For a former hobo, a man who scraped a living as best he could during many of his formative years, this was a man who had had no, what we would refer to these days as a full education, heavyweight legend Jack Dempsey sure had a quick brain, a sharp mind. And not just when he was in the ring doing the thing he did best – which was to lay guys out.
No, Dempsey had a way of coming out with some razor-sharp quotes, his often off-the-cuff statements to the press proving entertaining back then and being nothing short of marvellous to read or to hear today.
When we think of the great talkers of the sport, especially the heavyweights, we of course instantly go to Muhammad Ali. Ali was fast of tongue as well as fast of hand and foot. A guy like Randy “Tex” Cobb sure handed us some great quips during his time, whether he was drunk, sober, or someplace in the middle.
Jack Johnson was a fine raconteur, with plenty of Jack’s claims pertaining to his career still being debated over all these years later (and that, surely, was Johnson’s intention all along).
Mike Tyson wasn’t bad when it came to slinging out one-liners, while George Foreman was brilliant at quick quips. Sonny Liston, who was perhaps less traditionally educated than was Dempsey, also had an underrated ability to think and to produce some wicked, even acidic soundbites.
But back to Dempsey, and some of his terrific quotes, the kind that could only come from a clever man. Maybe an unexpectedly clever man.
Jack’s most famous and celebrated quotes are probably as follows:
“Honey, I forgot to duck,” this was said after losing a famous fight.
“A champion is somebody who gets up when they can’t,” is another gem.
But how about these?
“The best defence is a good offence.” Did Dempsey create the oft-used adage?
“All the time he’s boxing, he’s thinking. All the time he’s thinking, I’m hitting him,” Dempsey said of perhaps his most cerebral foe, Gene Tunney.
“Tell him he can have my title, but I want it back in the morning,” Dempsey said of, well, let’s see if you know!
“I was a pretty good fighter. But it was the writers who made me great,” said a far too modest Dempsey.
“Nailing him was like trying to thread a needle in a high wind,” Dempsey said of Tommy Gibbons.
“Tall men come down to my height when I hit ’em in the body,” Dempsey said, perhaps thinking predominantly about Jess Willard.
“Don’t worry, honey, I’m too mean to die,” Dempsey said, this when attempting to allay the fears of his wife before he went into a big fight.
Yeah, “The Manassa Mauler” was no dumbbell. Dempsey was great, and he was a hero, and an inspiration, both in the ring and out of it – as an active fighter and as a retired fighter.
In retirement, Dempsey penned some books, and he opened up a celebrated restaurant. And it was during his time as the keeper of an establishment that the man some say deserves to rank as the greatest heavyweight champion of them all, thrilled his visitors with his tales from the ring. What a joy these lucky people must have experienced!
Dempsey remains a huge inspiration to millions today, thus proving, some 42 years after his death (at an advanced, still sharp age, it should be pointed out), that some champions really do live forever.
