BIRTH OF A CHAMPION

[Music] [Applause] [Music] 19:19 a year of drama big things are happening the king of England and the Prince of Wales review the captured German fleet is Scapa Flow them also and Wilson lloyd-george and Orlando write history in the Treaty of Versailles Rough Rider Theodore Roosevelt that great advocate of Americanism has gone to his last rest in the world of sports Babe Ruth the homerun King is sold at the Red Sox to the Yankees for a fabulous son but 1919 big moment is about to take place a Heavyweight Championship match between Jess Willard and the comparatively unknown Jack Dempsey that's news big and exciting news and the man responsible for it is promoter Tex Rickard the silent adventurer from Alaskan mining camps in South American pampas with his genius for ballyhoo and publicity in Dempsey he had a sensational young tiger with amazing speed in two murderous hands in Bullard the biggest man to hold the title under Marquess of Queensbury rules jess has the muscles of a wrestler and the sheer power of a raging bull will is temperate around he stands 6 feet 6 inches in height and weighs 240 pounds his bait arching chest major Specter 6 inches so half a foot taller and 50 pounds heavier than his rival the tall pine of the Potawatomi is rated only a five-to-four favorite over the Manassa mauler the 70,000 spectators packed around the ring in the blistering sunshine 120 degrees of horrible innervating heat they send a mighty shout to the sky as Dempsey claims to the ropes accompanied by his manager through duck turns in striped silk shirt and white cap an umbrella is raised to protect Jack from the burning rays of the Sun while he waits for this most unusual battle in all heavyweight history to begin here comes the champion good-natured smiling and waving to the applause he's sexual he'll win all the advantages on his side he strides across the ring to say hello to the boy who had the nerve to challenge him may the best man win and all that sort of thing but just knows who is the best man he is when he walks back to his corner there's the sprout of the victor in his manner there's nothing for him to fear from the black crowd youngster who came up from the hobo jungle but Dempsey Dempsey is Destruction itself become static only till that Bell will send him into action the championship belt of gold and silk is paraded for all to see symbol of every heavyweight King from Jarnell - Willard himself twelve have been brought out now fitted to their big-boned hands the referee Alif record calls Willard and Dempsey from their corners for instructions now you can see what a difference there is in their size door great athlete the bronze challenger seems almost puny next to the giant he's about to fight they listen quietly almost without interest to a story they know by heart sweat feeding shoulders and forests the crowd waits tensely who'll win Willard with his fine jab and smashing uppercut or Dempsey with his speed and the best left hook of all time round one coming up the time people judge his belt or somehow it jams and Willard doesn't hear the faint sound over the excited yelling pauses looks around puzzled doubtful hey what's going on around there anyhow where's the Bell there it is so the big fight begins and big just moves easily into action the mahogany huge Dempsey circles moving in and out with cat footed quickness the champion wants to keep jacket long range with his poking left jab but Dempsey won't let him do it he's never still for an instant bobbing and weaving around it looks like a test of speed against power and Willard has no chance to get set against Dempsey speed at such a pace there's a lot of messing and a lot of pinching it's bound to be that way but it's only a warm-up so far each is trying to figure out the other defense open him up nail him with a punch the Challenger crowds keeps on crowding the instant he's in the open he moves back again his left whipped in tirelessly and often that blows mr. Gray's Willard Dempsey hasn't arraigned yet just hold whenever he can but that jacks me nobody strong enough to tie him up for long I'm trying to hit him hit like trying to hit a sunbeam that moves away Dempsey's hands in motion all the time Willard tries to block his gloves and forearms and elbows but he's compelled constantly to retreat what else can he do against the endlessly moving little man when you're going away you can't do much damage yourself a champion is supposed to make the fight but try as he will it's far beyond big Jess but he hasn't been hurt yet for all the charges for all the blows that Paul Payne has suffered no injury he's cover knows how to handle himself and in spite of his great size he moves around quickly and Baker no the little man get him then when you around a better ring now watch watch they're that big left and Willard down [Applause] curator empty hurricanrana walk eating away [Applause] on the pool for the second thing camp conveys groggy but he's aimed heat up again [Music] with his back half turn as he arrived the moral order whelmed in hysterical practically a defendant [Music] [Applause] this packet the instant Willard Deidre wide open II have absolutely no defense [Applause] and they would be hurry just clean hurry blame them staggering up roofie [Applause] Willard wheels around the rain power as the density um being right and left into it the up the corner and airy take it again how can I marry Paul his love him holding top on then painfully he dragged his back body to a happy rekt position little white smashes into his side other rights crash to the head and weird into a sitting position dazed and helpless after the most murderous beating a man ever come in the ring and there's the man but no one hears it empty