For the first time in nearly 70 years, boxing is returning to Boston’s famed Fenway Park.
The 11-fight card is the culmination of years of effort by twin brothers and public schoolteachers who grew up in Watertown and aim to revitalize boxing in the city, which was home to some of the greatest athletes in the sport’s history.
It is also symbolic of a shift back to the roots of the oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball, to when it was not just used for Red Sox games, but for other sports and political events.
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“Most people’s experience there is solely related to baseball, but the fact is that this year, you can see an event that’ll be very similar to what your grandparents saw,” said Richard Johnson, Fenway expert and curator at The Sports Museum in Boston.
Promoters Mark and Matt Nolan want “Fight Night at Fenway,” which was scheduled for late last night, to be both a time capsule and time machine, taking spectators back to boxing’s glory days and what the sport can be for the city.
“It’s not just like our dream, it’s everybody’s dream — every boxer on planet Earth,” Matt Nolan said. “Just the idea that some kid can fight his way to Fenway Park. It’s like hitting the lottery. You can’t beat it. There’s nothing comparable.”
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RICH HISTORY
Boston has played a long and impressive role in US boxing history and the development of the sport itself, said Johnson, author of Field of Our Fathers, An Illustrated History of Fenway Park.
The city was home to “Boston’s Strong Boy,” John L. Sullivan, born in 1858 to Irish immigrant parents and widely considered the US’ first sports superstar. The first heavyweight champion of the world, he was as famous as Muhammad Ali was in his time.
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Sam Langford, a Black Canadian-born boxer, moved to Boston as a teenager, but was blocked from competing in the world championships by racist policies and is considered one of the greatest non-champions in boxing.
Other boxing stars with Boston connections include Marvin Hagler and Rocky Marciano of nearby Brockton. ”The Boston Bomber,” Tony DeMarco, whose statue raises his fists at passersby in Boston’s North End, was the last fighter to win in the ring at Fenway in 1956.
For a time after it was built, Fenway Park was the only outdoor venue with a significant seating capacity in Boston, making it a destination for all kinds of events, including boxing beginning in 1920.
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After new owners took over in 2002, the park became a venue for a variety of activities, including concerts and sporting events such as hockey, snowboarding, Irish football and curling.
“Back in the day, it was sort of the Swiss Army knife of sports facilities in Boston, and it’s returned to that — a little bit of everything. So, returning boxing to the park is just a nod to the past,” Johnson said.
Other venues can feel “more corporate and sterile,” but Fenway is living history, said Johnson, who calls it the “largest open-air museum in New England.”
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DIFFERENT PITCH
Mark Nolan said it is not for lack of trying that no one has hosted a boxing fight at Fenway in almost 70 years, but many promoters could not make a pitch that landed with ballpark management.
The Nolans, who teach full time and own a boxing gym in Waltham where people can train regardless of their ability to pay, were different. After success hosting events at other venues, Mark Nolan said Fenway Sports Group connected to their “everyman” appeal and decided to give them a shot.
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The brothers fell in love with boxing while accompanying their father, a boat captain, to the gym as kids.
When they expanded from coaching amateur boxers to professionals five years ago, they were dismayed by what they found: shows full of uneven fights set up to make the promoters as much money as possible, with established amateurs fighting people who “have no right putting gloves on in any capacity whatsoever” in venues like high-school gymnasiums. Fighters were not being paid fairly, and contracts were not transparent.
They came up with a simple business plan: pick good venues, pay fighters well and only host matches in Boston proper. They said a lot of promoters sell fighters, but they are focused on selling fights fans want to see.
“They’re making sure that every fight is well-matched,” said Thomas “The Kid” O’Toole, a fighter from rural Galway, Ireland, who has lived in Boston for the past two years.
O’Toole went professional in 2021 and is undefeated with 13 fights. His fight against St. Louis-born Vaughn “Da Animal” Alexander at Fenway would be “the biggest test of his career,” he said.
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