You don’t hear much about Jack “The Nonpareil” Dempsey these days, and there’s nothing surprising about that. After all, the boxer whose nickname means “without equal” threw his final competitive punch in January 1895 and died of tuberculosis less than 11 months later at the age of 32.
If Dempsey is remembered at all today, it’s usually because he’s confused with the heavyweight champion of the same name. In fact, the original Dempsey was the “Manassa Mauler’s” boyhood idol and the fighter he hoped to emulate when he launched his own pro career in 1914 — almost 20 years after “The Nonpareil’s” death.
As we approach the Miguel Cotto-Canelo Alvarez middleweight championship bout this Saturday (HBO PPV, 9 p.m. ET), it’s worth giving a nod to Dempsey, the Irish immigrant who is largely responsible for popularizing the middleweight class in America.
“To a generation of American boxing followers, [Dempsey] was a fighter who first demonstrated that boxing can be performed as art, with style, grace and athleticism,” wrote Los Angeles Times columnist Earl Gustkey.
During the 1880s, Dempsey was second only to heavyweight champion John L. Sullivan in terms of celebrity and earning power, and his more refined, aesthetically pleasing style helped attract a wider audience.
“His 1884 battle with Englishman Tom Henry at the Eighth-Street Theater was attended by wealthy New York swells and women in gorgeous evening attire who sat in box seats,” wrote Don Stradley in The Ring magazine.
Dempsey was the star the emerging middleweight division needed to solidify its place at a time when the sport was making the transition from bare-knuckles to gloves and adding new weight classes. At first glance, however, he seemed an unlikely candidate.
“Dempsey looked like someone who was sick,” said Charlie White, a late 1890s/early 20th century American referee. “His physique was not striking and his hands looked almost like a women’s. But he possessed one of the finest fighting brains and could figure out a battle better than any other man of his time.”
It was, therefore, Dempsey who forged the first link in a chain of middleweight icons whose deeds have carved out a special niche in boxing history. Stanley Ketchel, Harry Greb, Mickey Walker, Ray Robinson, Dick Tiger, Carlos Monzon and Marvin Hagler are just a few of the larger-than-life legends that have made the middleweight division boxing’s sweet spot — a place where men of average size fight like titans.
It’s premature to predict how history will judge Cotto and Alvarez, but if past performances are any indication, there’s a good chance they will deliver a hard-hitting, fan-friendly affair on Saturday. That’s just the sort of fighters they are.
The match also has the Puerto Rico vs. Mexico feud going for it and is the latest installment of arguably the sport’s most passionate rivalry — always a plus.
The significance of the Cotto-Alvarez match, however, goes beyond box-office appeal and regional rivalries. For starters, the legitimate world middleweight championship is at stake. In an era when the proliferation of so-called champions has reached ludicrous proportions, it’s important to take note when the genuine article is scheduled to take place.
And don’t get sidetracked by the bickering over the bout’s 155-pound catchweight. Cotto stopped reigning champion Sergio Martinez to win the lineal middleweight title on June 7, 2014. Providing he and his challenger weigh over 154 pounds and no more than 160, it’s a middleweight bout.
Who the winner fights next and at what weight are beside the point. Two of today’s most marketable fighters are clashing in what is expected to be a rousing contest. Savor the moment.
The spotlight hasn’t shined this brightly on the middleweight division in quite a while. A lot of that has to do with the fact that there hasn’t been a dominant middleweight champion since Bernard Hopkins lost the title to Jermain Taylor in 2005. Taylor, Kelly Pavlik and Sergio Martinez all looked promising, but none of them had staying power and fell apart after brief reigns.
It frequently takes much longer than it should for elite fighters to gain the sort of crossover appeal necessary to maximize their earning power. Now that boxing has been relegated to cult status by the mainstream media’s ignorance and the sport’s own greed and ineptitude, it’s even tougher to break through.
Gennady Golovkin, another potential Hall-of-Fame middleweight, is currently enduring a similar career phase. Hard-core fans can’t get enough of his “big drama show” and proved it in no uncertain term by filling Madison Square Garden to capacity for his October title unification bout against David Lemieux.
The pay-per-view sales, however, were break-even at best, which indicated that Golovkin’s public profile has not spread very far beyond the boxing world. It’s a familiar pattern. Just ask old champs like Hagler and Hopkins, who campaigned for what seemed like forever before their greatness was recognized and, more importantly, rewarded.
Golovkin’s time will come, most likely much quicker than it did for “B-Hop” and “Marvelous Marvin.” He’s just not there yet.
Regardless of whether it is Cotto, Alvarez, Golovkin or somebody else altogether, boxing is better off with a resilient figurehead at the top of the middleweight division, especially if he’s a crowd-pleaser. The Cotto-Alvarez winner might not be the next link in the chain of middleweight greatness, but at the least it should narrow the field.
Cotto is the sentimental favorite and not just among his zealous Puerto Rican supporters. There’s a lot to like about the 35-year-old battle-tested tough guy: He has routinely taken on dangerous opponents and more often than not came out on top. Sure he has lost a few fights, but that will happen when you fight likes of Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
Still, it’s easy to understand why Cotto is the underdog. His three-fight resurgence since losing to Austin Trout came at the expense of the woefully overmatched duo of Delvin Rodriguez and Daniel Geale, and a champion who was literally on his last leg.
Even so, you’ve got to admit Cotto looked great doing it, flashing his signature left hook just like old times. It wasn’t his fault Martinez’s surgically repaired underpinning had reduced him to a limping target. Cotto did what he was supposed to — beat the daylights out of him and grab the title. Good for him.
Then there’s this: Pacquiao handed Cotto his head back in 2009, but the Puerto Rican gave Mayweather a much tougher fight in 2012 than Pacquiao did earlier this year. That might not mean much when the bell rings on Saturday, but Alvarez is considerably easier to hit than Mayweather, so Cotto has that going for him.
Finally, there’s the Freddie Roach factor. If nothing else, trainer Roach has helped Cotto believe in himself again. And that’s no small thing.
Alvarez, 10 years younger than Cotto at 25, will enter the ring at the Mandalay Bay as the betting favorite and rightly so. Although he struggled to a split-decision win against Erislandy Lara, Canelo’s rollicking knockouts of Anfredo Angulo and James Kirkland featured the sort of over-the-top violence that has universal appeal. The way Alvarez’s final punch spun Kirkland in a semi-circle before he crashed to the flood with a resounded thud was spectacular — reminiscent of early Mike Tyson.
“The Nonpareil” wasn’t a knockout artist, but he delivered his blows sharply with unerring accuracy and tallied an overall record of 51-4-11 (23 KOs) with one no-contest and one no-decision. By the time he lost the middleweight title to Bob Fitzsimmons in 1891, consumption was already starting to sap the life out of him and death was closing in.
Despite his early demise, Dempsey held the middleweight title for almost seven years and built a foundation of excellence for all who followed to build upon. Now it’s Cotto and Alvarez’s turn to try to uphold the legacy of a man once considered without equal.
