They were two of boxing's greatest decades - featuring two of the finest heavyweight champions of all time. Dempsey and Louis fought their way from nothing to world titles at a time when the sport was winning a mass audience. Boxing grew through the boom years of the twenties then, when depression struck in the thirties, fans saw it as a symbol of their daily struggles. So they followed ever more fiercely and big fights in both decades reflected events outside the ring. As patterns of work and entertainment changed a spectacular new champion was crowned when the coming star Jack Dempsey destroyed the ageing Jess Willard in the Slaughter of Toledo. Dempsey was the hero who went to zero and back after the famous long count fight with Gene Tunney in 1927. In 1938 Brown Bomber Joe Louis fought for all of America and annihilated Hitler's champion Max Schmeling. They were busy days in the blood spattered theatre of boxing and the cast was huge. It included characters like Slapsie Maxie Rosen