Luis Firpo
Encyclopedia
Luis Ángel Firpo, was an Argentine
boxer
. Born in Junín
, Argentina
, he was nicknamed "The Wild Bull of The Pampa
s."
In 1917, Firpo began his professional boxing
career by beating Frank Hagney
by a decision in six in Buenos Aires
. Originally declared a no decision, the bout's result was later changed to a win for Firpo.
For his second bout, he traveled, on January 1918, to Montevideo
, Uruguay
, where he suffered his first defeat, a first round knockout
at the hands of Angel Rodriguez
. He put a string of six wins in a row after that, and so on November 1, 1919, he found himself challenging Dave Mills in Santiago, for the South American Heavyweight title. He lost on that occasion by a decision in 15 rounds, but then came back with a win over Andres Balsa by a knockout in round six.
On April 20, 1920, he and Mills had a rematch and Firpo won the title with a first round knockout. After one more win, he and Mills faced each other in a rubber match, and the result was the same as that of their second bout: Firpo the winner by a knockout in the first. In 1921, the quality of Firpo's challengers improved, when he defeated fringe contender Gunboat Smith
twice, the first by decision in 12 and the second by knockout, also in 12.
In 1922, he continued his rise in the Heavyweight rankings by winning all four of his fights by a knockout.
Firpo began 1923 by knocking out former title challenger Bill Brennan
in the 12th round. He followed that with seven more wins in a row, including wins over Jack McAuliffe
and former world champion Jess Willard
. After a win against Charlie Weinert, Firpo challenged world heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey
at New York
on September 14, becoming the first Latin American
in history to challenge for the title.
Firpo was floored seven times in the first round of the bout
, before he trapped Dempsey against the ropes and launched a combination that sent the champion out of the ring. Dempsey hit his head against a writer's typing machine, and for a moment, it looked as if Firpo would become world Heavyweight champion. But Dempsey was helped into the ring at the count of nine (in spite of having been seventeen seconds outside the ring; fighters are given a twenty-second count when they are knocked through the ropes) and he eventually knocked out Firpo in the second round. This fight has been regarded by critics and experts as one of the greatest fights in history. Boxing historian Bert Sugar called it the greatest fight in the history of the sport. Despite losing, Firpo gained substantial fame all over Latin America after this bout, as many people on different parts of that region spoke about his feat of dropping Dempsey.
In 1924, Firpo won his first three fights by knockout, but then lost his last two by decision, the last of which was to legendary black challenger Harry Wills
.
He retired for a short period, but came back in 1926 to beat Erminio Spalla by a decision in ten. Then, he kept away from the fight game for nine years, but he attempted another comeback in 1936, winning two fights before being beaten by a knockout in three by future Joe Louis
challenger Arturo Godoy
. Firpo finally retired after compiling a record of 32 wins and 6 losses in 38 fights, with 26 wins by knockout.
Afterwards, Firpo became a car-dealer for Stutz and a rancher.
By 1940 he was ranching on a large scale in Carlos Casares
with 8,000 cattle, 4,000 sheep and 400 horses.
He discovered Abel Cestac in July 1940.
Firpo and Jack Dempsey
agreed to jointly manage Cestac, who went on to become the South American heavyweight champion.
On his passing in 1960, Luis Firpo was buried in La Recoleta Cemetery
in Buenos Aires. His mausoleum has a statue of him at the front.
Firpo's popularity around Latin America was immeasurable. Years later, a professional football
team in El Salvador
, a Latin American country that is thousands of miles away from Firpo's Argentina, was named after him. In addition, various schools, streets and avenues across Latin America have been named after him.
In 2003, he was named by The Ring
as one of the 100 greatest punchers of all time.
