Shelby, Montana claimed to be the next "Tulsa of the West." It became a town that made its brags and then had the courage, if not the resources, to back them up.
The focus: one spectacular heavyweight fight on a torrid 4th of July in 1923. In one corner, one of the most feared sluggers to ever live, Jack Dempsey; in the other a challenger, Tommy Gibbons, who was much like the town of Shelby itself, long on courage even unto accepting the threat of death, but just a bit short on the physical resources needed to pull off one of the great upsets in boxing history.
Mix in the fantastic national con artist, Dempsey's manager Jack "Doc" Kearns, and one of the finest bluffers Montana has ever seen, Shelby's "Body" Johnson, and you have story enough for a feature film.
It's all here, Montana's philosophy of boom or bust, winner takes all, $10,000 on the toss of a single card, and, amazingly, it's all true and told with meticulous historical detail by author Jason Kelly.
Dempsey-Gibbons was the American Dream fought with thundering fists in a dusty Montana town immortalized by its will to be champion.
Submitted by Ed
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