10,000 Swamp Times Square in 1921 for ‘Battle of the Century’ Match
If you wanted to see something live, you had to be there.
Home radios first became available in 1920. Three experimental TVs were placed in a home for testing in 1928. The screens were 1 1/2 inches square.
Boxing ruled the roost in the 20s and drew big crowds. Jack (Manassa Mauler) Dempsey dominated and won a deferment from the WW1 draft, claiming he wouldn’t be able to support his family as a soldier. I imagine most other men at that time could honestly make that same claim and not fare as well as a famous boxer.
Many called Dempsey a draft dodger and favored his opponent for serving in the French army during WW1.
The 1921 World Heavyweight Championship featured Dempsey and the European champion Georges Carpentier. Another big battle and big money would go to the site chosen for this highly anticipated match.
And that would be Jersey City, New Jersey.
The only problem was there was no place to stage the fight.
For $250,000 the promoters had a bowl shaped stadium constructed of yellow pine (dubbed the Pine Bowl) with seating for 91,000. It required 600 carpenters, 400 workers and 60 tons of nails.
As the match approached it was sold out. Demand far exceeded supply.
It was stated 2,000 of the tickets were bought by women. I don’t see how they could know that.
For this fight a microphone was put at ringside for the blow-by-blow account of the action. Something new was tried, called wireless telephone or a limited radio broadcast.
At several places, loudspeakers were set up to receive the fight live. You can see in the photo just how jammed it was in Times Square.
My second impression when seeing the photo is every man is wearing a hat. Every man.
And the exact same kind of hat, a medium brim, flat top straw hat with a band around it on that July day.
It’s called a Boater.
Dempsey defeated Carpentier by KO in the fourth round.
