“And the Winner—Television!”

This chapter traces boxing's crooked path to respectability in order to gain an understanding the incredible success of TV boxing in the middle of the twentieth century. Boxing was born in the late 1800s, when the adoption of the Queensberry rules ended the old bare-knuckle days of limitless rounds, neck choking, no weight classifications, and muddy deaths. The new rules imposed uniformly sized rings, three-minute rounds, standardized judging, weight categories, and padded leather boxing gloves. The new structure fit in well with Progressive Era concerns regarding social regulation and masculine regeneration. America was changing dramatically in the decades between the end of the Civil War and start of the First World War. Millions of non-English speaking New Immigrants from southern and eastern Europe poured into America's ports. By the 1940s, a single Mafia family managed to dominate the fight racket, led by a hit man named Frankie Carbo. When boxing came to television, the mob did not leave. In fact, it skimmed more money than ever. Home audiences were unaware that Gillette and the mob brought them the Friday Night Fights.