LUIS FIRPO DEAD

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29278, 9 August 1960, Page 15

LUIS FIRPO DEAD

Knocked Dempsey Out Of Ring

(N.Z Press Association— Copyright) BUENOS AIRES, August 7.

Luis Angel Firpo. the famous Argentine heavyweight boxer of the 1920’5, died today of a heart attack. He was 65.

Firpo was called “The Wild Bull of the Pampas” in his fighting days and the most famous fight he ever fought was the one in 1923 when he very nearly took the world heavyweight title away from Jack Dempsey. He knocked Dempsey completely out of the ring at the Polo Grounds in New York, but Dempsev managed to clamber back. He pounded Firpo to the canvas seven times in the first round and twice more in the second, the round in which Firpo lost.

There are many who insist that Firpo should have been declared heavyweight champion that evening.

Firpo lost little lustre in spite of his knock-out.

In Argentina Firpo was greeted as excitedly as if he had won the title. And the adulation never ceased during his lifetime. After Firpo retired, he became a car agency dealer and then a ranch-owner, accumulating a vast fortune. Firpo and Dempsey met quite often after their fight and became close friends. In New York today, Dempsey also 65. mourned the death of Firpo with the tribute that he was “the most dangerous man I ever fought. I’m very sorry to hear of his death,” he said. “Firpo’s punch, ruggedness and raw courage gave boxing one of its greatest boosts. He not onlv knocked me out of the ring in our fight, but he had me out on my feet. I don’t remember climbing back into the ring again. "They called him the Wild Bull of the Pampas, and that was an understatement. He catne at me like a herd of wild bulls that day,” said Dempsey.