Firpo

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Wild Bull of the Pampas



The body of Argentina's most famous boxer, Luis Angel Firpo, also rests in Recoleta. Firpo's heavyweight championship fight with Jack Dempsey at New York's Polo Grounds in 1923 was one of the most memorable in boxing history. He was knocked down seven times in the first round, but then countered with a blow that knocked Dempsey out of the ring for 19 seconds. Inexplicably, Dempsey was allowed to continue the fight, and knocked Firpo out in the second round.

Eighty years later, there are some in Argentina who still think Firpo -- known as the Wild Bull of the Pampas -- won the fight. Firpo died in 1960. A huge statue of him in his boxer's robe stands before his black granite tomb.

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