Topic summary
Prizefighter
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Professional boxing.
1900 to 1920
Championship-level prizefighters, in this period, were the premier sports celebrities, and any title bout generated intense public interest. Long before bars became popular venues in which to watch sporting events on television, enterprising saloon keepers were known to set up ticker machines and announce the progress of an important bout, blow by blow. Local kids often hung about outside the saloon doors, hoping for news of the fight. Harpo Marx, then fifteen, recounted vicariously experiencing the 1904 Jeffries-Munroe championship fight in this way.