The Rise in Popularity.

Throughout all weight divisions, from flyweight to heavyweight, the 1920s prorex duced splendid boxers, including two of the greatest fighters of all time: heavyweight Jack Dempsey and lightweight Benny Leonard. Before World War I, boxing in the United States had been largely regarded as disreputable, practiced by rough characters in saloons and attracting spectators of uncertain character. After the war many of the laws that had banned boxing were rescinded, and the sport was brought under the control of commissions intended to reduce the undesirable criminal and gambling elements so often associated with it. With legal impediments lifted, boxing spread rapidly throughout the country and became one of the popular athletic spectacles for both the privileged classes and the common man.

Dempsey's and Rickard's Long Shadows.

Jack Dempsey was one of the most compelling boxers in the ring and thus contributed...