Boxing during the Depression

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By Uncle Brother

During the depression there was not work around in the 30’s I was around in the 30’s now, so youngsters took up boxing. 1940 something thousands and thousands of fighters but after the war people stared getting jobs and they didn’t thing about boxing like they used to. They were broke they had to fight, wasn’t no jobs back in the 30s you had grown men with families making 20 a week, with families. Only thing that broke it was the war, when the war came around there was work in the defense plants, but before that wasnt hardly any work. So guys took to fighting. Guys fought often, maybe 20 times a year maybe more than that

Oh yeah you had, this is when Harlem was on the ball, the goldn gate ball room had fights had baseball games and fights there, and where the rhino pool was on 147th and Lennox. The Rockland palace i on 155 had fights there.

Yeah you had teh golden gloves back then it was a big thing back them , the daily news sponsored it. They had them allover the country, every year the NY would fight the Chicago team

Listen when Joe Louis was fighting in the 30s the most popular black professionals were Joe Louis and Henry Armstrong. Everybody knew them. There’s not the room on top for everybody, they held 3 titles at the same time which you cant do now, He was a light weight champ, and fought for the welter weight and defends the light weight, so now he has 2 titles, then it was the feather weight, and went for a fourth one and just lost it. You cant do that now, you got a title and go for another one you gotta give that title up you can t have 3 at one time.