Battle Royal with 5 boxers in the ring at one time, ca: 1910-1915 Location, people, event, and photographer are all unidentified
Battle Royal with 5 boxers in the ring at one time, ca: 1910-1915 Location, people, event, and photographer are all unidentified. “It was announced in the newspapers as an “Athletic Show” and it began with a “battle royal” boxing bout among five boxers. Five burly men, stripped to the waist, entered a roped arena on a platform. At the stroke of the bell two couples immediately began sparring. The fifth man then pitched into one of the boxers who seemed to be having the best of it, thus breaking up the pair. The released man turned to the other group and picking out one of the men began without warning to punch him. And so the fight proceeded. No matter how cleverly a man might be holding his own he was always in danger of having someone come at him from behind with a none too well padded fist. Scientific boxing was not in evidence. The contest was one of brutal physical endurance. When a man could keep it up no longer he left the ring and the winner was the man who stayed in longest. As announced, the winner was to receive $, the second place man $, and the third $ (Recreation in Springfield, Illinois 1914)”. “1899 Jack Johnson moved on to Springfield, Illinois, where he met ex-bantamweight Johnny Connor, a saloon owner who put on twice-a-month boxing shows. Connor hired Johnson as the fifth man in a "battle royal" that was to be the opening card in the next event. (Battles royal were a spectacle of the Jim Crow South in which several black men were gloved, blindfolded and placed in a ring. The last man standing won the purse, usually a handful of coins thrown from the all-white audience.) Johnson was the last man standing, and won $, which he had to turn over to the white "manager" who had gotten him the fight.
Size: 2841px × 2262px
Location: United States
Photo credit: © Todd Strand / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: .., 5, 1900, 1900s, 1910, 1915, 20th, adults, african, african-american, age, america, american, americans, arena, arenas, arts, athletic, audience, battle, battles, black, blacks, box, boxer, boxers, boxing, business, century, drum, drums, early, entertainment, era, event, exhibition, fight, fighters, fighting, fights, group, groups, historic, historical, history, indoor, indoors, instruments, jack, johnson, manager, managers, men, music, musical, musician, musicians, number, odd, people, percussion, performing, photo, photograph, piano, platform, private, prize, prizefight, prizefighter, prizefighters, professional, ring, royal, royale, show, spectator, spectators, sport, sporting, sports, stadium, stadiums, states, timer, trainer, trainers, training, united, usa, venue, vintage, women, wood
