![]() Prior to meeting Rivers, he had knocked out Young Otto and One Round Hogan, reputable opponents, and had feathered his cap with a clear 10-round decision over Battling Nelson. ![]() “He had the lean, cadaverous appearance of the professional distance runner who has overtrained,” wrote one reporter. The principals: Leach Cross and Mexican Joe Rivers “In those days,” reminisced the colorful fight manager Dumb Dan Morgan, “there was a good lightweight on every streetcorner.” And in no other division was the talent pool as deep. The heavyweight class was bereft of charismatic fighters other than Jack Johnson whose career was in limbo because of legal problems. However, it was a very sexy division which owed to two factors. Indeed, both were considered a notch below the topmost fighters in their weight class. No title was at stake when they locked horns that night in Harlem or in any of their subsequent meetings. And Leach Cross, born Louis Wallach to immigrants from Austria, was one of them, a landsmen.Ĭross (pictured) and Mexican Joe were lightweights. In 1913, it had a burgeoning population of upwardly mobile Jews who had escaped the tenements of the Lower East Side. Harlem hadn’t yet become a signpost of Black America. The most salient image was that of a place where couples came to dance to a live orchestra. Back in those days, it carried no such inference. The word “casino” has come to be associated with gambling. Rivers – the first salvo of a great rivalry – was staged at the Manhattan Casino which was situated on the corner of 155 th Street and Eighth Avenue in the upper reach of Harlem. ![]() Such were the hazards of attending a major boxing show in New York during the early years of the twentieth century.Ĭross vs. In the lobby of the arena and outside on the street, pickpockets worked the crowd to great effect. Some of those that made it inside discovered that their wallet was missing. The aisles were jammed with standees and ticket-holders arriving late were left out in the cold when the fire marshal ordered the doors to be shut. ![]() 14, 1913 fight between Leach Cross and Mexican Joe Rivers was a humdinger, but for some fight-goers it was a night to forget. ![]()
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