BoxRec

someone is telling me that dempsey really wasn't popular in the 1920s - that he drew a lot of fans to his matches because they wanted to see him get killed - i thought otherwise but i'm no expert - what do you say?

thanks

The press for a while portrayed Dempsey as a "slacker" a guy who refused military service. There was/is a picture of Dempsey working in a shipyard during ww1 that was posed as he was wearing a pair of expensive dress shoes with his work clothes on. He caught a helluva lot of grief for this.It helped sell the Carpentier fight in that Dempsey was portrayed as a draft -dodger and Carpentier was portrayed as a hero.I think Dempseys unpopularity wore off shortly after this,and he subsequently became adored. After his career was over he joined The Coast Guard and saw action in WW2.The press said he was a hero. Later on Dempsey said "They called me a hero in WW2 and a slacker in WW1. They were wrong both times.

Dempsey did not really become a big fan favorite until he lost to Tunney. With one quote it seems that he became an instant icon. After he arrived home, or at his hotel room following the fight his wife at the time, who was Estelle Taylor asked, "What happened Ginsberg?" Dempsey's reply, "Honey, I just forgot to duck." And with those words it seems that he became instantly beloved around the country. "Ginsberg" was Taylor's pet name for Dempsey though I don't recall why she started calling him it!

Before that his reputation was really damaged when he was portrayed as a "draft-dodging slacker" and a photo taken of Dempsey in the iron yards in I think PA. showed Dempsey like he was working in the yard, yet the photo also showed his very, very nice dress shoes that he was wearing and the press jumped all over that. It's pretty bad when your own country favors a European fighter and actually wants him to win, but that was what happened when Dempsey fought Carpentier and it stuck for a while, until he was beaten by Tunney.

..dempsey was a great draw because he was such an exciting fighter...but as barry points out it was after the tunney losses that he actually became well liked. i say "losses" because the second fight really gave him a popular following because many thought he was robbed because of the controversial "long count.' the fact that tunney was aloof and considered a snob because he built a reputation as some kind of intellectual (in the boxing world this meant he could read) only made demsoey moreso.

if you've ever seen the notorious "patent leather shoes" photo you've seen one of the dumbest publicity stunts of the 20th century.