A Week For Boxing Historians!

The Library of Congress is offering a week of classic boxing footage and boxing movies starting this coming Monday at the Library's Mary Pickford Theater.

On Monday, Sept. 24, The Library will show the 1956 movie "The Harder They Fall," based on the novel by noted author Budd Schulberg and featuring Humphrey Bogart in his final movie role. Also, there will be two classic boxing matches -- Max Baer vs. Primo Carnera for the heavyweight championship from June 14, 1934 as well as Jack Dempsey versus Luis Firpo from the Polo Grounds in New York on Sept. 14, 1923.

On Tuesday, Sept. 25, it's an all-movie night featuring the 1949 feature "The Set-Up" starring Robert Ryan and a 16-minute documentary from 1951 called "Day Of The Fight," which takes you behind the scenes as two boxers prepare for a contest. The documentary was one of the first directorial projects for Stanley Kubrick and was narrated by longtime CBS newsman Douglas Edwards. There will also be a boxing-themed episode of the tv series "Casey, Crime Photographer," starring Darrin McGavin.

Wednesday, September 26 focuses on the great Sugar Ray Robinson and shows a documentary and two of his classic battles. The documentary is called "Sugar Ray Robinson -- Pound For Pound" One of the fights that will be shown will be the sixth and final matchup between Robinson and the "Raging Bull" Jake LaMotta. This is a championship matchup from February 14, 1951 and is forever known as "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre." The other bout is from 1951 when Robinson faced Englishman Randy Turpin. The information on this week doesn't specify which bout this is because the two men fought twice in 1951.

On Thursday, September 27, the focus will be on Muhammad Ali as the library shows the documentary "A.K.A. Cassius Clay" as well as footage from Ali's Olympic victory over Zigzy Pietrzykowski in Rome, Italy in 1960.

The week ends in grand style on Friday, September 28 with footage from many of the great heavyweight championship bouts of the 20th Century. How about this for a lineup:

Gene Tunney vs. Jack Dempsey from September 22, 1927. This is the second of the two bouts, famous for "The Long Count." This week marks the 80th anniversary of this legendary bout. This classic fight film footage was restored by the Library of Congress from original nitrate elements..

Joe Louis versus "Two-Ton" Tony Galento , New York City, June 28, 1939

Joe Louis versus Buddy Baer, May 23, 1941, Washington, D.C. This bout took place at Griffith Stadium in DC and is still one of the most important contests to ever take place in the Nation's Capital.

(Quick DC history lesson: Howard University Hospital stands where Griffith Stadium once stood.)

Joe Louis vs Billy Conn, June 18, 1941, New York City

In 1941, Light Heavyweight champion Billy Conn stepped up in weight and class to challenge Joe Louis for the heavyweight crown. The result was one of the greatest matches of all time.

Rocky Marciano versus Joe Louis, October 26, 1951, New York City

Rocky Marciano vs. Jersey Joe Walcott, September 23, 1952, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Rocky Marciano versus Archie Moore, September 21, 1955, New York City

Joe Frazier versus George Foreman, Kingston, Jamaica, January 22, 1973 (this is where "Down Goes Frazier! Down Goes Frazier!" comes from.)

Muhammad Ali versus Henry Cooper, London, England, May 21, 1966

Muhammad Ali versus Cleveland Williams, Astrodome, Houston, Texas, November 14, 1966

This is a free event but you must have reservations. Normally, the Library asks that you make reservations a week in advance, but I just received the info myself so hopefully you can still get tickets for this. Starting Monday at 9 AM, call 202-707-5677 to reserve your tickets.