heavyweight champion defending his crown against jack dempsey.t was a hot independence day at the toledo arena. 110 degrees. >> we are standing across from weber you park -- bayview park in toledo. bayview is famous for hosting the july 4, 1919 world championship heavyweight fight between jack dempsey and jess willard. it was difficult to find a place to hold this fight. in 1919, boxing had an awkward reputation for death in the ring recently. also gambling, and organized crime that was involved in it. but toledo made an offer, and it was decided to host the fight here. both fighters came to town a couple months before, they worked out and trained, and they built an 80,000 seat wooden stadium made of michigan pine. right next to it, a replica of a stadium of the same design, built for the july 4, 2019 centennial celebration of the fight. the day of the fight was extremely hot. and the pine began to leach. the newspaper boys were making a fortune selling newspapers for people to sit on. if you look at the photographs, a lot of straw hats, people h