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Posted By: warshawlaw

The Manassa Mauler we all know and love was born William Harrison Dempsey and took on the name Jack Dempsey in tribute to the former middleweight champ, as many fighters did at the time with former fighters of note (name recognition also helped sell tickets). Other tribute names of note: Joe Walcott (1890's fighter, 1950s HW champ) and Ty Cobb (a fighter of little note in the T225 set who isn't the ballplayer but whose card has undoubtedly launched then shattered countless dreams). Many fighters took a famous name with "Young" or "Baby" attached: Young Corbett, Young Corbett III, Baby Joe Gans, Young Stribling.