There are 44 boxing events among Garden 366, a celebration of some of the greatest moments in the long history of Madison Square Garden.
Garden 366 is part of the sixth floor transformation of the World’s Most Famous Arena, which debuts this month. The retrospective is a visual year-long calendar of the Garden’s richest moments spanning sports, music, entertainment and politics. Among the 44 boxing events are some of the most historic in the sport:
Jan. 13, 1922: Gene Tunney beats Battling Levinsky for American Light-Heavyweight Championship.
Jan. 16, 1942: Ray Robinson KOs Fritzie Zivic
Feb. 16, 1892: James J. Corbett takes on three opponents in three consecutive fights.
March 8, 1971: Joe Frazier decisions Muhammad Ali in the heavyweight match deemed “The Fight of the Century.”
May 24, 1968: Bob Foster KOs Dick Tiger for Light Heavyweight title.
June 22, 1979: Larry Holmes beats Mike Weaver to keep WBC Heavyweight title.
Sept. 29, 2001: Bernard Hopkins beats Felix Trinidad for Middleweight crown in first major event at The Garden following 9/11.
Oct. 26, 1951: Rocky Marciano KOs former Heavyweight champion Joe Louis.
Dec. 5, 1947: Joe Louis decisions Jersey Joe Walcott in 15 rounds for World Heavyweight championship.
“My dad thought the Garden was the White House,” said Marvis Frazier, son of the late Joe Frazier. “It was the place to be for athletes, entertainers, he loved the Garden. Especially March 8, 1971. Dad did what he was supposed to do that night. I remember he didn’t let us go to the fight. There were threats against our family at the time. We had security at the house for three weeks before that fight.”
Said Holmes, “When you fight at The Garden you want to perform your best knowing the long lineup of great fighters that have fought there — Muhammad Ali and the rest of them. I wanted to put on a good show. All fighters know that you haven’t made it until you fight at MSG. Even now when I come to New York, I always think about The Garden, and I tell people that I fought there.”
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Super lightweight champ Danny Garcia of Philadelphia is looking forward to defending his title next Saturday night against former Mexican world champion Erik Morales at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Showtime will televise.
“It is great to have a fight on the East Coast,” he said. “It is my comfort zone knowing that I will be able to fight in front of my fans, people from Philly and New York and especially all of the Puerto Ricans that are huge boxing fans and know my background and that I am fighting for them too. I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to open Barclays Center in Brooklyn. They haven’t had world championship boxing in Brooklyn for more than 80 years and it’s going to be a really special night for me and the rest of the fighters on the show.”
In other bouts, Brooklyn’s own Paulie Malignaggi defends his WBA Welterweight World Championship against hard-hitting Pablo Cesar
“El Demoledor”
Cano; Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin of Manhattan challenges unbeaten Hassan N’Dam for the WBO Middleweight World Championship; and Randall Bailey defends his IBF Welterweight World Championship against Devon Alexander. Tickets priced at $300, $200, $100 and $50 are available at http://www.barclayscenter.com, the Barclays Center box office, all Ticketmaster locations or by calling 800-745-3000.
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Nontio Donaire (29-1, 18 KOs) of San Leandro, Calif., defends his WBO/IBF junior featherweight titles tonight against Toshiaki Nishioka (39-4-3, 24 KOs) of Japan and former lightweight champion Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios (30-0-1, 21 KOs) of Oxnard, Calif., faces Mike Alvarado (33-0, 23 KOs) of Denver in a non-title junior welterweight bout on HBO’s Boxing After Dark from the Home Depot Center in Carson Calif.