Begin. Find 1 Hughes St. – Police Gazette Boxing Corporation.
This themed walking tour of Belfast, NY (a.k.a Knuckle Town, U.S.A.) begins at the Police Gazette Boxing Corporation headquarters because the professional sport of boxing basically started with our key partner organization, the National Police Gazette.
The National Police Gazette was not always associated with boxing. It began as a magazine in 1845, publishing matters of interest to the police: outlaws and crimes. Throughout the next thirty years, the Gazette morphed into a tawdry men's lifestyle publication - adding gossip, sports and etched drawings of pinup girls. At one point, the U.S. Post Office refused to deliver the magazine due to "obscene and lewd pictures."
When publisher Richard K. Fox took over the magazine from 1877 - 1922, he transformed it into an immensely influential boxing enterprise. Through the publication, Fox proclaimed bouts, promoted fighters, anted up prize money, and awarded medals and pins to prizefighters. Most significantly, he popularized lineal title belts with the coveted "Diamond-Studded World Champion" belt. The International Boxing Hall of Fame declares Fox to be the most important person to the sport of boxing; Sports Illustrated calls him the "Rupert Murdoch of his day."
In 1881, the Police Gazette became the first bare-knuckle boxing sanctioning body in America, though all forms of boxing were illegal in most states until 1894. Once gloved boxing became legal, bare-knuckle fights were forced back underground. Though this era of bare-knuckle boxing was short-lived, these fights have endured history.
It was during the first officially sanctioned Police Gazette fight (John L. Sullivan vs. Paddy Ryan) in 1882, that Sullivan became the first bare-knuckle heavyweight champion. That contest was considered the first great prize fight in American boxing history. [The PGB official t-shirt states: "History is Forever, sanctioning prizefights since 1882." Available on Amazon.com.] After that fight, Sullivan will tour the world and become a legendary force.
In 1889, the Sullivan-Kilrain battle that took place in Richburg, Mississippi, was the last last bare-knuckle heavyweight title fight in history . . . until recently.
Jump to 2011. With a few promoters working to bring bare-knuckle back to the U.S.A., the Yavapai Nation in Arizona was the first to sanction a bare-knuckle bout on U.S. soil since the days of Richard Fox. By March of 2018, promoter David Feldman with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) was able to get the state of Wyoming to host the first legalized state bare-knuckle boxing event. More states have since followed suit. In alignment with the history of the sport, promoters and commissioners welcomed the new owners of the Police Gazette Boxing Corporation (Scott Burt, Joe Curcio and Steve Westlake) to be the entrusted prize grantors for these events. We have been center ring ever since!
Scott Burt holds the belt and Joe Curcio is showcasing the PGB medallion.
As this new sport emerges and creates its own style, so comes new prize hardware. The PGB (Police Gazette Belt) is the resurrected version of the original Diamond-Studded World Championship belt designed by Richard Fox and first owned by John L. Sullivan. These official prize belts are housed inside this building, a former bank. They are double-secured in a safe within another safe adjacent to the sanctioning body corporate office. Notably, the sport of bare-knuckle is also supplemented with coveted Knuckle Head medallions awarded to the victors participating in Police Gazette Boxing sanctioned events. A limited number of these medallions are available for purchase by the general public.
NOTE: The buildings adjacent to this Old Bank are not original. There was a fire in 1909 that destroyed the rest of this block. See photos below.
Learn more: www.pgbelt.com
The safe is inside the vault located at 1 Hughes St.
Example of prize fight awards given at sanctioned bare-knuckle fights by PGB.
