First things first. Happy 4th of July, American fight fans! It’s a huge day in America today, as well as a huge celebration. And there was, once upon a time ago, no better way to get the festivities underway than by watching or listening to a massive prizefight; or even better, attending one.

Indeed, boxing was huge at the turn of the century and beyond, and history reminds us that numerous big, important, and groundbreaking fights indeed took place on July 4.

Why July 4th Became the Biggest Night in Boxing History

Here’s a reminder of some of them:

July 4 of 1910: Jack Johnson KO Jim Jeffries

July 4 of 1911: Ad Wolgast KO Owen Moran

July 4 of 1912: Ad Wolgast KO Joe Rivers, and that same big day, Jack Johnson KO Jim Flynn

July 4 of 1916: Freddie Welsh DQ Ad Wolgast

July 4 of 1919: Jack Dempsey KO Jess Willard

July 4 of 1923: Jack Dempsey W15 Tommy Gibbons.

Dempsey, who some, perhaps older historians, still say ranks as THE greatest heavyweight of them all, really did bring the masses to boxing, this when fighting on July 4 and on other dates. Dempsey, who fought (officially) from August of 1914 to September of 1927, fought just three times on July 4, but two of these fights are truly the stuff of legend.

Dempsey first fought on the big day in 1918, this when, as a still-raw slugger, he took out a guy named Bob Devere inside a round. By July 4 of 1919, Dempsey was approaching his prime, and he was starving hungry. It was on Independence Day that year that “The Manassa Mauler” really did maul Jess Willard. And also damn near killed him. Dempsey, in perhaps his most celebrated and ultra-violent fight, smashed the hulking and totally overwhelmed Willard to the canvas no less than seven times in the ferociously one-sided opener. How Willard survived, well, nobody knows.

But big Jess, his face a mess, with various bones broken, and not just regrading his head, Willard also nursing some broken ribs, somehow fought for two additional rounds, before he was pulled out after the third. Willard, for want of a better description – and the great writers of the day sure did use better, more prosaic, even graphically beautiful words when describing a Dempsey fight – did not know what hit him.

Jack, who used to be known as “Kid Blackie,” was now the king of kings.

Though Dempsey’s also celebrated and important fight with Georges Carpentier failed to hit the July 4 slot by two days, the first million dollar gate is another reason to remember how hotter than hot the sport of boxing really was in the month of July way back when. Dempsey took out “The Orchid Man” in four rounds on July 2 of 1921, and he would then fight on July 4 of 1923; this after a two-year layoff (for sure, the sport WAS different back then).

Going up against Tommy Gibbons, Dempsey (and his shrewd promoter Doc Kearns) got the win, both figuratively and literally, but the fight proved memorable for one pretty downbeat way. The high ticket prices (you can blame Kearns) and the low attendance (fans were also shrewd, and they knew Tommy was no real threat to Jack) saw to it that the hosting town, Shelby in Montana, literally went broke after bankrolling the July 4, 1923 fight.

For Dempsey, who had, perhaps unknowingly at the time boxed his last fight on the date of July 4, it was nevertheless another few years that he would rule as champ. And Dempsey was to go into a fight that some say ranks as THE greatest knockdown-filled, back-and-forth heavyweight slugfest of them all…….Jack would rumble with another huge guy, named Luis “Angel” Firpo.

And that fight would prove to be a quick turnaround for Dempsey, as the fight would take place just over two months after the Gibbons affair. For now, though, Dempsey was the king of the July 4th fights. Maybe he still is.

What a shame it is we no longer get to see a great, massive, and unforgettable prizefight take place on July 4.