Description
Book Synopsis In the late 1890s, when boxing rivaled the popularity of baseball, George Dixon and Terry McGovern were among its most famous practitioners. Their paths first crossed in 1900 in what is widely considered the most significant featherweight bout in history. Both men were fighters who died young under distressing circumstances. Both were products of a burgeoning industrial society and a cult of masculinity, at a time when prizefighting''s adherents and opponents were in a constant tug-of-war.
This book tells the full story, with a fascinating cast of characters including imperious manager/promoter Tom O''Rourke, World Welterweight Champion Barbados Joe Walcott, and Tammany Hall bigwig Timothy Big Tim Sullivan, whose invisible hand made New York the epicenter of boxing in the 1890s.
Table of Contents
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1. George Dixon Coming of Age
- 2. George Dixon's Boston
- 3. George Dixon: Champion of Three Continents
- 4. Coney Island: Sodom by the Sea
- 5. Young Griffo and the Kentucky Rosebud
- 6. Eastern Precincts and a Wild Goose Chase
- 7. The Horton Law and the Broadway Athletic Club
- 8. Highs and Lows on Opposite Coasts
- 9. Terry McGovern: The South Brooklyn Comet
- 10. 1899: The Year of the Deluge
- 11. Tom O'Rourke and the Other Guy
- 12. Dixon vs. McGovern: The Championship Fight
- 13. Terry McGovern: High Times and a Shocking Reversal
- 14. George Dixon's Second Act: A Career on the Skids
- 15. Terry McGovern After the Fall
- 16. Little Chocolate in the Autumn of His Years
- 17. Terrible Terry's Psychopathology
- 18. Funerals and Monuments
- 19. Necrology
- Appendix I. Key Fights in the Boxing Career of George Dixon
- Appendix II. Key Fights in the Boxing Career of Terry McGovern
- Chapter Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