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
boxer
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
. Born in Junín
Junín, Buenos Aires
Junín is a city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and capital of the municipality of Junín. It has a population of 82,427 and is situated 260 km west of Buenos Aires.-History:...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, he was nicknamed "The Wild Bull of The Pampa
Pampa
The Pampas are the fertile South American lowlands, covering more than , that include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos and Córdoba, most of Uruguay, and the southernmost Brazilian State, Rio Grande do Sul...
s."
In 1917, Firpo began his professional boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
career by beating Frank Hagney
Frank Hagney
Frank Hagney was an Australian actor. He appeared in over 350 films between 1919 and 1966.He was born in Sydney, Australia and died in Los Angeles.- Selected filmography :*Go Get 'Em Hutch...
by a decision in six in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
. Originally declared a no decision, the bout's result was later changed to a win for Firpo.
For his second bout, he traveled, on January 1918, to Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
, where he suffered his first defeat, a first round knockout
Knockout
A knockout is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, Karate and others sports involving striking...
at the hands of Angel Rodriguez
Angel Rodriguez
Angel Rodriguez is a 2005 American TV film, that showed at the Toronto International Film Festival under the title Angel. HBO picked up the film and released it under the longer name both on their movie channel and on DVD.-Plot:...
. He put a string of six wins in a row after that, and so on November 1, 1919, he found himself challenging Dave Mills in Santiago, for the South American Heavyweight title. He lost on that occasion by a decision in 15 rounds, but then came back with a win over Andres Balsa by a knockout in round six.
On April 20, 1920, he and Mills had a rematch and Firpo won the title with a first round knockout. After one more win, he and Mills faced each other in a rubber match, and the result was the same as that of their second bout: Firpo the winner by a knockout in the first. In 1921, the quality of Firpo's challengers improved, when he defeated fringe contender Gunboat Smith
Gunboat Smith
Edward "Gunboat" Smith was an Irish American boxer and later a boxing referee.- Boxing career :Smith was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He spent much of his youth in orphanages, working on farms and on the railroads. He joined the U.S...
twice, the first by decision in 12 and the second by knockout, also in 12.
In 1922, he continued his rise in the Heavyweight rankings by winning all four of his fights by a knockout.
Bill Brennan
Bill Brennan was an American boxer who fought and lost to World Heavy Weight Champion Jack Dempsey twice...
in the 12th round. He followed that with seven more wins in a row, including wins over Jack McAuliffe
Jack McAuliffe
Jack McAuliffe was an Irish-American boxer. Nicknamed 'The Napolean of the Ring', and fighting mostly out of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, he was one of only nine boxers to remain undefeated throughout his entire career. He was the Lightweight Champion of the World from 1886 to 1893...
and former world champion Jess Willard
Jess Willard
Jess Willard was a world heavyweight boxing champion. He won the heavyweight title from Jack Johnson in April 1915 and lost it to Jack Dempsey in July 1919....
. After a win against Charlie Weinert, Firpo challenged world heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey
Jack Dempsey
William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey was an American boxer who held the world heavyweight title from 1919 to 1926. Dempsey's aggressive style and exceptional punching power made him one of the most popular boxers in history. Many of his fights set financial and attendance records, including the first...
at New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
on September 14, becoming the first Latin American
Latin Americans
Latin Americans are the citizens of the Latin American countries and dependencies. Latin American countries are multi-ethnic, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds. As a result, some Latin Americans don't take their nationality as an ethnicity, but identify themselves with...
in history to challenge for the title.
Firpo was floored seven times in the first round of the bout
Jack Dempsey versus Luis Firpo
The Jack Dempsey versus Luis Ángel Firpo fight was a historical boxing fight: It was the first time that a Latin American fighter would challenge for the world Heavyweight title, and it would be one of the defining fights of Dempsey's career.-The fight:...
