Historic Moments in Carson City: ‘Fight of the Century’ on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 1897
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Fri, 10/29/2021 - 8:00am
This story is featured in the official Nevada Day Program, which can be found for free along the parade route this Saturday. Grab your copy for the parade line up, information about events, stories, and more!
With the decline of the Comstock Lode starting in the early 1880s, Nevada was in the middle of an economic depression. The 1880 census showed a population in Carson City of 4229, by 1897 the population had decreased by more than 40 percent.
State politicians were frantically looking for much needed revenue, and legalized prize fighting was considered to help fill the revenue shortfall.
By the start of the 1897 legislative session, bare knuckle boxing was the only kind of its sport not sanctioned or legal. There was a great deal of opposition to legalization because of the injuries and possible death after the boxing matches.
The Nevada State Assembly proposed a bill to legalize boxing with some restrictions. Those restrictions included the requirement of gloves weighing a minimum of four ounces, no sales of alcohol or liquor and that there were to be no bouts on Sundays. The assembly quickly passed the controversial bill with a vote of 20-9. The bill then went to the Senate where it was narrowly passed by a vote of 9 to 6. Governor Sadler then signed it into law on January 28, 1897 just in time to host the bout in March.
This fight would be the first licensed boxing match ever held in the United States. Contracts were written, with a purse of $15,000 for the winner, and the loser would receive $9,000. Proceeds for the side bets would be set at $10,000.
Promoters quickly jumped at this opportunity to make some money. Western Union profits alone (Telegrams) exceeded $50,000 upward to $75,000, today’s equivalent of approximately 1.5 million, for this fight.
The press rate for telegrams ranged from one-half cent to five cents per word. Telegram bulletins were also sent out to almost every important town in the country at $20 each.
With Contracts signed by mid-February 1897, the boxers and their entourages set up their prospective training camps. James J. Corbett chose Shaw’s Hot Springs, now Carson Hot Springs, while Robert Fitzsimmons selected Cooks Grove, (Empire City) current location near Morgan Mill Road by the Carson River, three miles east of town.
The arena bleachers were built as a twelve-sided structure, each of the sides being a section, and each section containing about 1,500 seats. The ticket price for seats in each section were divided into three groups, ringside $40 (today $1319) each; middle section at $20 (today $660) each and the top section as general admission were $5 ($165 today).
With a potential of 18,000 seats, promoters frantically jumped at the chance of trying to get 12,000 attendees. As it turned out they were thrilled with the over 4,000 that attended. Transportation of the day and inclement weather made passage over the mountains a challenge.
Corbett weighed into the fight at 183 pounds vs. Fitzsimmons weighing in at 163 pounds. The fight lasted 14 rounds with Fitzsimmons landing a powerful left jab into Corbett’s Solar Plexus dropping him to his knees.
Corbett was carried back to his corner where he was revived and learned of his loss.
In writing this article it was interesting to me, the effect that the telegraph played in Nevada’s history.
On October 25, 1864 the largest telegraph ever sent was the recently finished Nevada State Constitution. That telegram consisted of 175 hand-written pages, taking over 12 hours to get to President Lincoln for Nevada Statehood, at a cost $4,303.70.
This would pale in comparison to a sporting event that happened 23 years later.
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