Coming up In The Payson Chronicle: THE PUGILISTS

 

Dempsey Vs. Firpo: A Ring, A Nation, And  Iconic Imagery

 

PICTURED (from top-bottom):  A slice of history etched in canvas: Dempsey and Firpo by American realist painter George Bellows (1882-1925). In an underdog moment frozen mid‑flight, Dempsey is in freefall, suspended between defeat and resurgence. Bellows captured not just a sporting moment, but a turning point where sport became spectacle, art became myth, and a brief, brutal fight transcended its time, immortalized on canvas in 1924.

Da Winnah, a bronze cast by Utah native Mahonri Mackintosh Young (1877-1957), a grandson of Brigham Young and member of the Social Realism art movement. Here the artist immortalizes The Winner, The Loser, and the Referee from the epic 1924 Dempsey-Firpo fight in New York City. A part of Young’s sculpture series of common laborers and prizefighters, Da Winnah shows the triumphant “Manassa Mauler” Jack Dempsey as he was proclaimed the victor over Luis Firpo of Argentina by ring announcer Joe Jeffries. Jeffries holds up Dempsey’s hand and proclaims “Dah Winnah, and champion of the world, Jack Dempsey!” Dempsey was boxing’s heavyweight champion of the world from 1919-1926.

“See Utah’s Famous ‘Southpaw’ in some furious action,” a 1931 ad reads. That being the “Santaquin Southpaw” Adrian Elton vs Frankie Welch at McCullough’s Arena in Salt Lake City. In a switch of roles Jack Dempsey, by that time a former world champion, was the referee.