After winning the title with a brutal victory over giant Jess Willard in 1919 (we watched the youtube video clip in class), Dempsey reigned as America's most prominent athlete-celebrity of the roaring 1920s (eclipsing even such luminaries as Babe Ruth, Bobby Jones, and Knute Rockne).
Dempsey's 1921 bout against Frenchman Georges Carpentier was the first prize fight to draw a $1 million gate ... and the first of five consecutive Dempsey fights to reach that magic amount. To my knowledge, Jack Dempsey still holds the distinction of attracting the most million dollar gates in prize fighting history (much of the revenue from fights since 1971 comes from closed-circuit and pay-per-view buys).
Jack's "long-count" match (bottom picture) against Gene Tunney in 1927 became his most famous and last fight.
Video Clips:
Dempsey vs. Willard
Dempsey vs. Tunney (Long Count)
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