Friday, Oct. 10, 1997 | 10:18 a.m.
It was 1897 and prize fighting under the Marquis of Queensberry rules was only five years old.
But even in its infancy, Nevada had an attraction for the fight game. In fact, the second recognized heavyweight championship fight was held March 17, 1897 in Carson City.
The reigning champion, James J. Corbett, was matched with Bob Fitzsimmons in an outdoor fight on a chilly afternoon in which there was no advance limit as to the number of rounds.
Corbett, who had won the first-ever heavyweight title fight by knocking out bare-knuckle champion John L. Sullivan in the 21st round of a fight in 1892, figured to have his hands full with the Englishman. The wily Fitzsimmons was in the early stages of a career that would eventually see him become the first multiple-weight-class champion, as he went on to win middleweight and light heavyweight titles just after the turn of the century.
With the sport's rules still in the developmental stage, a heavyweight championship fight didn't necessarily require men of heavyweight stature. Corbett, for example, weighed 151 pounds for his St. Patrick's Day fight with Fitzsimmons, who came in at 167.
The fight landed in Nevada after the state passed a boxing licensing law and began picking off fights that had been going to California. For $1,000 apiece, Corbett and Fitzsimmons were licensed and Carson City grabbed a fight that earlier appeared earmarked for San Francisco.
The men fought for a portion of the live gate and added to their purse by making independent deals with two newspapers -- the San Francisco Examiner and the New York Journal -- for exclusive rights to all interviews and photos. The newspapers paid the fighters $3,000 apiece for that privilege.
Fitzsimmons, 31 at the time but a professional fighter until he turned 50, came out the winner when he stopped Corbett in the 14th round.
In retrospect, the fight 100 years ago showcased a sport that was about to take off in popularity. And Nevada, with its open gambling and somewhat racy outlook on life, was moving toward the forefront as an attractive site for fights of worldwide interest.
Within a very few years, the state had its first preeminent promoter in Tex Rickard. Based in the mining boomtown of Goldfield, Rickard got his start with a 1906 lightweight title fight between Battling Nelson and Joe Gans.
The bout went an incredible 42 rounds before Gans emerged with the victory.
Rickard sharpened his promoting skills with a series of big-money fights in Central Nevada. He was the Bob Arum or Don King of his day and he gained everlasting fame by promoting heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey, who was earning $1 million purses for fights in the 1920s.
Las Vegas was a secondary site for both boxing and commercial enterprise until the 1950s. In fact, Las Vegas didn't host its first heavyweight title fight until the 1965 bout between Muhammad Ali and Floyd Patterson at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
It was an ugly fight, with Patterson aggravating a slipped disc in the fourth round and reduced to evasive tactics through the remainder of the match. Round after round, Ali pummeled Patterson until referee Harry Krause stopped the fight in the 12th.
Las Vegas has hosted innumerable heavyweight title fights since and will host another when Evander Holyfield and Michael Moorer put their WBA and IBF titles on the line in a unification bout Nov. 8 at the Thomas & Mack Center. Unlike Corbett vs. Fitzsimmons 100 years earlier, at least Holyfield and Moorer won't be wind chilled and won't be asked to go beyond 12 rounds.
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