The Long Count: The Windy City Carries the Legacy of Boxing on Big Shoulders

By Julia Borcherts

Boxing is becoming fashionable again across the country, thanks to the positive media attention surrounding the Jack Johnson biography, NBC's newest reality show, The Contender , and Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby . But, in Chicago, it's not the hype and glitz that has kept the city's rich pugilistic history alive. The "City of Big Shoulders" has always been known for its neighborhoods, its roots, and its blue-collar work ethic. And no sport better exemplifies these virtues than boxing.

"I definitely have noticed a lot of energy swinging back to boxing," says 8 Count Productions promoter and JABB Gym co-owner Dominic Pesoli, whose fight cards at venues such as the Aragon Ballroom average around 2,000 fans per show. "And the gym's been crazy busy. In addition to the young amateurs, I've noticed an increase in female boxers. They're not necessarily fighters, but they want to try boxing as a different form of exercise."

This newfound respectability is coming from a demographic geared toward fitness and health, attributes not traditionally associated with boxing--which has suffered from a reputation of being dangerous and somewhat seedy. But, while the sport's image is improving, it still seems to mesh with the city's traditions. Promoter Johnny Bellino produces nightclub events in North Side clubs that draw large, predominantly white-collar crowds, and Bobby Hitz, a friend of Jackie Kallen and Frank Stallone, has been a prominent area promoter with a nationwide following for many years. The gorgeous and popular ring announcer Amy Hayes credits Hitz with giving her the opportunity to launch her career during a time when other promoters wouldn't take her seriously.

Chicago has been a star on the boxing map since 1904, when Packey McFarland, an Irish-American welterweight who grew up in the city's Back of the Yards neighborhood, began his professional career at age 15. McFarland, who is widely considered one of the best boxers of all time, won his first six fights by knockout before suffering his only loss while still 15 years of age. He went on to score 31 KOs in his first 37 bouts, ending his 104-fight career in 1916 with a record of 98-1-5, with one draw coming after a hard-fought 25-round battle. He went on to become a successful businessman and relocated with his wife in Joliet, where he died in 1936.

But it isn't just the hometown fighters that people associate with this city. Back in the days before casinos became the venues of choice, Chicago hosted some of the most important fights in boxing history.

In September 1927, Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey drew a crowd of 150,000 fight fans to see Tunney defend the world heavyweight title he'd won from Dempsey the year before during a Philadelphia rainstorm. Although Dempsey knocked Tunney down during the seventh round of that 10-round bout, Tunney gained an extra six seconds to recover when Dempsey had to be redirected to the correct corner to wait out the count. Tunney prevailed and retained the title with a unanimous decision.

In 1937, Joe Louis defeated James Braddock in Chicago to win the heavyweight crown.

On February 14, 1951, Chicago became famous for its second St. Valentine's Day massacre when Sugar Ray Robinson and Jake LaMotta met for the sixth time, with Robinson scoring a KO victory in the 13th round to win the world middleweight title.

In April 1952, Robinson returned to Chicago to fight former world champion Rocky Graziano. Although Graziano knocked Robinson down in the third round, Robinson came back seconds later to floor Grazaino, retaining his middleweight title with the third round KO.

In November 1956, 21-year-old Floyd Patterson won the vacant world heavyweight title with a fifth-round knockout over light-heavyweight champ Archie Moore. Patterson became the youngest heavyweight champion in history, a record he held until 1986. Moore, who was 42 at the time, was attempting to set a record of his own--to become the oldest world heavyweight champion in history. After the fight, Patterson flew to New York to see his wife, who had given birth to a baby girl while he was in the ring.

Muhammad Ali lived in Chicago, as well, training with the late Clarence Griffin, founder of the Windy City Gym on Chicago's southwest side. Graziano, Sonny Liston, and "Jersey" Joe Walcott all fought for titles in Chicago.

The most recent local title fight, however, occurred nearly 25 years ago at the Rosemont Horizon (now the Allstate Arena) when WBA Heavyweight Champion Mike Weaver defeated James "Quick" Tillis in a 15-round bout. But Don King's recent announcement of the "All the King's Men" event at the United Center on May 21 brought a WBO Heavyweight Championship match back to Chicago. In the main event, titleholder Lamon Brewster faced Polish-born Andrew Golota, who makes his home in Chicago. Tickets, which ranged in price from $35-$500, sold briskly.

But we live in a working-class city, so it's not Vegas-style glamour that keeps the scene alive. Chicago is also the birthplace of amateur boxing competition, the proving ground that allows younger or less experienced fighters the opportunity to showcase and test their skills before taking the step up to the professional level.

The Golden Gloves got their start in Chicago in 1923, when sportswriter Arch Ward formed a tournament at the old Chicago Stadium to assist young boxers and promote amateur competition. The winner in each of 13 weight classes received a small golden glove as an award. More than 400 boxers competed in that first tournament, but due to a city anti-boxing law, it was four years before another could be held.

