Jack Dempsey vs. Fred Fulton

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Fred Fulton and Jack Dempsey shake hands before their fight

Jack Dempsey 188 lbs beat Fred Fulton 208 lbs by KO at 0:23 in round 1 of 8

  • Date: 1918-07-27
  • Location: Federal League Baseball Park, Harrison, New Jersey, USA
  • Referee: Johnny Eckhardt

Notes

  • Fulton was scheduled to fight World Heavyweight Champion Jess Willard on July 4, 1918, but the fight was canceled because promoter Col. J.C. Miller said public sentiment was opposed to a world heavyweight championship fight taking place during World War I.
  • Fulton was a 2 to 1 favorite over Dempsey.
  • Fulton's purse was $12,500 and Dempsey's was $5,000.
  • Fulton's manager, Mike Collins, examined Dempsey's hands in the ring prior to the fight and complained about the tire tape bandages he was wearing. Dempsey told his manager, Jack Kearns, "Go over and give Fulton all the tape he cares to wear, and tell him he'll need it."
  • Contemporary newspaper reports state that Fulton was knocked out 23 seconds into the first round, but it was later reported that the fight lasted only 18 seconds. It was an article by famed sportswriter and cartoonist Bob Edgren that started the confusion over the time of the knockout. He claimed, according to his own stopwatch at ringside, that Fulton hit the canvas 18⅗ seconds into the fight and was out cold. Then came the ref's count, which Edgren claimed was unnecessary. In the same article, Edgren predicted that Dempsey would destroy Jess Willard if they ever met.
  • On February 1, 1919, Fulton claimed that he and Dempsey had agreed to box an eight-round exhibition and Dempsey had "double crossed" him. Dempsey denied the charge and said, "I think Fulton is a bum sport, and the next time I see him I'll knock him out again."


New York Times, July 28, 1918:
"Jack Dempsey of California punched his way to pugilistic fame at the Federal League Baseball Park, in Harrison, yesterday afternoon, when he knocked out Fred Fulton of Minnesota, claimant for the heavyweight title, with a terrific right swing to the jaw when the fight was but twenty-three seconds old. The finish came as a sensational surprise to the crowd, for it really was a one-punch fight."

Washington Post, July 28, 1918:
"It took Jack Dempsey, until a few months ago an unheard of boxer, only 23 seconds this evening to take his place at the top of the pugilistic ladder as the man most likely to gain the heavyweight championship of the world. He achieved this by knocking out Fred Fulton in the first round of their scheduled eight-round battle here with a right to the jaw. Fulton, looked on as the most formidable rival of Jess Willard, was relegated to the pugilistic scrapheap by the punch."

Nat Fleischer, Jack Dempsey: the Idol of Fistiana, 1929:
"It was at the old Federal League Ball Park of Harrison, N.J., that 10,000 spectators saw Dempsey land the haymaker on the man who was being primed by Tex Rickard for a shot at Jess Willard. They saw the Minnesota plasterer knocked out in eighteen and three-fifths seconds. A left hook to the stomach, followed by a right to the jaw, sent Fulton careening through the ropes on his hands and knees. He was knocked out clean as could be, and after Johnny Eckhardt, the referee, had finished the count of ten, he still was lying sprawled out on the canvas. Fulton never landed a punch on Dempsey, and it was really the first blow that Dempsey sent across that told the tale."

External Links

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