It was 1964, and the end of my first year
of amateur boxing in Nanaimo, but on
August 21, as I waited for my second
year of training in September '64
that day would also be the the end of
another boxing journey
weekly boxing on television.
I was just a pre-teen back in 1955,
when I first watched the black and white
boxing matches on a neighbor's house on
friday nights. At that time, I had no real understanding of the sport
but it was interesting and then there were those Gillette razor ads
and the little jingles set to music.
BACK TO WHERE IT ALL BEGAN:
Looking back to past years of boxing on television, the golden years
would be 1944 to 1964 when Madison Square Gardens was the focal
point for the Friday Night fights with Gillette the sponsor.
The very first televised bout from the Gardens took place on
September 29, 1944 and it featured a return match for the
featherweight champion Willie Pep and the former champ
Chalky Wright. And the very last was a light-heavyweight
bout between Johnny Persol and Henry Hank. And for
twenty great years the fights were popular events in many
homes and pubs across North America from New York City
to Nanaimo, B.C, Canada.
Some of the folks involved in Professional boxing in the USA
expressed a positive note with the end of televised boxing,
but for many who could not afford to stage or attend regular
boxing matches it was a sad end to a great era.
GREAT BOUTS and FAMOUS BOXERS GALORE:
*The first major star was Willie Pep, and his bout against Wright
in the Gardens would not be his last. Fast forward to 1949,
and Willie was the former champion but he would make a great
comeback when he defeated champion Sandy Saddler for the
featherweight title on February 11, 1949.
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