IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
On July 4, 1919, challenger Jack Dempsey (1895–1983) met reigning champ Jess Willard (1881–1968) in an eagerly awaited bout for the heavyweight championship of the world. Having demolished a series of opponents to earn a shot at the crown, Dempsey was a decided underdog in the matchup with Willard, who was five inches taller and fifty-eight pounds heavier than his opponent and considered unbeatable. Yet when the two boxers met before a capacity crowd, the contest was brief and brutal. In the opening round, Dempsey (in white trunks) unleashed a torrent of punishing blows that felled Willard seven times. By the end of round three, Willard was finished, and Dempsey was the new champion. He defended his title until 1926, when he lost to Gene Tunney.
More than twenty years after upsetting Willard, Dempsey commissioned James Montgomery Flagg to commemorate the historic heavyweight contest. Basing his composition on photographs taken during the fight, Flagg produced this mammoth painting in which the crouching Dempsey bobs and weaves his way to victory. Flagg also pictured a number of celebrities at ringside, including satirist Damon Runyon and cartoonist Rube Goldberg. On November 14, 1944, the painting was unveiled at Jack Dempsey’s Broadway bar and restaurant, where it occupied a place of honor until the popular watering hole closed in 1974. Notably absent at the unveiling was Jess Willard, who wired Dempsey, saying, “Sorry I can’t be there. But I saw enough of you 25 years ago to last me a lifetime.”
Provenance
Commissioned by Jack Dempsey 1944 for his restaurant, New York; donated 1974 by Mr. and Mrs. Dempsey
