Luis Ángel Firpo (October 11, 1894 – August 7, 1960) was an Argentine boxer. Born in Junín,

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

, he was nicknamed ''The Wild Bull of the

Pampas The Pampas (from the qu, pampa, meaning "plain") are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba; all of Uruguay; and Brazi ...

''.

Boxing career

In 1917, Firpo began his professional

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

career by beating

Frank Hagney Frank Sidney Hagney (20 March 1884 – 25 June 1973) was an Australian actor. He is known for his work on '' It's a Wonderful Life'' (1946), ''Ride Him, Cowboy'' (1932) and '' The Sea Beast'' (1926). Early and career Born in Sydney, New So ...

by a decision in six in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. Originally declared a no decision, the bout's result was later changed to a win for Firpo. For his second bout, he traveled, in January 1918, to

Montevideo Montevideo () is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . Montevideo is situated on the southern co ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, where he suffered his first defeat, a first round

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving strikin ...

at the hands of Angel Rodriguez. He put a string of six wins in a row after that, and so on November 1, 1919, he found himself challenging Dave Mills in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

, for the South American Heavyweight title. He lost on that occasion by a decision in 15 rounds, but then came back with a win over Andres Balsa by a knockout in round six. Luis Firpo, G

On April 20, 1920, he and Mills had a rematch and Firpo won the title with a first-round knockout. After one more win, he and Mills faced each other in a rubber match, and the result was the same as that of their second bout: Firpo the winner by a knockout in the first. In 1921, the quality of Firpo's challengers improved, when he defeated fringe contender

Gunboat Smith Edward "Gunboat" Smith (February 17, 1887 – August 6, 1974) was an Irish American boxer, film actor and later a boxing referee. During his career, Smith faced twelve different Boxing Hall of Famers a combined total of 23 times. Among the all-ti ...

twice, the first by decision in 12 and the second by knockout, also in 12. In 1922, he continued his rise in the Heavyweight rankings by winning all four of his fights by a knockout. Firpo began 1923 by knocking out former title challenger Bill Brennan in the 12th round. He followed that with seven more wins in a row, including wins over Jack McAuliffe and former world champion

Jess Willard Jess Myron Willard (December 29, 1881 – December 15, 1968) was an American world heavyweight boxing champion billed as the Pottawatomie Giant who knocked out Jack Johnson in April 1915 for the heavyweight title. Willard was known for size rat ...

. After a win against Charlie Weinert, Firpo challenged world heavyweight champion

Jack Dempsey William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey (June 24, 1895 – May 31, 1983), nicknamed Kid Blackie and The Manassa Mauler, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1914 to 1927, and reigned as the world heavyweight champion from 1919 to 1926 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on September 14, becoming the first

Latin American Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-e ...

in history to challenge for the title. Firpo was floored seven times in the first round of the bout, before he trapped Dempsey against the ropes and launched a combination that sent the champion out of the ring. Dempsey hit his head against a writer's typing machine, and for a moment, it looked as if Firpo would become world Heavyweight champion. But Dempsey was helped into the ring at the count of nine (in spite of having been seventeen seconds outside the ring; fighters are given a twenty-second count when they are knocked through the ropes) and he eventually knocked out Firpo in the second round. This fight has been regarded by critics and experts as one of the greatest fights in history. Boxing historian

Bert Sugar Herbert Randolph Sugar (June 7, 1936 – March 25, 2012) was an American boxing writer and sports historian known for his trademark fedora and unlit cigar. Biography Early life and education Sugar was born in Washington, D.C. on June 7, 1936 ...

called it the greatest fight in the history of the sport. Despite losing, Firpo gained substantial fame all over Latin America after this bout, as many people in different parts of that region spoke about his feat of dropping Dempsey. This fight remained so inspirational that, for instance, it led to the naming of the

Salvadorian Salvadorans (Spanish: ''Salvadoreños''), also known as Salvadorians (alternate spelling: Salvadoreans), are citizens of El Salvador, a country in Central America. Most Salvadorans live in El Salvador, although there is also a significant Salvado ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

club C.D. Luis Ángel Firpo. In 1924, Firpo won his first three fights by knockout, but then lost his last two by decision, the last to legendary challenger

Harry Wills Harry may refer to: TV shows * ''Harry'' (American TV series), a 1987 American comedy series starring Alan Arkin * ''Harry'' (British TV series), a 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons * ''Harry'' (talk show), a 2016 American daytime talk show ...