, before he trapped Dempsey against the ropes and launched a combination that sent the champion out of the ring. Dempsey hit his head against a writer's typing machine, and for a moment, it looked as if Firpo would become world Heavyweight champion. But Dempsey was helped into the ring at the count of nine (in spite of having been seventeen seconds outside the ring; fighters are given a twenty-second count when they are knocked through the ropes) and he eventually knocked out Firpo in the second round. This fight has been regarded by critics and experts as one of the greatest fights in history. Boxing historian Bert Sugar called it the greatest fight in the history of the sport. Despite losing, Firpo gained substantial fame all over Latin America after this bout, as many people on different parts of that region spoke about his feat of dropping Dempsey.
In 1924, Firpo won his first three fights by knockout, but then lost his last two by decision, the last of which was to legendary black challenger Harry Wills
Harry Wills
240px|rightHarry "The Black Panther" Wills was perhaps the most well known victim of the "color line" drawn by white heavyweight champions after the title reign of Jack Johnson...
.
He retired for a short period, but came back in 1926 to beat Erminio Spalla by a decision in ten. Then, he kept away from the fight game for nine years, but he attempted another comeback in 1936, winning two fights before being beaten by a knockout in three by future Joe Louis
Joe Louis
Joseph Louis Barrow , better known as Joe Louis, was the world heavyweight boxing champion from 1937 to 1949. He is considered to be one of the greatest heavyweights of all time...
challenger Arturo Godoy
Arturo Godoy
-Biography:He was born in Iquique, Chile, in 1910.He was South American Heavyweight Champion and had an extensive and successful career in Argentina, Cuba, Spain, and the United States roughly between 1931 and 1954.In New York he beat Tony Galento....
. Firpo finally retired after compiling a record of 32 wins and 6 losses in 38 fights, with 26 wins by knockout.
Afterwards, Firpo became a car-dealer for Stutz and a rancher.
By 1940 he was ranching on a large scale in Carlos Casares
Carlos Casares, Buenos Aires
Carlos Casares is a town in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the head town of the Carlos Casares Partido.-History:...
with 8,000 cattle, 4,000 sheep and 400 horses.
He discovered Abel Cestac in July 1940.
Firpo and Jack Dempsey
Jack Dempsey
William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey was an American boxer who held the world heavyweight title from 1919 to 1926. Dempsey's aggressive style and exceptional punching power made him one of the most popular boxers in history. Many of his fights set financial and attendance records, including the first...
agreed to jointly manage Cestac, who went on to become the South American heavyweight champion.
On his passing in 1960, Luis Firpo was buried in La Recoleta Cemetery
La Recoleta Cemetery
La Recoleta Cemetery is a famous cemetery located in the exclusive Recoleta neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It contains the graves of notable people, including Eva Perón, Raúl Alfonsín, and several presidents of Argentina.- History :...
in Buenos Aires. His mausoleum has a statue of him at the front.
Firpo's popularity around Latin America was immeasurable. Years later, a professional football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
team in El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
, a Latin American country that is thousands of miles away from Firpo's Argentina, was named after him. In addition, various schools, streets and avenues across Latin America have been named after him.
In 2003, he was named by The Ring
The Ring (magazine)
The Ring is an American boxing magazine that was first published in 1922 as a boxing and wrestling magazine. As the sporting legitimacy of professional wrestling came more into question, The Ring shifted to becoming exclusively a boxing oriented publication...
as one of the 100 greatest punchers of all time.
See also
- Jack Dempsey vs. Luis Ángel Firpo
- C.D. Luis Ángel FirpoC.D. Luis Angel FirpoClub Deportivo Luis Ángel Firpo is an football club based in Usulután, El Salvador that plays in the Primera División de Fútbol Profesional. It has been one of the most successful clubs in El Salvador, having won 9 titles, firstly in 1989. Only FAS and Águila hold more league titles than Firpo,...
-Football (soccer)Football (soccer)Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
team
External links
- Gene Tunney's description of Firpo's multimillionaire success after retirement from the ring.
- 22-9-1923, El Gráfico, Firpo vs. Dempsey
- Un KO di 17 secondi (IT) - Dempsey vs. Firpo, un "match" indimenticabile