out of the car, out cold in the gutter. Dempsey closed the door and the cab drove off.

This one doesn't include Dempsey calling in the police. Guess there are more than a few going around

Never trust the Internet !

I wouldn't be surprised if some goons tried to mug him more then once.
His resturant used to be near the old Madison Garden/Times Square area in NYC if I remember.
Then they moved Madison Garden.
Times Square started going down-hill in the 1930's
then really started getting dangerous after WWII.
If you want to get a feel like it was like back in the 1970's,
watch the film TAXI DRIVER.

Oh yea, Times Square in the '70s; I was a teenager then, it was the place to go, to do wrong.

[Kalan]

was that when Duilio Loi had Alzeimer's Disease tho ?
My guess would be the punch that Billy Conn used was probably a left (his best punch),
since he didnt remember,it probably done out of reflexive action.

That happened when Duilio Loi was World Champion.. Loi told reporters.. "He was a very fast puncher.. He really beat me up" It made all the papers because a World Champion Boxer got his ass kicked in a street fight by a guy who didn't know him from Adam... When reporters finally caught up with the antagonist a few days later, he didn't believe them at first. "You gotta be kidding me?? I never would have fought him if I knew who he was. He seemed really quick and wiry. It took me a lot of punches to get him. He hit me pretty good too, see this? But I got him with a really hard one and finished him." The story was in the LA times.. Loi was a friend of famed body builder Franco Columbu, who was an undefeated amateur boxer before he switched sports.

[Caractacus]

Here is yet another version of the story -

In 1973, Jack Dempsey, at 78 years old, was leaving his famous Jack Dempsey’s Broadway Restaurant, in Manhattan, to go home, when a mugger hurried into his cab after him. Before he could demand money, Dempsey turned around, socked his left hook across the man’s chin, and knocked him sprawling out of the car, out cold in the gutter. Dempsey closed the door and the cab drove off.

This one doesn't include Dempsey calling in the police. Guess there are more than a few going around

Never trust the Internet !

I wouldn't be surprised if some goons tried to mug him more then once.
His resturant used to be near the old Madison Garden/Times Square area in NYC if I remember.
Then they moved Madison Garden.
Times Square started going down-hill in the 1930's
then really started getting dangerous after WWII.
If you want to get a feel like it was like back in the 1970's,
watch the film TAXI DRIVER.

Oh yea, Times Square in the '70s; I was a teenager then, it was the place to go, to do wrong.

or just to watch people do wrong.
You remember the Pink Pussycat ?
and all those movie theaters on 42nd street that played all types of movies movies 24-7 and they didnt throw you out after a movie ended.
especially with the hot and cold running rats.
are they still there ?

[APerno]

I wouldn't be surprised if some goons tried to mug him more then once.
His resturant used to be near the old Madison Garden/Times Square area in NYC if I remember.
Then they moved Madison Garden.
Times Square started going down-hill in the 1930's
then really started getting dangerous after WWII.
If you want to get a feel like it was like back in the 1970's,
watch the film TAXI DRIVER.

Oh yea, Times Square in the '70s; I was a teenager then, it was the place to go, to do wrong.

or just to watch people do wrong.
You remember the Pink Pussycat ?
and all those movie theaters on 42nd street that played all types of movies movies 24-7 and they didnt throw you out after a movie ended.
especially with the hot and cold running rats.
are they still there ?

Sorry I have been down in Florida since '77 - but Times Square is dramatically different today; it was revitalized in the 1980s and is mostly upscale today, but I do remember the things you mentioned - The peep shows cost 25 cents for one minute on 42nd Street, but 50 cents if you went over to 5th Ave with the business types - I hear from old friends that there is no porn left on 42nd Street - I use to love siting in the upper(second) balcony in the movie theaters, rats and all. I doubt there is a single movie theater left in America, with two balconies. In Manhattan you have no choice but to build UP!

[Chuck1052]

During the summer of 1971 and right after graduating from high school, I made my only trip to New York City with Manhattan being the only borough that I visited. Keep in mind that I was living in Ventura, California at the time. During the early 1970s, Los Angeles and other large American cities in the West generally were fairly new, thus having far less blight than cities in the rest of the country. I didn't take all of that into account at the time. As a result, I was shocked to find that the storied New York City was a virtual "dump" during my only visit there.

- Chuck Johnston

[Caractacus]

[Controversial]

.

What happened to APerno?

[Caractacus]

his last post here was just over a year ago
( July 22 2020 )
around the height of the covid lockdown
.

[goose 5]

A good friend of mine sat next to Dempsey on a flight in the late 50's; he told me he was shocked by the size of Dempsey's hand when he shook it because it was ordinary and not huge like it was often described by sportswriters.

[Caractacus]

A good friend of mine sat next to Dempsey on a flight in the late 50's; he told me he was shocked by the size of Dempsey's hand when he shook it because it was ordinary and not huge like it was often described by sportswriters.

could have been just some dude who just looked a lot like Dempsey and used that as an excuse to get free drinks and chicks too
whenever they went to a night club.
Because every one who I've read about who actually met him said that they couldnt help but notice that Jack Dempsey had huge hands.

[bjornborgbook]

A few fighters I knew got mugged... Mostly guys who weren't too bright... It's better than getting shot to death -- and that happened to a few boxers I knew as well... Leon Spinks was robbed of 45,000 dollars after being knocked out cold...

http://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/16/sport ... obbed.html

Nobody carries that much cash in their pockets. He probably lost $400.

[Caractacus]

shheeyaat, Don King probably just gave it (the 45K)o Leon Spinks earlier in cash in a duffle bag to
have him sign a long term contract.
and Some "Ho" got wind of it (and maybe also working for kING TOO ?)