[jbsports33]

Boxing has some incredible history and it was defiantly popular in the England during the 1840s and 1850s with the upper class. When many people started coming to the U.S. from Europe that popularity carried over to the upper class and lower class. Joe is right boxing was illegal in many areas, but New England and some cities like New York and Philly found ways around that – especially paying off police. By the 1880s-1890s many of the larger cities in the East Coast had some form of legalized boxing and just like baseball, ads started to show up in Newspapers, Magazines and books. In some areas of the country – Boxing was just as popular as baseball through the 1930s. I think someone named Babe Ruth changed all that and by that time baseball was America’s pastime anyways, but boxing was still very popular for many years after that. I really think as boxing moved through the United States past those years and beyond it was more popular with the lower class. I just think in some cases ads are going to get around no matter the audience. There is no question they must have been targeting a fan base that was expecting to be at this event – cool info.