. He retired for a short period, but came back in 1926 to beat

Erminio Spalla Erminio Spalla (7 July 1897 – 14 August 1971) was an Italian professional heavyweight boxer, film actor and singer. Spalla studied fine arts in Brera, when in 1910 he saw film footage of the world boxing championships and decided to become a ...

by a decision in ten. Then, he kept away from the fight game for nine years, but he attempted another comeback in 1936, winning two fights before being beaten by a knockout in three by future

Joe Louis Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed the Brown Bomber, Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He re ...

challenger

Arturo Godoy Arturo Godoy (October 10, 1912 – 1986) was a Chilean professional boxer, also nicknamed "Arturito". Biography He was born in Iquique on October 10, 1912. He was South American Heavyweight Champion and had an extensive and successful career in A ...

. Firpo finally retired after compiling a record of 32 wins and 6 losses in 38 fights, with 26 wins by knockout.

Retirement

Afterwards, Firpo became a car-dealer for

Stutz The Stutz Motor Car Company, was an American producer of high-end sports and luxury cars based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Production began in 1911 and ended in 1935. Stutz was known as a producer of fast cars including America's first spo ...

and a rancher. By 1940 he was ranching on a large scale in Carlos Casares with 8,000 cattle, 4,000 sheep and 400 horses. He discovered the boxer Abel Cestac in July 1940. Firpo and

agreed to jointly manage Cestac, who went on to become the South American heavyweight champion. On his passing in 1960, Luis Firpo was buried in

La Recoleta Cemetery La Recoleta Cemetery ( es, Cementerio de la Recoleta) is a cemetery located in the Recoleta neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It contains the graves of notable people, including Eva Perón, presidents of Argentina, Nobel Prize winners, ...

in Buenos Aires. His mausoleum has a statue of him at the front.''The Rough Guide to Buenos Aires''
/ref>

Legacy

Firpo's popularity around Latin America was immeasurable. Years later, C.D. Luis Ángel Firpo, a professional

team A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to inf ...

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south ...

, was named after him. In addition, various schools, streets, and avenues across Latin America have been named after him. In 2003, he was named by '' The Ring'' as one of the 100 greatest punchers of all time.

Professional boxing record

, style="text-align:center;" colspan="8", 31 Wins (26 Knockouts), 4 Defeats, 2 No ContestsLuis Ángel Firpo's Professional Boxing Record
BoxRec.com. Retrieved on 2012-03-18. , - style="text-align:center; background:#e3e3e3;" , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Res. , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Record , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Opponent , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Type , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Rd., Time , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Date , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Location , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Notes , - align=center , Loss , 31-4
, , align=left,

, , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 31-3
, , align=left, Siska Habarta , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 30-3
, , align=left, Saverio Grizzo , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 29-3
, , align=left, Erminio Spalla , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , style="background:#ddd;", ND , 28-3
, , align=left, Charley Weinert , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , style="background:#ddd;", ND , 28-3
, , align=left,

, , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 28-3
, align=left, Al Reich , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 27-3
, align=left, Erminio Spalla , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 26-3
, align=left, Farmer Lodge , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Loss , 25-3
, align=left,

, , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 25-2
, align=left, Charley Weinert , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 24-2
, align=left, Homer Smith , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 23-2
, align=left, Joe Burke , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 22-2
, align=left,

, , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 21-2
, align=left, Jim Hibbard , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 20-2
, align=left, Jack Herman , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 19-2
, align=left, Jack McAuliffe II , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 18-2
, align=left, Bill Brennan , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 17-2
, align=left, Jim Tracey , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 16-2
, align=left, Jack Herman , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 15-2
, align=left, Joe McCann , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 14-2
, align=left, Tom Maxted , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 13-2
, align=left, Fernando Priano , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 12-2
, align=left,

, , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 11-2
, align=left,

, , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 10-2
, align=left, Dave Mills , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , style="background:#ddd;", NC , 9-2
, align=left, Alberto Coleman , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 9-2
, align=left, Antonio Jirsa , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 8-2
, align=left, Dave Mills , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 7-2
, align=left, Andrés Balsa , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Loss , 6-2
, align=left, Dave Mills , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 6-1
, align=left, Arthur Manning , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 5-1
, align=left, Fernando Priano , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 4-1
, align=left, Calvin Respress , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 3-1
, align=left, Calvin Respress , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 2-1
, align=left, Ignacio Sepulveda , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 1-1
, align=left, William Daly , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Loss , 0-1
, align=left, Angel Rodriguez , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , style="background:#ddd;", NC , , align=left, Frank Hagney , , , , align=left, , align=left,

References

External links