by Lindy Lindell

It’s gone now: boxing in Detroit has been so marginalized and fractured into bits that it’s hard to imagine that the sport used to be the second most important in terms of fan interest in America.

But there was a time in Detroit when boxing was a decided, living phenomena in the lineaments of Detroit city life. Natives of a certain age will tell you that their father or uncle was a Detroit city Golden Gloves participant. Now, only the most diehard boxing buff could tell you the name of the heavyweight champion. (There are actually three heavyweight champions recognized by four sanctioning bodies—and this “confusion” is part of boxing’s problem).More