Dempsey Can Take a Punch

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 124, 16 August 1927, Page 12

Dempsey Can Take a Punch

This is how an American writes of the ability of Jack Dempsey to take punishment: Dempsey always has been able to assimiliate punches. Jack Kearns used to say that he could take as much punching as Jeffries, and Jeff was the king of all ring iron men. Kearns cited as an instance of Dempsey’s punch-absorbing ability his first fight with Gunboat Smith, a fourround affair. In the first round the Gunner landed that terrific right hand swing that used to knock everybody kicking. He hit Dempsey squarely on the point of the chin and Jack’s eyes rolled around in his head. When he came back to his corner Kearns worked hard to get Dempsey’s head clear. Jack weathered some heavy smashes in the next round, came back under the hammering and gave the Gunn r a fierce beating in the last two rounds. Next time he knocked Smith out in a punch. COULDN’T SEE TUNNEY Dempsey never has lost that ability to survive heavy blows. In the last two rounds with Tunney he had one eye closed and the other cut so badly that he couldn’t see a punch corning at all, and at times he even plunged ahead in the wrong direction aft.r Tunney had circled around, showing that he couldn’t see Tunney at all. Yet when he was as defenceless as a punching bag Tunney couldn’t drop him. Anri Tunney showed a good finishing punch in other fights with Spalla, Gibbons and Carpentier. Dempsey may not be as fast with his weaving attack as he was at Toledo, but he never was hard to hit. They all hit him, in the training camp and in fights. I-iis sparring partners pasted him with swift left jabs to-day. They always could paste him with jabs. But he isn’t quite so easy to reach with the more dangerous blows, because he punches at the same time and the knowledge that a punch is to be met with a heavier punch is disconcerting to any marksman. Brennan “got the jump” on Dempsey. He landed first and landed often, and Dempsey was badly cut up before he wore I *ennan down with crushing body blows. Carpentier set Jack on his heels in the second round with a terrific right-land smash on the chin. According to my written notes made during the round Carpentier landed that right seven times more before the bell rang, and didn’t catch Dempsey quite squarely with any of them. Dempsey has been easy to hit, but not so easy to hit exactly on the right spot. Carpentier said after the fight that his first right to Dempsey’s chin was exactly like the right-hand smashes that had won all his other winning fights, and that he was astonished and disheartened when Dempsey’s knees stra* htened up and he came back with a wild swing.