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Boston's Boxing Heritage: Prizefighting from 1882 to 1955
Boston's Boxing Heritage Prizefighting from 1882 to 1955 Author:Kevin Smith Bostonís Boxing Heritage: Prizefighting from 1882 to 1955 chronicles the rich history of prizefighting in Boston and the many characters that made the Hub city the home of champions. It is not only a pictorial history of the sport but also a tale of heroes and villains, gangsters and mobsters, contenders and bums, trainers and newspapermen,... more » straight men and cheats. It is a saga of ethnicity and race, of color barriers broken and neighborhood rivalries settled and rekindled. At its core this story is truly about a city and its relationship with a sport. ÝÝBostonís Boxing Heritage: Prizefighting from 1882 to 1955 covers the early bareknuckle years of boxing through the sportís postñWorld War II boom. When Bostonís John L. Sullivan won the heavyweight crown from Paddy Ryan in 1882, he took prizefighting from an illegal, red-light district pastime to the countryís most popular sport and in essence put Bean Town on the sporting map. For the next sixty years, Boston remained one of the elite cities in the boxing world spawning ring immortals such as George ìLittle Chocolateî Dixon, Joe ìthe Barbados Demonî Wolcott, William ìHoneyî Mellody, Rocky Marciano, Jack ìthe Boston Gobî Sharkey, and Sam ìthe Boston Tar Babyî Langford. ÝÝ« less