Boxing’s Greatest Weapons Vol. 3: Jack Dempsey’s Left Hook

By Ian Murphy

The left hook. Perhaps no other weapon in boxing’s arsenal is as celebrated as its famous “great equalizer”. Very few techniques are as awe inspiring when expertly executed. Every novice boxer is taught this punch, but very few refine it down to an art form. There are a handful of ring warriors renowned for their mastery of the left hook. Joe Frazier of course comes to mind, as does Bob Foster and Floyd Patterson. Joe Louis had a great one, too. But these hard-hitting hookers had a fistic forefather in the great Manassa Mauler himself, Jack Dempsey.

While his right hand (Iron Mike) and his left jolt (jab) were great weapons in their own right, Dempsey’s left hook was the centerpiece of his repitoire. He landed it with crushing force and on at least one occasion, shattered facial bones with it. One must realize that a key reason Dempsey punched so hard despite his modest weight (appx 187lbs on average) was he made great use of momentum and applied it to his mastery of range (see Little Men, Big Power Vol.2, Jimmy Wilde).This combined with raw strength, speed and coordination allowed the Mauler to deliver his volley of punches in an increasingly destructive sequence with his left hook often being the finisher. In essence, he made his body a 185lb projectile that even at the very end of his career was incredibly destructive.

Jack Dempsey set up his great left in a few different ways, and was able to utilize it under a number of situations. One way he set up his hook was using his left jolt (Dempsey didn’t believe in using a pawing or flicking jab) to create space or stop-hit an incoming opponent. This would allow him to have the necessary space to load up and use momentum to generate maximum force. Another way the Mauler employed momentum to land his left hook was staying out of range by shuffling back and forth and side to side, lulling his opponent into range slowly. This subtle manoever created a false sense of security, so when the counter was there, Dempsey already had his weight moving to pick up that key momentum. This is was how he chopped down the giant, Jess Willard.

Example 1- Jack Dempsey vs Jess Willard, World Heavyweight Championship, July 1919

Prior to this match, Dempsey had a reputation as a vicious and aggressive puncher but was viewed by some as too small to topple the enormous champion. Jess Willard was a formidable but inactive champion after his upset of the great Jack Johnson four years earlier. For the first minute or two of the fight, the 6’1 180lb Dempsey felt out and stayed away from the 6’6 245lb champion, who appeared absolutely monstrous in comparison. The Mauler was lulling the towering Willard to sleep and the frustrated champion appeared to be losing his patience. Then, suddenly, the tiger attacked the rhino. With a pivoting, rolling advance, Dempey blitzed Willard with an avalanche of punches, punctuated by his lethal left hook. The battered Willard crumbled onto his backside, and shockingly got up. The champion bravely held on, even after being floored an additional six times. He would not relinquish his title lightly, but by the third round, the bout was over.

Willard suffered severe injuries from this bout, including a shattered orbitall and cheekbone. In addition, he was also missing teeth and had a broken jaw. The majority of the damage was done to the right side of Willards face, where Dempsey’s sledge hammer left found it’s mark. The heavyweight title had never changed hands in such a brutal manner. Ironically (and this is an understatement) before the match, Jess had approached Dempsey’s manager “Doc” Kearns and made a curious request: he wanted legal immunity if he killed Jack in the ring…

The Mauler defended his title five times over the next four years, fighting colorful and talented fighters like Bill Brennan, Billy Miske, Georges Carpentier, Tommy Gibbons and Luis Firpo. The big left was a factor in all these matches, the Firpo fight in particular. Demspey held the title until 1926 when he lost it to the great Gene Tunney in a bout he in which was out gunned and beaten soundly. By the end of his reign, inactivity and age had dulled the champion’s legendary abilities, but that big left hand equalizer still had a few bullets left. After losing to Tunney, he had a tune up against future Heavyweight Champion Jack Sharkey in 1927. Although being out fought for most of the fight, Dempsey landed a brutal left hook in the 7th that knocked out the young Sharkey. This set the stage for the rematch with Tunney, later deemed “Long Count” fight.

Example 2- Jack Dempsey vs Gene Tunney 2, September 1927

For the first six rounds, this match up played out very much how the first fight had, with Tunney leading on all scorecards. Dempsey was moving better in this fight than in the first, but was having trouble landing anything significant on his elusive and methodical foe. In the seventh round Dempsey landed a jarring right over Tunney’s jab and Gene backed up to get some room to move. This again plays into Dempsey’s strengths as a hitter. Tunney’s retreat gave Jack space to get his momentum going and launched a leaping left hook. Tunney partially slipped the left, but as he did so, ran out of room and bounced into the ropes. This allowed Jack to start his patented combo and to get his flow. At this point Jack was all over his opponent, throwing a right hand follow up into a devastating left hook that landed flush on Tunney’s jaw. Gene began to fall from that hit and Dempsey followed with a few rights and lefts as he went down. The nuances and confusion in regards to the “Long Count” that followed are beyond the scope of this article, but the point remains that within that fussilade of punches, the left hook is what did the lions share of the damage.

There are of course other examples of Dempsey using his patented finisher, but the Willard and second Tunney fight best illustrate it’s destructive capabilities. Dempsey’s ability to chain his punches and use momentum to generate incredible power were nothing short of revolutionary for a heavyweight. Jimmy Wilde did it, but he was nearly half Dempsey’s size. Still, I wouldn’t doubt that Jack utilized some of Wilde’s methods, as they were contemporaries. Over the following decades and beyond there have been other masters of the left hook, but none were thrown (perhaps Frazier and Foster come closest) with the same crunching and injurious ferocity as the daddy of them all, Jack Dempsey.