Jack Dempsey The Nonpareil

By F. Daniel Somrack

Jack Dempsey The Nonpareil is the life and career of the first World Middleweight Boxing Champion of the modern era. Dempsey was champion in the 1880's during the transition period between bare-knuckle fighting under the London Prize Ring rules and the gloved era of the modern Marques of Queensberry rules.

Jack Dempsey was so dominate in the prize-ring that sports scribes bestowed upon him his famous sobriquet "Nonpareil," meaning unequalled. In a professional career that spanned from 1883-1895, Dempsey was only defeated three times in sixty-one bouts. His losses came at the end of his championship reign when he was suffering from tuberculosis; a disease that would claim his life at the age of thirty-two.

 

The Nonpareil was one of the most popular fighters in America at the time, second only to the great heavyweight champion, John L. Sullivan. Jack Dempsey The Nonpareil takes you back to a time when boxing made headline news and its champions were idolized by millions. Dempsey's storied career is highlighted and his most important bouts and championship contests are all included in this edition.

• Language: English
• Publisher: F. Daniel Somrack
• Release date: Jun 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201200886

F. Daniel Somrack

F. Daniel Somrack is a boxing historian who authored his first book for Arcadia Publishing entitled Boxing in San Francisco. His subsequent titles include The Eddie Futch Interview, Jack Dempsey “Nonpareil,” Pancho Villa: The Filipino Legend, Kid Gavilan: The Cuban Hawk, Cuban Legends of Boxing and The Great Benny Leonard. As a filmmaker, Somrack produced feature films and documentaries including the highly acclaimed Champions Forever that highlighted the life and times of boxing legend Muhammad Ali. Billboard Magazine listed Champions as one of the highest-selling, original sports video of the 1990s.

Book preview

Jack Dempsey

The Nonpareil

First World Middleweight Boxing Champion

By

F. Daniel Somrack

––––––––

Nonpareil Jack Dempsey

First Middleweight Champion of the World

1886 – 1891

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1.  The Beginning

Chapter 2.  Road to the Championship

Chapter 3.   The Nonpareil

Chapter 4.   Title Reign

Chapter 5.  Dempsey vs. Reagan

Chapter 6.   The Pivot Punch

Chapter 7.  Ruby Robert

Chapter 8.  The White Plague

The Nonpareil’s Grave

For

Molly

Boxing Scribe Books

Copyright © F. Daniel Somrack

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce the book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

Introduction

Jack Dempsey The Nonpareil is a tribute to one of the greatest ring masters in history. Dempsey’s fistic career coincided with the transitional period in boxing when the rules governing the sport modernized it from illegal bare-knuckle brawling under the guidelines of the London Prize Ring to a universally accepted sport under the Marques of Queensberry rules.

Jack Dempsey is recognized as the first World Middleweight Boxing Champion of the modern era. In a career that spanned twelve years (1883-1895), he won the lightweight championship of America and the middleweight championship of the world. He held the world title from 1884 to 1891 when the great Robert Fitzsimmons defeated him.

Dempsey’s unmatched artistry in the ring made him a hero to his working-class generation. At a weight of 150 pounds, a welterweight by today’s standards, he was regularly matched with much larger and heavier men throughout his storied career. A master of ring science, Dempsey is considered to have been, pound-for-pound, one of the greatest boxing masters of all time. 

Respected as a gentleman and idolized by millions, Dempsey’s dominating power and fighting proficiency inside the ring compelled sports scribes to tag him with his famous sobriquet Nonpareil, meaning unequaled and without peers.  He was the unbeatable force between the lightweight and heavyweight classes of the 1880s.

Dempsey is credited as one of the key figures that lifted boxing out of the dark ages of the past and into the light of a modern era. In a title reign that lasted eight years, his only loss came from an illegal Pivot Punch delivered by Canadian champion George LaBlanche. His sterling career was cut short by the ravages of the white plaque that would eventually claim his life at the age of 32.

Jack Dempsey The Nonpareil is a look back to that fabled time in sports history when baseball, boxing, and horseracing made the daily headlines. This is the story of the original Jack Dempsey who inspired the heavyweight champion of the 1920s, The Manassa Mauler William Harrison Dempsey to adopt his name.

America’s first sports superstars are highlighted in the book when bigger-than-life characters like the Boston Strong Boy, John L. Sullivan toured the country to sell-out crowds. Jack Dempsey the Nonpareil was one of those great American heroes that will live on as long as we continue to idolize the greatest legends of sports.

1.  The Beginning