TOLEDO, Ohio — The Dempsey/Willard fight that took place in Toledo in 1919 on July 4th was with little argument Toledo's most famous sporting event.
An event that made Toledo and Jack Dempsey famous. It was also considered one of the brutal fights in boxing history.
Boxing fan and history expert Matt Lewandowski says in the first 90 seconds of the fight, Dempsey knocked Willard down seven times and broke his teeth and several ribs.
It was a fight that was bloody and violent. It lasted only a few rounds before it was over in favor of the young black-haired brawler from the Colorado gold fields to claim his heavyweight crown and his pot of gold.
Dempsey would for many years return to Toledo to visit with the friends he made while training for the fight.
Many boxing writers still rank the Toledo fight as one of the most memorable in boxing history. For Toledo to have secured itself as the venue for the event was a coup as the city beat out many other larger communities for the honor, including New York and Paris.
In 1919, it was a coveted plum. Put it on a par with getting to host a Super Bowl.
At a news conference at Bay View Park on Tuesday, Toledo Mayor Wade called it "a big deal".
The mayor used the backdrop of Bay View Park to announce the city's plans to hold a celebration as this year marks 100 years since an 80,000-seat wooden stadium was constructed at the park to hold the boxing spectacle.
It was be called Toledo's Day in the Sun; a reference not only to the fame it brought the city, but the fact that the day of the fight was a scorcher, with temperatures reaching nearly 100 degrees.
The Mayor says the city of Toledo wants to "have some fun" and will host a series of events such as a block party at the Toledo History Museum on St. Clair Street on June 13th, plus a grand opening of the History Museum a week later on June 20th.
At that time, the museum plans to feature a variety of artifacts and other photos, artwork and collectibles from the fight.
Bay View Park is now a retirees golf course and the city's wastewater treatment plant. A sign near the parking lot commemorates the area as the site of the historic pugilistic match up between Dempsey and the much taller and heavier Jess Willard.
It also marks the site of that massive wooden stadium which the mayor labeled "the largest stadium in the country for a couple of months." The stadium was torn down soon after the big fight.
One hundred years later, surveyors are working this week to locate the exact footprint of that giant arena. Lewandowski Engineering is quite confident they have found center ring of the facility, using some evidence from old maps, photos and several aerial photos of area through the years.
The biggest single-day event for this year's centennial celebration will be a reenactment of the famous fight. It will be held inside of a replica stadium being constructed at Detwiler Park across Summit Street from Bay View Park.
The Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana Council of Carpenters Local 351 are donating their time to construct the arena. It ill not be as large as the original, with perhaps only a few rows for seating.
The recreation of the famous fight will utilize professional actors who have been trained by a fight director Charles Coyl. That reenactment fight plus several Junior Golden Gloves bouts will be held July 4th from 11 a.m. to 7p.m.
On July 6th at Seagate Center, six boxing cards will be held featuring local boxers, including Robert Mumford Jr., Antwan Jones, and Elias Moreno.