On September 14, 1923, in the fourth defense of Jack Dempsey heavyweight title, held at the Polo Grounds in New York, his contender, the Argentine Luis Angel Firpo, aka the Wild Bull of Las Pampas and the first Latin American to challenge for the heavyweight title, came very close to winning it.
That fight was engraved forever in the history of boxing for a singular fact never to be repeated: a few seconds after the first bell Firpo rocked the champion with a powerful right to the jaw, but The Manassa Mauler withstood the blow and furiously attacked the challenger to knock him down up to 7 times. Still battered, the overwhelmed Firpo went on a relentless two-handed offensive, topped off with a hard right hand (and a slight, imperceptible push) that sent the monarch out of the ring. The latter fell on the typewriter of a journalist, who, with others of his colleagues, helped Dempsey into the ring, an illegal assistance that was completed by referee Jack Gallagher, in clear violation of the Marquis of Queensberry rules, which among other clauses prohibited any support to a fallen boxer.
Thousands of times it has been written and said that Dempsey was between 14 and 17 seconds out of the ring, which in fact made him the loser by KOT.
When the action resumed in the second round, Dempsey rocked the Argentinian with combinations from both hands until he knocked him down 4 times. Gallagher, with an evident bias towards his American compatriot, decreed Firpo out of the fight at 57 seconds of the round.
Meanwhile, in Buenos Aires and in various corners of the country, thousands of fans following the fight in the capital, by radio, showed their discontent with angry street protests.
When they stepped into the ring, Dempsey, 28 years old, considered one of the greatest heavyweights in history, had a record of 56-4-9, with 43 knockouts, while the challenger from Buenos Aires, 29 years and 11 months old, had 21 knockouts from 25 wins, with 2 defeats.
He never received another title shot. He retired after 9 more fights, the last one on July 11, 1936 at Luna Park, losing by RfTD3 to Chilean Arturo Godoy. He left a record of 31/26 KO)-4/3 KO)-0. He is considered the Father of Argentine Boxing.
