him to do" and "in those days anything could have happened", for that there was no agency or other legal authority at the time that was officially empowered to oversee and protect fighters from violations of such kind. However, footage before the fight shows Dempsey putting on his gloves with no additional objects and in full view of Willard, his team and the crowd. Comeback After losing his title fight with Dempsey, Willard went into semiretirement from the ring, fighting only exhibition bouts for the next four years. On May 12, 1923, promoter Tex Rickard arranged for Willard to make a comeback, fighting Floyd Johnson as part of the first line-up of boxing matches at the newly opened Yankee Stadium in New York City. 63,000 spectators attended the match, which the 41-year-old Willard was widely expected to lose. However, after Willard took a beating for several rounds, he came back to knock down Johnson in the 9th and 11th rounds, and Willard earned a TKO victory. Damon Runyon wrote afterward: "Youth, take off your hat and bow low and respectfully to Age. For days and days, the sole topic of conversation in the world of sport will be Willard's astonishing comeback." Willard followed up this victory by facing contender Luis Ángel Firpo on July 12, 1923. The fight was held at Boyle's Thirty Acres in New Jersey, in front of more than 75,000 spectators. Willard was knocked out in the eighth round, and then permanently retired from boxing. Later years Willard parlayed his boxing fame into an acting career of a sort. He acted in a vaudeville show, had a role in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, and starred in a 1919 feature film The Challenge of Chance. In 1933, he appeared in a bit part in a boxing movie, The Prizefighter and the Lady, with Max Baer and Myrna Loy. Death Willard died on 15 December 1968, in Los Angeles, California, from congestive heart failure. He had been admitted to a hospital a week earlier for a heart condition, but left against a doctor's advice. He returned again after suffering a stroke and died 12 hours later. Having died at age 86, Willard was the longest-lived heavyweight champion in history until he was surpassed by his old foe Jack Dempsey (who died in 1983, aged 87), then by Jack Sharkey (who died in 1994, aged 91), and finally by