Quote Originally Posted by greynotsoold View Post
Willard claimed Dempsey wrapped his hands with plaster of paris and Dempsey denied it. Doc Kearns also denied it until years later when he was broke and did an interview in Sports Illustrated, which was generally not considered to be truthful. I don't think that Kearns even mentioned it in his book, and in his book he liberally rewrote the history of every Dempsey fight so that Dempsey was far behind, on the verge of being knocked out, etc... when Kearns's great advice in the corner saved the day. After making great money with Dempsey, and good money with Maxim and Archie Moore, Kearns became a very bitter man.

All true about Kearns, tho I didn't know about the book. He became broke and would say/do anything for money. Including selling Dempsey down the river.

Kearns even claimed he could replicate the procedure used to make the plaster a paris for Dempseys gloves years later in front of sports writers, but failed to do so and the material did not harden like it was supposed to.

As far as the illegal wraps go, Willard said so, Kearns said so(tho he may not be reliable) and common sense tells you that Dempsey was never able to replicate a vicious performance quite like the Willard one, and the did such a vast amount of damage to Willard's face and body that he was hitting him with something more than just fists.