Jack Dempsey vs Fred Fulton. On the level?

[Dr. Z]

A young Jack Dempsey blasted his way to serious world heavyweight title contention at the Federal League Baseball Park, in Harrison, New Jersey in 1918, when he knocked out highly regarded 'Rochester Plasterer' Fred Fulton of Minnesota, with a right hand in just twenty-three seconds.

Southpaw Fulton, who was being primed by Tex Rickard for a shot at Jess Willard, was knocked out clean, 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.

The Washington Post reported: "It took 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 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."

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."


>>> Why is there so much controversy around Dempsey biggest fights?

[Ivich]

A young Jack Dempsey blasted his way to serious world heavyweight title contention at the Federal League Baseball Park, in Harrison, New Jersey in 1918, when he knocked out highly regarded 'Rochester Plasterer' Fred Fulton of Minnesota, with a right hand in just twenty-three seconds.

Southpaw Fulton, who was being primed by Tex Rickard for a shot at Jess Willard, was knocked out clean, 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.

The Washington Post reported: "It took 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 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."

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."


>>> Why is there so much controversy around Dempsey biggest fights?

Oh ,it's Dempsey's turn in the barrel is it? Dempsey was far from an unheard of boxer he was coming of a 5 ko victories 4 in the first round the other in2 rounds.The fight was recognized as a title shot eliminator for a chance at champion Willard.
Willard and Fulton actually met and signed contracts to fight onJuly 4th 1918 both men putting up a $1000 forfeit.there is a photo of the signing in Vol 1 of Pollack's Dempsey book.

Its speculated that Willard had chosen Fulton because he hadn't impressed against Tom Cowler and was thought to be the less dangerous opponent.

The fight eventually fell through because of public feeling that no heavyweight title fight with big sums for the participants should occur whilst the US was at war..
When the Dempsey v Fulton fight was assured both men went into intensive training ,Dempsey was brutal on sparring partners Battling Jim Johnson and ClayTurner, knocking them down repeatedly.
Jim Johnson stated," I would rather fight any man in the world than box Dempsey just for fun."

Fulton scaling a hard 208lbs was also impressive sparring with Jamaica Kid.


Fulton ,20lbs the heavier man was the 10/7 favourite .

This was no exhibition, it was the final eliminator for a title shot with Willard!
Again, nothing to see here, just more BS from the chief BS slinger.

[Dr. Z]

Oh ,it's Dempsey's turn in the barrel is it? Dempsey was far from an unheard of boxer he was coming of a 5 ko victories 4 in the first round the other in2 rounds.The fight was recognized as a title shot eliminator for a chance at champion Willard.
Willard and Fulton actually met and signed contracts to fight onJuly 4th 1918 both men putting up a $1000 forfeit.there is a photo of the signing in Vol 1 of Pollack's Dempsey book.

Its speculated that Willard had chosen Fulton because he hadn't impressed against Tom Cowler and was thought to be the less dangerous opponent.

The fight eventually feel through because of public feeling that no heavyweight title fight with big sums for the participants should occur whilst the US was at war..
When the Dempsey v Fulton fight assured both men went into intensive training ,Dempsey was brutal on sparring partners Battling Jim Johnson and ClayTurner, knocking them down repeatedly.
Jim Johnson stated," I would rather fight any man in the world than box Dempsey just for fun."

Fulton scaling a hard 208lbs was also impressive sparring with Jamaica Kid.


Fulton ,20lbs the heavier man was the 10/7 favourite .

This was no exhibition, it was the final eliminator for a title shot with Willard!
Again, nothing to see here, just more BS from the chief BS slinger.

Just 8 rounds for a title elimination? I never heard of such a thing. Stop it, or provide an example for once!

Fulton was a 6'6" string bean like opponent at 208. And he had a glass jaw...if this one was on the level. Fulton says it was not.

Fulton was a 2 to 1 favorite over Dempsey. Stop you lying.

• Fulton was a 2 to 1 favorite over Dempsey.

[Willow The Wisp]

Adam Pollack and Ivich are correct, and indeed, Fulton was a "bum sport" about being denied a certain title shot.

No controversy.
Dempsey at his finest.

While we can all agree that writing fiction is a blast, corruption of history ranks only a spot or two above purse snatching & grave robbing on the grand list of human perversions.

Sorry Doc. Nice composition though.

[Dr. Z]

Adam Pollack and Ivich are correct, and indeed, Fulton was a "bum sport" about being denied a certain title shot.

No controversy.
Dempsey at his finest.

While we can all agree that writing fiction is a blast, corruption of history ranks only a spot or two above purse snatching & grave robbing on the grand list of human perversions.

Sorry Doc. Nice composition though.

Well, that is Adam's opinion who think is banned here, so why talk about him? I did not realize the match was scheduled for only 8 rounds ( unlike any other title elimination match ), or the abrupt ending to it where Fulton says is was supposed to exhibition match did you?

Smoke hovers over Dempsey's career.

. Was the Fulton match supposed to be and exhibition match, and did Dempsey double cross him as Fulton says he did? Why make excuses just because of a defeat?

