A new era begins at the Garden

A new era will start at Madison Square Garden tonight, as this will be the first heavyweight title bout in the arena’s new ring – the previous one was retired to the International Boxing Hall of Fame after 82 years service. In that ring, Joe Frazier beat Ali in the Fight of the Century and Marciano knocked Louis through the ropes and into retirement.

The ring was notably older than the building it was in. The present building is the fourth Madison Square Garden. Legend has it that John L Sullivan had an illegal bareknuckle fight in the original one, which PT Barnum, the circus entrepreneur, converted from an old train depot in 1879 and was about ten blocks from the present site.

Boxing became a regular attraction at the second building, which stood from 1890-1925, but the third Garden, built in 1925 by Tex Rickard, the legendary boxing promoter, had boxing as its main attraction. The present building was built in 1968.

Here are some of the famous heavyweight fights that have taken place at the Garden:

1920: Jack Dempsey makes a successful second defence of the world title with a 12^th round knockout of Bill Brennan at the second Garden. It is believed to be the only time Dempsey boxed indoors.

1935: James J Braddock beats Art Lasky to earn an unlikely shot at Max Baer the world champion. While the third Garden was recreated for the film The Cinderella Man, the famous win over Baer actually took place at the Madison Square Garden Bowl, a specially-built outdoor arena on Long Island.

1947: Joe Louis retains the world title for the 24^th time by beating future champion Jersey Joe Walcott on points. Louis boxed 12 times at the Garden and the stretch of Seventh Avenue the arena is now situated on is called Joe Louis Plaza.

1951: The comebacking Louis is brutally knocked out in eight rounds by the up-and-coming Rocky Marciano.

1971: Joe Frazier, the world champion, becomes the first man to beat Muhammad Ali in the bout dubbed The Fight Of The Century, one of the first big bouts in the present-day arena. Ali wins a rematch at The Garden in 1974.

1999: Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield contest a highly controversial draw in a world title unification bout.