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Boxing News Online article covering the topic:
Did Jack Johnson fight Jack Dempsey? - Boxing News (boxingnewsonline.net)
Retro Boxing Docs coverage:
The Fight Beat article written by Lew Eskin sources the Brooklyn Eagle. Who ran the Eagle's article? The editor. It's a re-print of the Chicago Tribune's Ray Pearson. The Eagle sources the Tribune and Ray for the article.
What's at the bottom of the Eagle article explain's Ray's written a fiction:
"Unfortunately for the Chicago Tribune and their special ringside correspondent, neither Dempsey nor Johnson were in Saskatoon last Saturday. Anyway it was a corking good story and worth reprinting. Ray Pearson is losing time. He ought to be writing fiction."
Reaching out to the Saskatoon Star to BE received and printed the following from their sports editor:
" No Dempsey-Johnson bout here. Dempsey on Coast. Has not been here yet."
Weeks passed and then the The Meriden Daily Journal would report:
"alas the fight fan, who reads the above will doubtless feel like blowing up the town hall in his excitement and wonderment. However, there is no need for surprise. The Story is written by Ray Pearson, sports writer on a Chicago paper. It is one of a series of articles in which the writer describes imaginary battles between present day champions and those of a decade or more ago. The object of the articles, according to Mr. Pearson, is to show possible results of such battles were each of the participant in his prime."
Finally we get to the most damning piece of evidence, Ray never passed the fight off as an actual fight. At the end of the Chicago Tribune original the article reads:
"This is the first of a series of articles by Ray Pearson describing mythical battles between present day champions and those of a decade or more ago."
Questions I have.
Why would Fight Beat run a story and ask readers the plausibility when the end of the article they are sourcing debunks the story? Lew Eskin is said to have purchased a copy of the original BE article. The same Lew Eskin who is apparently a notable boxing historian and editor of Boxing Illustrated.
Why would Dempsey perpetuate the myth rather than explaining he wasn't even in the same province let alone city? Is it possible Lew made up Dempsey's response to the article as well?
Why would Johnson not debunk the myth? It seems like if the debunking info wasn't a known thing in the 20s then Johnson would have been asked.
To be fair to Dempsey and Lew, Dempsey's response to the fight or hoax comes from Lew and doesn't confirm or deny anything on its own, though, Lew does frame it as if he does. Apparently while at a writer's dinner in 83 Lew asked Dempsey about the fight and Jack laughed while saying " I always said I could beat Johnson"
The BE:
07 Dec 1921, Page 24 - The Brooklyn Daily Eagle at Newspapers.com
The Meriden:
The Meriden Daily Journal - Google News Archive Search
The CT:
Clipping from Chicago Tribune - Newspapers.com
The Tribune requires a sign up. It's free but you have to look for it, at first it'll look like you have to pay to see it but you don't, look for options and you'll see the free account option.
It seems very much like Lew wrote some propaganda. On purpose and with intention, misleading his readers. It doesn't seem like it was taken all that seriously in the 20s nor does it seem like there was actually much interest in Ray's articles until Lew's 1985 article featuring the fight bit but not the myth bit of Ray's original. I struggle to believe Lew missed the end of his own source and did no research into the matter before printing the 85 article. I'm pretty confident he pulled a Nat and printed what provokes on purpose to drive interest.
I apologize if any of my links and such don't work. I'm still learning the new site.
Did Jack Johnson fight Jack Dempsey? - Boxing News (boxingnewsonline.net)
Retro Boxing Docs coverage:
The Fight Beat article written by Lew Eskin sources the Brooklyn Eagle. Who ran the Eagle's article? The editor. It's a re-print of the Chicago Tribune's Ray Pearson. The Eagle sources the Tribune and Ray for the article.
What's at the bottom of the Eagle article explain's Ray's written a fiction:
"Unfortunately for the Chicago Tribune and their special ringside correspondent, neither Dempsey nor Johnson were in Saskatoon last Saturday. Anyway it was a corking good story and worth reprinting. Ray Pearson is losing time. He ought to be writing fiction."
Reaching out to the Saskatoon Star to BE received and printed the following from their sports editor:
" No Dempsey-Johnson bout here. Dempsey on Coast. Has not been here yet."
Weeks passed and then the The Meriden Daily Journal would report:
"alas the fight fan, who reads the above will doubtless feel like blowing up the town hall in his excitement and wonderment. However, there is no need for surprise. The Story is written by Ray Pearson, sports writer on a Chicago paper. It is one of a series of articles in which the writer describes imaginary battles between present day champions and those of a decade or more ago. The object of the articles, according to Mr. Pearson, is to show possible results of such battles were each of the participant in his prime."
Finally we get to the most damning piece of evidence, Ray never passed the fight off as an actual fight. At the end of the Chicago Tribune original the article reads:
"This is the first of a series of articles by Ray Pearson describing mythical battles between present day champions and those of a decade or more ago."
Questions I have.
Why would Fight Beat run a story and ask readers the plausibility when the end of the article they are sourcing debunks the story? Lew Eskin is said to have purchased a copy of the original BE article. The same Lew Eskin who is apparently a notable boxing historian and editor of Boxing Illustrated.
Why would Dempsey perpetuate the myth rather than explaining he wasn't even in the same province let alone city? Is it possible Lew made up Dempsey's response to the article as well?
Why would Johnson not debunk the myth? It seems like if the debunking info wasn't a known thing in the 20s then Johnson would have been asked.
To be fair to Dempsey and Lew, Dempsey's response to the fight or hoax comes from Lew and doesn't confirm or deny anything on its own, though, Lew does frame it as if he does. Apparently while at a writer's dinner in 83 Lew asked Dempsey about the fight and Jack laughed while saying " I always said I could beat Johnson"
The BE:
07 Dec 1921, Page 24 - The Brooklyn Daily Eagle at Newspapers.com
The Meriden:
The Meriden Daily Journal - Google News Archive Search
The CT:
Clipping from Chicago Tribune - Newspapers.com
The Tribune requires a sign up. It's free but you have to look for it, at first it'll look like you have to pay to see it but you don't, look for options and you'll see the free account option.
It seems very much like Lew wrote some propaganda. On purpose and with intention, misleading his readers. It doesn't seem like it was taken all that seriously in the 20s nor does it seem like there was actually much interest in Ray's articles until Lew's 1985 article featuring the fight bit but not the myth bit of Ray's original. I struggle to believe Lew missed the end of his own source and did no research into the matter before printing the 85 article. I'm pretty confident he pulled a Nat and printed what provokes on purpose to drive interest.
I apologize if any of my links and such don't work. I'm still learning the new site.
louis54
That's what I make out of this.
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