Boxing trivia - saw the headline about the $18M gate for the Tyson-Paul 'fight'
What boxing match produced the first ever $1M+ gate? No googling.
I know nobody cares about boxing, but I do.
Replies to: Boxing trivia - saw the headline about the $18M gate for the Tyson-Paul 'fight'
Dempsey - Tunney
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Good guess: Dempsey - Carpentier in 1921
A staggering gate of about $1.8M, or roughly $31M today.
Jack Dempsey was the most famous man in the world. His reign was during the 1920s, at the same time as Babe Ruth and Knute Rockne. He was significantly more famous and made much, much more money than either of them.
His gravestone epitaph reads 'A Gentle Man and a Gentleman'.
Funny, I was going to guess that one but couldn't remember the French guy's name.
I believe Carpentier was a French first world war veteran. Dempsey didn't serve. So, the fight became something of a grudge match and was held at a giant venue (I thought the Polo Grounds but it was actually somewhere in Jersey). KO, I believe.
Very good memory
It was held in an outdoor bowl constructed just for the fight, with over 80,000 attendees, in Jersey City.
Pure guess, but I will say the second Louis/Conn fight.
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Just a guess because I think Frazier/Ali the fighters got one million each. I will say a little
earlier. Sugar Ray Robinson/Carmen Basilio? Maybe that's too early.
Way before those
This is the gate, not total payout. Of course long ago, the gate was the only source of revenue.
If it’s before Louis would have to be a Dempsey fight.
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