America 1919

Actually, Pickford and Douglas's attitudes towards this boxing match also represented the majority of people's views on the fight.

Females who don't know much about boxing were even more optimistic about George Caponti.

Male viewers, who had some understanding of boxing, were more in favor of Jack Dempsey... there were traitors within the male audience, in fact, a large portion of male viewers fancied George Caponti!

The reason for this was nothing more than the incredibly biased reporting on the match. Even though Jack Dempsey had already won against the heavyweight champion Jess Willard before this fight, which made him more famous than George Caponti,

in an era where not to mention the internet, even television did not exist, the common people's understanding of events was entirely from newspapers and broadcasts.

George Caponti received too much coverage, forcibly becoming the hot favorite to win this match!
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In fact, even some who genuinely knew a bit about boxing started to doubt their previous predictions upon seeing these overwhelming news reports.

The climax of this situation came one week before the match when "Atlantic City Post" suddenly broke the news.

"Champion Jack Dempsey experiences a sudden situation during training, his right wrist suspected to be twisted, it's uncertain if he will be able to fight in a week's time..."

Upon its release, this report instantly caused a huge uproar, with many spectators promptly sending letters to "Atlantic City Post" or calling to inquire about the truth of the matter.

Not only that, but media from across the nation also sent their reporters to Boise City to interview Jack Dempsey directly and find out whether he really was injured.

Under these circumstances, Doc Kearns and Jack Dempsey could only come out to directly address everyone's questions.

"First and foremost, thank you very much for your love for Jack!"

At the hotel where Jack Dempsey was staying, Doc Kearns faced all the reporters, speaking on behalf of Doc Kearns in response to their questions.

"The reports in the newspapers about Jack's injury are not true because if Jack was injured, it would have definitely been announced by his team's doctor. When have you ever heard of an athlete's injury being announced by the media rather than by the team doctor?"

Doc Kearns denied the injury report from "Atlantic City Post."

"Additionally, I know everyone must be very concerned about whether Jack will continue to participate in the fight. I can assure everyone here that regardless of whether Jack has a problem, he will fight. The fans have come to Boise City to see Jack box, and for our fans, Jack could never miss any match."

Initially, Doc Kearns's response truly made everyone believe that Jack Dempsey wasn't truly injured, but with the slightly ambiguous response that followed, again made people doubt whether Jack was indeed injured and now Doc Kearns was just trying to cover it up.

So numerous reporters wanted to ask Jack Dempsey directly, hoping he would respond to the journalists' questions.

But no matter how others inquired, Jack Dempsey sat like a statue, silent, just occasionally rubbing his right wrist with his left hand.

This action naturally did not escape the attention of the reporters on site, and more and more of them became suspicious.

This also led them to seize this detail in their reports the next day, starting a frenzy of coverage.

"Haha!"

Joseph Adonis, who was far away in Los Angeles, first learned of this through Atlantic City Broadcast, and although the broadcast did not report Jack Dempsey's subtle movements, such reports were enough to make Joseph Adonis very happy.

"This Donnie, really knows how to play the game, with this the number of people betting on George Caponti to win will definitely be even more!"

The majority of bets Joseph Adonis's bookie had taken were on George Caponti winning. Now, according to Joseph Adonis's analysis, Donnie was even less likely to let George Caponti win the match.

So naturally, Joseph Adonis would win even more.

Julian Weber also said with certain admiration, "Boss, I didn't expect Donnie to be so good at manipulating media and public opinion!"

Joseph Adonis chuckled and said, "The biggest commercial radio station in the country is his; how could he not play it well!"

Julian Weber commented, "But Jack Dempsey being so cooperative with Donnie's promotion, I think Donnie must have given him quite the incentive!"

Joseph Adonis said indifferently, "No matter what Donnie has given Jack Dempsey, this boxing match is going to make a profit for Donnie, after all, there are too many foolish fans!"

At this point, both Joseph Adonis and Julian Weber couldn't help but criticize the current audience.

Even without this external bet, a simple match shouldn't involve taking a boxer's statement about an injury at face value without any evidence!

Some boxers actually like to release such smoke screens before the match, and their real intention is actually to say,

If I win, it's because of my incredibly strong spirit and will, it means I truly am amazing!