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The highlight of the year 1951 in boxing revolved, about Sugar Ray Robinson and his world middle-weight title. He lost his 16o-lb. championship to Randy Turpin, Great Britain's champion, in a 15-round bout in London, July no, in the most amazing boxing upset in recent years. Turpin startled the sports world when he won an unquestioned decision over Robinson in the London bout.
However, a condition of the London match was that Turpin had to make his first defense of the championship against Robin. son. This return was staged at the Polo Grounds, New York city, on Sept. 12 and, before the year's largest crowd and for the year's largest gate receipts, Robinson regained his title by a technical knockout over Turpin in the tenth round of a scheduled 15-round bout. The knockout came with electrifying suddenness. Robinson was having difficulty with Turpin until, in the tenth round, a collision of heads reopened an old cut over Robinson's left eye. Robinson immediately cast aside the cau• tion he had previously exercised and battered his foe into a helpless state.
A crowd of 61,370 viewed the match. The box-office receipts amounted to $767.626. It was estimated that income from motion pictures of the bout exceeded $zoo,000. Income from thea• tre television, a development whereby telecasts are blacked out for local home consumption but are shown on screens in theatres engaged for the purpose, where admissions are charged exclu• sively for the fight telecast, amounted to $25,000. Robinson's. 3o% of all net receipts amounted to $188,491. Turpin, fighting for 25%, collected $157,075.
The bout was neither telecast nor broadcast over the radio for home consumption. The staggering amount of the receipts, therefore, was accepted as support for the contention that tele- vision definitely had made inroads on boxing receipts and on boxing development. From the economic standpoint, the situa• tion was a contradiction. Box-office receipts unquestionably had decreased, as such. However, the income from television and radio had attained great proportions. The best available information was that the International Boxing Club, Inc.. which has a virtual monopoly on all important ring bouts in the United States, collected $800.00o from this source. The discouraging influence was found in another direction. Smaller boxing clubs suffered because of the popularity of television as a medium, particularly when the coaxial cable was extended coast to coast The consequence was that the supply of promising boxers was depleted for want of elementary proving grounds. Attendances dropped to as low as 300 and 400 in some centres. Even in Madison Square Garden. on Sept. 14, only 1,452 onlookers viewed a bout between Eugene Hairston and Jackie Keough, middleweights.
Rivalling the Robinson-Turpin events from the standpoint of surprise element was the seven-round knockout Jersey Joe Walcott scored over Ezzard Charles at Pittsburgh, Pa., July 18, to win the world heavyweight title. This was one of the year's biggest upsets.
Robinson had surrendered his world welterweight title when he knocked out Jake La Motta in 13 rounds at Chicago in February, to win the world middleweight title. This abdication produced an elimination series which ended with Kid Gavilan. Cuba, being recognized in the United States as world welterweight champion. His claim was disputed by European boxing authori- ties, who recognized Charles Humez, French boxer, as world champion. Johnny Bratton, Chicago, beat Charley Fusari, New Jersey, for Robinson's discarded welterweight title. in a bout waged in Chicago, March 14, and recognized as a championship bout by the National Boxing association. Gavilan beat Bratton in New York city. May 18, to become world welterweight cham pion, at least in the United States.
James Carter, New York city, knocked out Ike Williams, Philadelphia, in 14 rounds of a bout in New York, May 25, to become world lightweight champion.
The eclipse of Joe Louis came in October. The 37-year-old former champion, fighting a comeback campaign for another chance at the title he once held, was knocked out in eight spectacular rounds by Rocky Marciano, young Brockton, Mass., heavyweight.
Joey Maxim, Cleveland. O., world light-heavyweight champion, Sandy Saddler, New York, world featherweight champion, Vic Toweel, South Africa, world bantamweight champion, and Dado Marino, Honolulu, T.H., world flyweight champion, all retained their titles. Saddler stopped Willie Pep, former champion, in 9 rounds of a scheduled 15-round bout in New York, to keep his title. However, the bout was marked by such rough, unethical boxing on the part of both that Pep's boxer's licence was revoked and Saddler was suspended following the match. This disciplinary action was taken by Robert K. Christenberry, who became chairman of the New York State Athletic commission following the resignation of Col. Edward P. F. Eagan. The latter's resignation followed the death of Georgie Flores, Brooklyn boxer, after a bout in New York. Christenberry was appointed by Gov. Thomas E. Dewey, with a mandate to "clean up" boxing in New York.
The death of Flores in a New York ring touched off an official probe in that state. Extensive investigations were being conducted by the state's athletic commission as the year ended. Particular interest was being manifested in contracts the Inter-national Boxing Club, Inc., held on six ring champions covering "exclusive service." These documents were being investigated on the basis of their possible relation to monopoly in restraint of trade. The department of justice in Washington, D.C., in October launched an independent investigation of the I.B.C. to determine whether the organization was operating in violation of the Sherman antitrust law. With respect to all these investigations the I.B.C., through its president, James D. Norris, Jr., of Chicago, co-operated fully.
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