The venue

The club was organized in 1883. With various expansions the Olympic Club's complex of buildings grew to cover a whole city block in what is now called the Bywater section of New Orleans, at the intersection of Royal Street and Montegut Street. It included a

gym A gymnasium, also known as a gym, is an indoor location for athletics. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasium". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learning spaces in educational i ...

nasium and other facilities for members, as well as a large arena lit by electric lighting - still something of a novelty at the time. The original arena seated 3,500; in response to growing success it was expanded to seat 10,000.

Events

While the club hosted a variety of events, including

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

matches, it was by far best known for

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

matches. Sports writer S. Derby Gisclair called it "the epicenter of professional boxing" in the era. The most famous of boxing matches held at the Olympic Club were a series of World Championship matches held on consecutive days in September of 1892, including

Featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, t ...

and

Lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight ...

championship matches, cumulating in

James J. Corbett James John "Jim" Corbett (September 1, 1866 – February 18, 1933) was an American professional boxer and a World Heavyweight Champion, best known as the only man who ever defeated the great John L. Sullivan (hence the " man who beat the man ...

defeating John L. Sullivan for the World Heavyweight Championship. On April 6, 1893, the longest fight in professional boxing history took place at the Olympic Club, as

Andy Bowen Andy Bowen (May 3, 1867 – December 15, 1894) was an American lightweight boxer best known for fighting the world's longest boxing match, which took place in 1893 against Jack Burke. Biography Early life Born on May 3, 1867, in New Orlean ...

fought Jack Burke for the Lightweight Championship. The match lasted 110 rounds, over seven hours and 19 minutes (each round lasting three minutes) before referee John Duffy declared a "no contest", both men having become too dazed and tired to come out of their corners.

End of the Olympic Club

The Olympic Club complex burned to the ground in 1897.

References

1892: A gentleman, a brawler and the New Orleans fight that reinvented boxing
New Orleans Times-Picayune
Lords of the Ring - Boxing in New Orleans
New Orleans Magazine
Crescent City Sports: The Olympic Club
The Historic New Orleans Collection

The venue

Events

End of the Olympic Club

References

Further reading