ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 8, 1993                   TAG: 9305080149
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Short

BOXING LEAVING MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

Madison Square Garden will end its century-long partnership with prize fighting this fall, disbanding an operation that once served as the focus of boxing's universe.

Except for the years when boxing was banned by law, the sport has been a staple at the Garden since 1879, when it first opened in an abandoned railroad shed on 23rd Street.

John L. Sullivan fought there, and, when the Garden moved uptown, so did Rocky Marciano, Jack Dempsey, Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Roberto Duran.

Joe Louis made the Garden his home in the 1930s and '40s, and Sugar Ray Robinson, whom many consider the best boxer who ever lived, fought in the Garden 21 times.

Emile Griffith holds the Garden record with more than 30 feature fights in the 1950s and '60s.

Muhammad Ali lost to Joe Frazier at the Garden on March 8, 1971 in the first of their three fights. 


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