Tex Rickard and Goldfield by Rob Snell

[Mofo2]

An Annotated History of Boxing

within the State of Nevada

By Tony Triem

Boxing Historian

Las Vegas, NV

1906

Tex Rickard and Goldfield

Rickard had won and lost money as a gambler during the Alaskan gold rush. Seven years in the gambling dens of Alaska had netted him $65,000 but he wanted to capitalize on the fact. Now he found himself in Goldfield, Nevada, and looking for another opportunity. Rickard owned the leading gambling saloon in the small town of Goldfield, and when citizens of the town were discussing how to put Goldfield 'on the map', Rickard suggested a world title fight between Gans and Nelson. He planned to stage it himself, making his debut as a promoter.

The town was appropriately named. Gold had been struck there and one mine alone had produced more than $5,000,000 of gold-bearing ore in less than three months. The more prominent citizens of this cowboy town met to discuss ways of further exploiting their fortune and drawing national attention to the place. Some of the ideas mooted were ludicrous: there would be a race-track for camels imported from the Sahara; there would be an artificial lake of beer; ten-dollar gold pieces would be thrown on to the town's streets from a hot-air balloon. Rickard, however, had no time for hot air and instead suggested a boxing match.

The Goldfield Athletic Club was formed that very day. The men raised $50,000 to back a fight and appointed Rickard as treasurer and promoter. This promotion was plagued by problems. Most spectators were drawn to the heavyweights; but crowd-pulling Jim Jeffries had retired and his successor, Tommy Burns, was not a box-office attraction. The middleweights were largely dormant. Rickard discerned potential in the lightweights. Why should the exquisite Joe Gans not defend against a tough white contender? Black versus white? Boxer versus slugger?

Rickard put up the astonishing sum, for lightweights, of $30,000, and when the press came to Goldfield to see what it was all about, put the money in his window in gold dollar pieces. He publicized the battle as a grudge fight, and as a race fight. He built an open-air arena for 8,000 spectators. His hype succeeded and the match was a sell-out.

Gans returned to his own kingdom in the lightweight division to face his fifth challenger, Battling Nelson, a strong slugger who appeared impervious to punishment. This contest was promoted as a remarkable national event by the extraordinary Tex Rickard.

Gans was in trouble at the time. His crooked manager, Al Hereford, had urged him to throw fights prior to his winning of the championship. As champion, Gans had just knocked out top contender Mike 'Twin' Sullivan, but his manager vanished with his purse. His record was superb. In 144 recorded fights so far, Gans had lost only five times, twice when he was young and inexperienced and thrice in obedience to the bidding of the money men and the manager. Now he was broke and therefore keen on Rickard's proffered deal once he heard that his next defense would be fair and square.

The first tough white contender approached by Rickard was Jimmy Britt, who claimed the “White Lightweight Championship†and was offered the unprecedented sum of $15,000. Gans had already fought Britt; on 31 October 1904, he had given him a fearful pasting, forcing him to fall out in the twentieth round. But the Britt camp had never heard of Tex Rickard and dismissed him as a joker. So Rickard turned next to Battling Nelson, who had fought Britt twice, losing a twenty-round contest in 1904 on points, but coming back the following year to KO the “White Champion†in the eighteenth round of a scheduled forty-five round contest. When Battling Nelson beat Britt, Rickard wired him with an offer of $20,000; the largest sum ever offered a pugilist. Californian promoter, 'Sunny' Jim Coffroth tried to upstage Rickard by offering more to Gans. Rickard clinched his deal with a staggering $30,000 plus expenses, totaling $23,000 for Nelson and $10,000 for Gans. Rickard promptly placed $30,000 worth of newly minted, double-eagle gold pieces in the window of the local bank and proceeded to contact every press and news agency. This astute piece of business would net him $700,000.

On 3 September 1906, some 8,000 fans, including 300 women, paid to see Gans vs Nelson, at the arena Tex Rickard had erected. The Nelson camp had been giving Gans problems. They had insisted upon an 18-foot ring to cut down Gans's mobility and upon Gans having to make the weight minutes before the fight, which weakened the champion. Nevertheless Gans believed that he could beat Nelson.

Prior to the fight against this ferocious man, Gans received a telegram from his mother: 'Joe, the eyes of the world are on you. Everybody says you ought to win. Peter Jackson will tell me the news. You bring back the bacon.' Then he entered the ring for a fight to the finish. The spectators certainly received value for money in the longest contest in boxing history under Queensberry rules for a world championship. The first ten rounds were all Gans as he slickly outboxed his crude challenger, but he couldn't put him away. Nelson wanted to win the title or die on that broiling hot day. Punches could be bounced off him hour after hour and he refused to go down. In the eleventh round, he swamped Gans's skills with his rough-house tactics. A tiring Gans boxed on the retreat as Nelson swarmed forward.

Nelson found that he couldn't break Gans in half. Gans absorbed his best punches, caught his second wind and came back to bloody Nelson. By round thirty, Gans was way ahead on points yet Nelson still refused to fold. In the thirty-third round, Gans misjudged a punch which landed on the top of Nelson's thick skull and he broke his right hand. Even so and fighting one-handed, Gans managed to make Nelson look like a clumsy clot. By the forty-first round, Nelson was reduced to harmless cuffing and harmful but inept endeavors at eye-gouging. The forty-second opened with Nelson commencing a furious assault upon Gans's testicles. Referee George Siler warned the desperately frustrated slugger, who took no notice and promptly belted Gans in the groin once again. Siler promptly disqualified Nelson, who was really in no condition to continue. Goldfield was in the news, and Rickard made a handsome profit, going on to make even more lucrative matches.

'You bring back the bacon,' his mother had told Gans. He wired back the message: 'Mammy, your boy is bringing home the bacon with lots of gravy on it.'

September 3, Goldfield

Joe Gans beat Battling Nelson via a disqualification in the 42nd Rd to win the World Lightweight Title.

Gans used 5 oz gloves.

The last week prior to the fight, Nelson charged 50 cent admission to his training sessions.

The State Bullion Tax Collector estimated there was an increase of $200,000 $300,000 in revenue in the 18 months prior to the fight.

Tex Rickard’s debut as a promoter.

Fight was attended by 5,000 men and 200 women.

President Roosevelt's son was a spectator