Sports History On This Day: July 2

July 2, 1921 – It was a title fight of title fights in the sport of boxing’s first million-dollar-plus gate. The grand total was right around $1.7 million in fact. The participants had something to do with the hype and popularity of the match. World heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey would face a worthy challenger Frenchman Georges Carpentier.

The Champ knocked out Capentier in round 4 of his 3rd title defense in front of a cheering crowd of 91,000 spectators at Boyle’s Thirty Acres in Jersey City, New Jersey. Nicknamed the Manassa Mauler, Dempsey competed from 1914 through 1927 and reigned as the HeavyWeight Title holder for much of that, 1919 through 1926.

Jack would definitely throw punches and in doing so so often and the power he had behind them it is no wonder that he is one of the most popular boxers in history.