Joe Louis (1914 – 1981) was a legendary American heavyweight boxer and world champion from 1937 – 1949. He defended his title a total of 25 times during this period, making him the heavyweight world champion with the most title defenses ever. His fighting record was 66 wins in 69 bouts with 3 defeats. Joe Louis was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990 and is considered one of the greatest boxers of all time, appearing on every “All Time Great” list.

Jack Dempsey (1895 – 1983) was an American heavyweight boxer and world champion from 1922 to 1926. He lost his title in front of 144,000 spectators in 1926 against Gene Tunney in Philadelphia on points. He also lost 1927 rematch against Tunney in front of 104,943 spectators in Soldier Field, Chicago. The fight became famous because Dempsey, who had managed a knock-down, failed to go into the neutral corner. The referee waited until he had done so before starting the count. The fight therefore went down in the history books as “The Long Count”. His record was 54 wins in 68 fights with 6 losses and 8 draws. Jack Dempsey was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.

As late as 1950 Dempsey was voted the best boxer of the first half of the century in a survey of journalists by the Associated Press. Even in his active days, Dempsey was as popular as Babe Ruth, Red Grange, tennis star Bill Tilden and Bobby Jones. He significantly contributed to turning boxing into global mass entertainment.