• Was the Flynn KO loss in also one round a fix? Did Dempsey take a dive as some of his fans suggest?
• Was Dempsey who was knocked out of the ring by Fripo and helped back into the ring by bystanders ( He was and according to the rules , at the least should have been DQ'd ) and maybe out of the ring for 20 seconds, ( which is the definition of a KO ). It's is impossible to know as the film is severely edited . Why is this so? The film editing makes Dempsey jumps several frames! The action is cut and starts with the fighter at new positions when Dempsey is out of the ring. Why? Dempsey says he has no memory of the fight by the way, and said the right after the fight ended.
• Did Dempsey load his gloves vs Willard? Willard says no man could do this so quickly and did you know that Willard found a bolt of metal in the ring and kept it for the rest of his life. Some say you can see metal failing out of Dempsey glove, but I see none on the film I've seen. I agree that Dempsey glove was searched before the fight, but that does not men some gave a bolt of metal to Dempsey in the right before the fight started and it was hidden from view. Why did Dempsey bet on a 1st round KO, and run out of the ring in his moment of wining the heavyweight championship ( to hide the evidence ?) I find the bet of a first round KO and the fleeing of Dempsey who had just won or so he thinks the heavyweight championship of the world no less to be very suspect to say the least!
• What about the Sharkey fight which at the very least should be a NO contest and would be ruled so today. Dempsey hits Sharkey low. Sharkey was winning the fight and the KO happens when Sharkey turns his head to complain of the low blows to the referee WTF. This get Dempsey a shot vs. Tunney.
• And speaking of that fight Tunney won 18 or 19 of 20 rounds and would have likely KO'd Dempsey had they been 15 round fights instead of the 10 round matches. Dempsey asked where Tunney was to shake his hand in defeat. He was beaten with his eyes shut. By the way IMO Tunney was alert at the count if four and IMO would have been fine with his legs after 10 seconds but Dempsey with no one to blame but himself as he did not obey the neutral corner rule! As it was Tunney was fine with the " long count "

You be the judge of all of this. You are welcome for this " new " information of a fight that took place over 100 years ago by the way!

[Ivich]

Well, that is Adam's opinion who think is banned here, so why talk about him? I did not realize the match was scheduled for only 8 rounds ( unlike any other title elimination match ), or the abrupt ending to it where Fulton says is was supposed to exhibition match did you?

Smoke hovers over Dempsey's career.

. Was the Fulton match supposed to be and exhibition match, and did Dempsey double cross him as Fulton says he did? Why make excuses just because of a defeat?

• Was the Flynn KO loss in also one round a fix? Did Dempsey take a dive as some of his fans suggest?
• Was Dempsey who was knocked out of the ring by Fripo and helped back into the ring by bystanders ( He was and according to the rules , at the least should have been DQ'd ) and maybe out of the ring for 20 seconds, ( which is the definition of a KO ). It's is impossible to know as the film is severely edited . Why is this so? The film editing makes Dempsey jumps several frames! The action is cut and starts with the fighter at new positions when Dempsey is out of the ring. Why? Dempsey says he has no memory of the fight by the way, and said the right after the fight ended.
• Did Dempsey load his gloves vs Willard? Willard says no man could do this so quickly and did you know that Willard found a bolt of metal in the ring and kept it for the rest of his life. Some say you can see metal failing out of Dempsey glove, but I see none on the film I've seen. I agree that Dempsey glove was searched before the fight, but that does not men some gave a bolt of metal to Dempsey in the right before the fight started and it was hidden from view. Why did Dempsey bet on a 1st round KO, and run out of the ring in his moment of wining the heavyweight championship ( to hide the evidence ?) I find the bet of a first round KO and the fleeing of Dempsey who had just won or so he thinks the heavyweight championship of the world no less to be very suspect to say the least!
• What about the Sharkey fight which at the very least should be a NO contest and would be ruled so today. Dempsey hits Sharkey low. Sharkey was winning the fight and the KO happens when Sharkey turns his head to complain of the low blows to the referee WTF. This get Dempsey a shot vs. Tunney.
• And speaking of that fight Tunney won 18 or 19 of 20 rounds and would have likely KO'd Dempsey had they been 15 round fights instead of the 10 round matches. Dempsey asked where Tunney was to shake his hand in defeat. He was beaten with his eyes shut. By the way IMO Tunney was alert at the count if four and IMO would have been fine with his legs after 10 seconds but Dempsey with no one to blame but himself as he did not obey the neutral corner rule! As it was Tunney was fine with the " long count "

You be the judge of all of this. You are welcome for this " new " information of a fight that took place over 100 years ago by the way!

Why mention Adam Pollack? Well perhaps because he has written a two volume, highly acclaimed biography of Dempsey?

Dempsey and Fulton both had full camps for their fight and a team of sparring partners to hone them into condition.
Ever heard of fighters doing this for an exhibition?
They were considered the number 1 contender Fulton,and the number 2 Dempsey to Willard and everything was riding on their match as it was considered a final eliminator for a title shot at the champ.

They shared a $25,000 purse Dempsey getting$12,500 for his 18 seconds of work.
Again ever heard of fighters getting this amount for an exhibition in1918?

Now you can carry on character assassinating, Dempsey and smearing him, as you have in the past done to Jack Johnson , Joe Louis,and more recently Lennox Lewis .It is winning you no friends ,and God knows you could do with some!

Nobody takes your unintelligible ,half illiterate ,negative slurs of great fighters seriously ,you just expose yourself for what you are.

No need to spell that out either, its patently obvious!

[Ivich]

Adam Pollack and Ivich are correct, and indeed, Fulton was a "bum sport" about being denied a certain title shot.

No controversy.
Dempsey at his finest.

While we can all agree that writing fiction is a blast, corruption of history ranks only a spot or two above purse snatching & grave robbing on the grand list of human perversions.

Sorry Doc. Nice composition though.

History Bending at its most obvious! lol Jack and Fred look pretty amiable here.

Jack Dempsey - This is your life - YouTube


Jack Dempsey's Early Life and Career - Documentary Colorized PART 1 - YouTube