I Stand by Dempsey by Irwin Shaw. Short summary

5 seconds

Vincent Flanagan and Eugene Gursky argued over who was the better boxer — Louis or Dempsey. The conflict went on all night. In the end, Vincent won the conflict.

1 minute

Irwin Shaw shares with readers a description of the events in which two of his best friends, Eugene Gursky and also Vincent Flanagan, were primarily involved.

One evening they, accompanied by a friend of theirs named Flora, left the Madison Square Garden Sports Arena and got into a cab to go to an entertainment venue. Suddenly, the men began to argue about whether Dempsey or Louis was the better boxer (Eugene supported the former, while his comrade supported the latter). During the cab ride, their conflict began to escalate and Flora asked them to calm down.

Upon arrival at the bar, the members of the stronger sex began arguing again. Mr. Flanagan later retreated, but Mr. Gursky did not relent.

After a while Vincent calmed his own friend down, and the latter was forced to declare that Dempsey had worse characteristics than his rival.