CSNBayArea.com
San Francisco was once the center of the boxing world, or as the historians of the day would christen it, “The Cradle of Fistic Stars.”
Before the turn of the 20th century, the Olympic Club produced professional heavyweight world champion “Gentleman” Jim Corbett and the first-ever Olympic heavyweight gold medalist, Samuel Berger.
In fact, Corbett fought “colored” heavyweight world champion Peter Jackson to a grueling 61-round standstill in 1891. Kezar Pavilion once hosted heavyweight champ Rocky Marciano’s penultimate fight in 1955, and Candlestick Park was the site seven years later when Dick Tiger defeated Gene Fullmer for the middleweight title. The locals sure loved their boxing.
But with the Giants’ arrival and Warriors’ subsequent exodus from the East Coast around that time, combined with the 49ers’ championship runs decades later, the sweet science got lost in the Golden Gate fog.
However, the newly formed Boxing Union has plans to return The City to pugilistic prominence on July 26 starting with its first USA Boxing-sanctioned event, the S.F. Amateur Boxing Championships.
“This is going to be a one-night introduction for the fans that we plan will become two regular shows a month culminating in a weekly tournament over 13 weight classes that we’ll hold in the summer and winter,” founder Arturo Gastelum said. “Our goal here is that we’re really trying to attract a wider audience and a bigger platform of competition so we can cultivate the next wave of stars from the Bay.”
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