In 1928, the Chicago Tribune and the New York Daily News co-sponsored the first nationwide Golden Gloves event. Pugilists from East Coast cities traveled to New York to compete, and those from other parts of the country traveled to Chicago. The winners of the Chicago and New York championships would meet to determine the National Champions in each weight division. Eventually, the 30 regional Golden Gloves franchises aligned under U.S.A. Boxing, which is the current governing body for all amateur boxing in the country, including the Olympic trials. Each of the 30 local championship tournaments sends the winners at the top-level Open Division to a national championship, with the finals broadcast on national television.

Each year in April, approximately 350 male and female amateur boxers from ages 16-33 meet at the historic St. Andrew's Gym to compete for titles in Novice and top-level Open Divisions. The preliminary, semi-final, and championship final bouts, which take place during three separate weeks in April and May, collectively draw 15,000 fans from around the area.

Such boxing luminaries such as Louis, Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns, Johnny Tapia, Evander Holyfield, and Oscar de la Hoya got their starts by winning the National Golden Gloves title as amateurs. Chicago's most recent Olympic boxers, including 1996 Bronze Medal winner Nate Jones and his teammates, David Diaz and Darnell Wilson, as well as the 2000 Olympic team captain Michael Bennett, all competed in the Golden Gloves.

"The Golden Gloves is a very prestigious tournament," said former Golden Glove boxer and McGarry's Gym owner Martin McGarry. "It's every kid's dream to win the Golden Gloves' title."

Sam Colonna, head trainer at Chicago's historic Windy City Gym, agreed.

"You know, when a boy comes down here, the first goal is, 'Look, I want to win the Chicago Golden Gloves.' That's a boxer's dream."

Chicago also holds the distinction of hosting the first U.S.A. Boxing-sanctioned amateur female fight. In 1994, Tracy Desmond, a 21-year-old DePaul University senior, scored a TKO over 18-year-old University of Chicago freshman Jacqueline Ta.

It's also the one activity in the city where all are welcome and it's possible to succeed even if you're not built like a traditional athlete. Recognition of the dedication it takes to get in shape for sparring and the courage to step alone into a ring bonds the athletes, even at the beginner's level. So, it's not unusual to walk into a boxing club and see a cab driver standing next to a 14-year-old girl next to a father-and-son team next to a female attorney next to a Golden Gloves champion. In Chicago, boxing's appeal crosses economic, language, and lifestyle lines. One of the benefits is that it can pull together a community that might not otherwise have grounds for common bonds.

It's also accessible. In addition to several excellent private gyms across the city and suburbs, the Chicago Park District hosts boxing programs at more than a dozen facilities in all corners of the city, for little to no cost. Children over the age of 8 are eligible to participate and there are more than 30 youth exhibition programs per year, with the emphasis on sportsmanship and safety. U.S.A. Boxing defines the safety regulations for all sanctioned boxing programs, including those with the Park District. For this reason, protective headgear, shirts, and larger gloves are worn at the amateur level and fights are likely to be stopped much more quickly than at the professional level if an athlete appears to be having difficulty.

As far as children's interests are concerned, boxing proponents often argue that the fundamentals of boxing training are not only effective for their physical conditioning, but they have positive effects on kids' personalities, as well. Rather than breeding insecure and violent bullies, it helps them to become more self-confident and mature.

"There's a kid who came here because his mom made him," said Nathan Skoda, head trainer at Restoration Ministries' Harvey Boxing club. "He didn't want to be here. He cried every day, didn't want to get in the ring, didn't want to do the training. But he stuck it out, and I began to see him mature and began to see him became determined. He went from being a passive, weaker kind of kid who didn't want to be in the ring at all to a kid who is now one of the veterans, a leader in the gym. His personality has changed. Forget about winning a tournament, which he did, and which is great, but he's matured and he's so much more confident and outgoing now, and he is a leader.

"There's another kid as we have here, 9 years old, had a severe case of ADD--could not pay attention, struggled in school, was in special training classes," Skoda continued. "And since he's been with us, which has been about a year, his grades have improved dramatically, and he's made the Honor Roll for the first time ever. He's still on Ritalin, but his dosage has declined, and I've seen an improvement in his behavior."

So, whether it's the teacher who notices an improvement in his student's attitude and aptitude, or the mom who sits on a bench at Eckhart Park every afternoon while her teenage son trains for the Golden Gloves, or the father who throws the son he coaches up onto his shoulders at the conclusion of his first professional fight, or even a professional woman who wants a body like Hilary Swank's, the sport of boxing has broadened its scope in Chicago to include a variety of participants and proponents. And they all seem to fit together just fine.

--We live in a working-class city, so it's not Vegas-style glamour that keeps the scene alive.