Nellie Bly's Forgotten Stunt: As the First Woman to Cover a Championship Prize Fight, She Claimed to Have Gained Rare Access to Jack Dempsey

Abstract

More than two decades after paving the way for women in the newspaper business with her innovative first-hand news stories and “stunt journalism,” Nellie Bly broke down another barrier by becoming the first woman to cover a championship boxing match from ringside. Her coverage of the Jack Dempsey-Jess Willard fight in Summer 1919 included an exclusive interview with Dempsey the day after he won the heavyweight championship by defeating Willard

This article is an examination of Bly's coverage of that fight and Dempsey's first day as champion, with an attempt to determine how her stories compared to those of her male competitors and how authentic her exclusive interview with Dempsey was. The study concludes that although Bly's stories have been ignored by historians studying Dempsey's career, she contributed some rare insights into the boxing champion.