A history of boxing in New Jersey
Knotso
I'm posting here a 550-word history of boxing in the Garden State for your
perusal and criticism. Eventually it may be published in "The New Jersey
Encyclopedia." Please let me know any inaccuracies, omissions or redundancies
you find.
Jon Blackwell
kno...@aol.com
Boxing. Fighting sports in colonial New Jersey were largely imported by British
soldiers and soldiers. One of the earliest accounts of a match in America dates
from 1749, when two seamen in Perth Amboy boxed outside a tavern, one of them
suffering fatal injuries. The growth of street life and a working class in New
York City in the early 1800s led to the development of bare-knuckle boxing as a
spectator sport, often pitting the favored fighters of ethnic rivals and
neighborhood gangs. Boxers would frequently cross the Hudson River into
then-rural New Jersey for their matches, in order to avoid authorities who
regarded such exhibitions as riots. The first prize fight on record in New
Jersey was fought in 1821 near Belleville, between “The American
Phenomenon” Jim Sanford and Ned Hammond, an Englishman; it was broken up by
the local sheriff and a posse. Another bout in Weehawken in 1835 resulted in a
melee with 12 arrests, and prompted the New Jersey Legislature to ban “the
degrading practice of prize fighting” a month later. The act was the
nation’s first anti-boxing legislation.
Despite the official prohibition, boxing continued surreptitiously. Adoption of
Marquis of Queensbury rules in the late 1800s (padded gloves, three-minute
rounds, 10-second count before a knockout) led to a less gory, more respectable
fight game. Legal “sparring exhibitions” gained a wide audience, and
amateur boxers learned their craft in local gymnasiums and at colleges such as
Princeton. In 1894, Thomas Edison’s laboratory in West Orange was the site of
the first sporting event recorded on film; heavyweight champion “Gentleman
Jim” Corbett defeated Peter Courtney in an exhibition.
Prize fighting was legalized in 1918 and placed under the supervision of a
state athletic commissioner. In 1921, heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey knocked
out French challenger Georges Carpentier in Jersey City. Promoted by the
legendary Tex Rickard, the fight was the first to be broadcast on radio and
first to earn $1 million in gate receipts. Jersey City, Newark (site of
middleweight title bouts in 1940 and 1948), Elizabeth Paterson, Trenton and
Camden continued to be important cities for boxing. Champions emerged from New
Jersey’s ethnic neighborhoods: Irish-Americans Freddie Cochrane and James
Braddock (heavyweight champion from 1935-37); Italian-Americans Tony Zale and
“Two-Ton” Tony Galento; and African-Americans Ike Williams, “Marvelous”
Marvin Hagler and Jersey Joe Walcott (heavyweight champion from 1951-52). New
Jersey was also host to several training sites, most notably the Turkish-born
Madame Hranoush Bey’s camp in Chatham, where champions such as Dempsey, Gene
Tunney and Max Schmeling sparred.
Boxing entered a period of decline in the 1950s, with television and urban
decay blamed for declining attendance at ballroom matches. However, the arrival
of gambling casinos in Atlantic City in 1978 lured multimillion-dollar prize
fights back to New Jersey. Heavyweights Mike Tyson, George Foreman and Lennox
Lewis have all fought at Atlantic City, and through the 1990s only Nevada was
the site of more professional boxing bouts than New Jersey. Revelations of mob
influence, as well as suspected rigging of boxers’ rankings, have
periodically bruised the sport’s reputation. In 1985, the State Commission of
Investigation urged that boxing be banned because of scandals. Its
recommendation was turned down, but the state did establish a new Athletic
Control Board with a former boxer, Larry Hazzard, as commissioner. The
board’s rules to ensure that all boxers are physically fit are recognized as
the strictest in the nation.
BLACK AVENGER
at least 2000 words.
BARD