narrator: the reigning heavyweight champion, jess willard, defending his title against jack dempsey.hot independence day at the toledo arena.

narrator: the reigning heavyweight champion, jess willard, defending his title against jack dempsey.t was a hot independence day at the toledo arena. 110 degrees. >> we are standing across from bayview park and bayview's the july 4,osting 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 a death in the ring recently, gambling, and organized crime that was involved. but toledo made an offer and it was decided to host the fight here. both fighters came to town months before and trained. seat woodenn 80,000 stadium made of michigan pine and right next to it is a replica of a stadium with the same design that was built for the july 4, 2019 centennial celebration of the fight. the day of the fight was extremely hot and the pine began to bleach. the newspaper boys were making a fortune for people to sit on. a lot of straw hats, you see people of towels over the back of their next, really warm. dempsey who was by far the underdog just basically pummels willard in