Million Dollar Man: Jack Dempsey

Jack Dempsey was instrumental in creating the first million-dollar gate. That momentous event occurred in 1921 when he faced Georges Carpentier, the French heavyweight champion. Dempsey went on to annihilate his opponent. Four more million-dollar gates would occur over the next several years due primarily to Dempsey's savagery in the ring.

Jack Dempsey is America's first mega sports hero. His style of boxing had never been seen before in the annals of pugilism. No other sports figure was as commercially successful or caused as much controversy and hysteria as Jack Dempsey did in the 1920s. Dempsey left home when he was only fifteen in search of a new beginning. He found it in the rough and tumble mining towns scattered throughout Utah and Colorado. In between grueling jobs as a miner, Dempsey fought anyone and everyone.

In 1919, Dempsey destroyed champion Jess Willard in three rounds to become the new heavyweight king. The savage beating Willard suffered in the first three minutes of the fight is considered by many to be the worst punishment ever received in a single round by a heavyweight champion. Herein lies the incredible story of a man singularly possessed to become a world-class prizefighter.