Fight Nights

Cincinnati has a long, rich boxing heritage and is renowned as a boxing mecca. It's gyms have cultivated scores of talented fighters and numerous world champions, many of whom battled in the Gardens ring. Over the years the Gardens hosted amateur competitions, tournaments and 34 professional boxing dates. Champions like Ezzard Charles, Wallace Bud Smith,Tony Tubbs, Aaron Pryor and Tommy Ayers are among the Gardens memorable.

Fights Remembered 

1949 - During the Gardens opening week 14,000 watched two Woodward High School alums put on winning performances. Newbie lightweight professional Wallace Bud Smith won his third professional fight and Ezzard Charles, the Cincinnati Cobra, beat Cleveland's Joey Maxim in the featured heavyweight bout. Here's what the Cincinnati Enquirer said about the night: 

Ezzard Charles

Nothing came close to the excitement in the new arena when Cincinnatian Ezzard Charles fought Clevelander Joey Maxim in a 15-round bout to determine who would fight Joe Louis for the heavyweight title in the summer. It was a mixed, integrated crowd of blacks and whites. Most everybody was dressed in jackets and ties; the ladies were in their Sunday finest. The Cotton Club crowd was here; so was the gambling crowd from Newport, Ky. High up in the 14,000-seat Garden sat Buddy LaRosa, who had recently graduated from Roger Bacon High School and was thinking about going off soon to join the U.S. Navy. Ringside sat Robert Elkus and his brother,Gene, sons of the late Max Elkus, of Max's Clothes on the West End, where Ezzard had worked since he was 15 years old. Cincinnatian DeHart Hubbard, who worked for the city recreation commission and was the first African-American to win an Olympic gold medal in an individual event (long jump, 1924, Paris) had brought Ezzard into the store one day. Max's was one of the few fine clothing stores in town where African-Americans were free to browse and shop and try on clothes. Also ringside was Christmas, Ezzard's secretary. They all marveled at the wondrous new building. The Elkuses and Christmas had been all over the country with Charles, but this place was as good or better than any of them. Hadn't even the sportswriters from New York said the same thing in the morning paper? “The New York Garden (Madison Square) may handle a few more thousand people, but it is nowhere near as fine an arena as this,” Al Buck and Ed Van Avery had said. “All the seats are good here.” John Erardi, The Cincinnati Enquirer 2/21/1999


1950 - December 5.  Ezzard Charles returned to the Gardens as the Heavyweight Champion of the World.To the delight of the mostly local crowd of 10,000, he KO'd New Yorker, Nick Barone in the eleventh round.

1955 - March 29. Veteran boxer Sugar Ray Robinson came to town to fight Johnny Lombardo of Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania as witnessed by a crowd of 5,124. Robinson, a former welterweight and middleweight champion of the world won a split ten-round decision. According to the Associated Press, Robinson, who had been boxing professionally since 1940, showed only an occasional flash of his one-time speed and hitting ability. Lombardo disagreed. "He was so fast, I didn't see his punches."

1955 -  October 19. Wallace Bud Smith returned to the Gardens as World Lightweight Champion after taking the crown in a spit decision from Jimmy Carter earlier in the year at the Boston Garden.  That 15 round fight was said to be one of the most brutal in history.  Carter demanded a rematch and due to a clause in his contract, Smith obliged.  Wallace Bud Smith again prevailed, but it took another hard fought 15 rounds for him to retained his crown.

1962 - March 29.  The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that The National Senior Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Boxing Championships opened a three-day stand at the Cincinnati Gardens. Close to 200 boxers representing the amateur crop were registered to fight. This large number of boxers required officials to run  as many as 40 bouts in each of the opening sessions.  Two rings ran bouts simultaneously.  The National AAU Team Title was at stake.  Local contenders included National Golden Glove champions George Foster and Billy  Joiner.

1978  - March 10. Aaron Pryor, The Hawk, undefeated with 14 wins made his debut at the Gardens as a professional. He knocked down Al Franklin three times in the third-round for a TKO and win number 15.  

1979 - June 23. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Aaron Pryor dispatched Jose Fernandez with a right uppercut in a 45-second fight at Cincinnati Gardens. Pryor might have made shorter work of his opponent, but he had promised Enquirer photographer Michael Keating the knockout would come in the cameraman's corner.

1980 - June 20.   Another KO by Aaron Pryor, who has become one of the most intimidating fighters of all time. The Hawk finished Carl Crowley in the first round at 2:15. Pryor's next opponent was Antonio Cervantes in August at Riverfront Coliseum.  The Hawk KO'd the Columbian in round-four to become the WBA Junior Welterweight Champion.

1983 - February 25.Undefeated Tommy Ayers KO'd his opponent in the second round scoring his 18th win and Cincinnati Heavyweight Tony TNT Tubbs, undefeated, beat his man by a TKO in round 7. Two year later Tubbs beat Greg Page to win the World Boxing Association Heavyweight Title.      1984 - September 22. Tommy Ayers at 24-1 with a #4 ranking coming off his first loss Ayers took on a formidable foe Roger Stafford

1990 - April 28. Buddy LaRosa, Rollie Schwartz and Phil Smith brought the regional Golden Glove championships to the Gardens. The winners of the 12 weight divisions moved on to fight for the National championship.  Amazingly, three Cincinnati boxers became 1990 National Golden Glove Champs;  Tim Austin, flyweight, Ravea Springs, light middleweight and Larry Donald, super heavyweight.  1990 was a great year for Cincinnati amateur boxers.  

2002 - February 24.  Famed Olympian, turned pro, Ricardo Williams Jr., a product of Taft High School was headliner for the ESPN2's Super Brawl Sunday held at the Gardens.  At 6 and 0 with 5 KO's it took Williams the full 10 rounds to win by unanimous decision over a determined Anthony Washington.  Locals, Stephen Pryor and John Rudolph also won their matches.

2008 - August 30.  A crowd of 6,000 came to the Gardens for former heavyweight champion Lamon Brewster's comeback fight against Danny Batchelder.  Brewster won with a fifth-round knockout. The undercard included local favorites, middleweight  Aaron Pryor Jr. and lightweight Adrien Bronner who both won their matches.  Pryor Jr. won by TKO in round three and Bronner,in his 2nd professional fight showed great promise with a 1st round knock-out, a TKO of David Warren Huffman at 1:20. This night the bell tolled for the last time as it was the finale for boxing at the Cincinnati Gardens.