turned away he seems doubtful puzzle fans and others rush jubilantly into the ropes where it's all over the quickest heavyweight lookout on record [Applause] Jack hurried out of the ring to avoid the crowd but the timekeeper and referee out at the court are yelling that it's not over the ballad sounded before big Jess was counted out where is the Challenger anyway Bullards chief second Walter Monahan and the other handlers have leaked in the ring to to the champion team couplet but technically the fight is still armed [Applause] popcorns Russia's the road gang hey Dempsy come back come back [Applause] gone too and the bell sounds again amazingly enough Willard Rises for the second round eaten as no man ever has been he advances into Dempsey's raging fists he jabs as though any jab could keep that Tiger away from him with all his wearied broken body just does his best to keep going why it's no use he hasn't a chance but there's a tradition of oiled champions behind it he has to fight even when he has nothing left to fight with Jess may not have been a great champion but no Braverman ever laced on a pair of gloves if he quit under punishment no one would blame you it's courage nothing but magnificent courage that's holding him on his feet no matter what he does he can't get away from that tiger who stalking his arms and legs are heavy with exhaustion salt sweat burns the gashes Dempsey's festive open when Jack Boras didn't hit him rising around the ring he can't must be enough strength for a dangerous punch in the turn [Applause] there's no mercy in deputies a technicality robbed him of a first-round knockout at that knockout will not evade him now [Applause] seconds and minutes are ticking by faster and faster there isn't much time left in the round if he to get his ko before the bell rings you'll have to do it in a hurry but Willard's only thought is to protect himself and weak compared as he is it's no cinch to get him set for the finishing punch even when he's seven hopelessly back against the wall he wobbles about in Finch's does his best to save himself from his relentless fall there are only a few seconds remaining now no chance for finishing ball too late baller spins the champion around out there the scent of the ring the bell and referee from court sends his men to the corner round three in a disconsolate third there's no easing up in Dempsey's attack his last hook still thundered in the finches Willard is no longer strong enough to make even a pretence of blocking the uppercuts it's shaken rush still the clinches are the only sanctuary left it I'll admit ring is helpless he lost all coordination between brain and hands his efforts are pitiful he was thick and good looking and smiling when he came into the ring now he's alerting choppering wreck of the man Dempsey beat daddy in the body shifting his attack from over from that pitiful face a new champion being born here born in the torrid heat among the yells of 70,000 spectators born in blood and effort in pain it's bad for Willard the hammer blow to the rings beta's puncher but it's no picnic for the man who's winning either his lungs train his hot beats in his coat his arms are like LED but still he carries on that deadly attack He pours leather at the champ who should have gone down long ago who would have gone down but for the heart of a lion and the endurance of a buffalo even the spectators are beginning to flinch at the sight this is no fight it's a slaughter a massacre big gest has no more chance than a babe in arms look at the heavyweight champion of the world his face is pounded almost to a fault this tired days I adhere to a mask of blood it slipped down over his body's fiendish bunk spotted his legs even empty speared with the sanguinary fluid each time the morrow goes into pinch he gets more of it why doesn't the referee stop it why but Ollie the cord comes from the old school there's only one way for a champion to finish they say and that's on his back [Applause] the bloody half-plane and Willard won't go down now even when the parent empties those staggering party more and more and again the second to running out around Billy over [Applause] well it happened again big gatha's lasted through this murders another burger around with this roaring [Applause] now coming up the ROM born lured can't come out for the fourth round his nose and cheekbone were fractured ribs broken half a dozen teeth knocked out and he's hardly strength enough to rise and shake hands with his Conqueror in this most unusual a fight an idol has been born empty the more unusual every second of it the Bell failed to sound fairly at the start the champion was knocked down seven times in the first round the challenger left the ring it had to be called back Willard lost his title while sitting in his farm every minute as Sam was calmer as the ring is now with yelling excited man MCS and everyone's minds and hearts Dempsey the killer Dempsey the champion they'll see him in action ain't blaming years to come 1921 when he knocked off the slim war eagle of France George cope on PA in foiled historic 30-acre 1923 when he beat the master boxer Tommy Gibbons in the dusty cow town of Shelby Montana 1923 again when he starred in the most murderous melodrama the ring ever saw against the wild bull of the pampas Luis angel purple 1926 under Philadelphia's rain-drenched eyes when he lost his championship to gene Tunney 19:27 when he made his slashing comeback against Jack Sharkey and again in 1947 when he came within seconds of winning back his championship from the Marine who took it from him it was before this Sun blistered growl the deck empty that captain was born but Campion who's come down to the years as the greatest Idol the fight game ever knew [Music]