Fighting For Recognition

LONG ISLAND'S boxing history reaches back 110 years to the middleweight title fight between bare-knucklers Jack (The Nonpareil) Dempsey and Johnny Reagan. Boxing was illegal in those days, but that didn't stop the fighters, their followers and fans from braving rain, snow and flooding to travel by tugbout from New York City to Sands Point and later Huntington Harbor to complete a 45-round epic won by Dempsey (no relation to the legendary heavyweight).

But not since that fight on Dec. 13, 1887, has a world championship bout taken place on Long Island. In fact, it would take 89 years -- when George Foreman met Joe Frazier at the Coliseum in 1976 -- for another major fight to return to the Island.

While Nassau and Suffolk have produced an array of stars in other sports, only a handful of world-ranked contenders and just two world champions - both crowned within the last 16 years - have come from Long Island.

In 1912, Long Island had four boxing clubs, the Freeport Athletic Club, East End A.C. (Bay Shore), Lyric A.C. (Lindenhurst) and Suffolk A.C. (Riverhead). But the prominent boxers still came out of New York City. While outstanding fighters -- Floyd Patterson, Rocky Graziano, Billy Graham and Joe Miceli -- have called Long Island home during or after their careers, the first homegrown fighter to reach main event status was Freeport's Harry Ebbets. Ebbets was a middleweight who lost non-title fights to champions Ben Jeby (1930) and Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom (1932).

The 1950s produced Islip's Billy McNeece, a successful amateur and pro light heavyweight. But considering that Long Island's population boom occurred after World War II, fighters like McNeece and Ebbets were scarce. The majority of the fighters actually raised here did not turn pro until the 1960s.

The most successful of that group were Bobby Cassidy (Levittown) and Hubert Hilton (Glen Cove). In a career that spanned from 1963-80, Cassidy was rated among the top 10 in four weight classes but never had a title fight. The hard-punching Hilton cracked the heavyweight rankings in the mid-60s.

Glen Cove's Howard Davis reached stardom in the 1970s. Just weeks after his mother died, he won a gold medal at the 1976 Olympics and beat out Sugar Ray Leonard and Cuba's Teofilo Stevenson for the honor of outstanding fighter of the Games. Davis, a lightweight, turned pro and unsuccessfully challenged three times for a world title. His gold medal was stolen in 1981 but was returned in 1995 when a worker found it on the side of the Long Island Expressway.

The 1970s also produced Eddie and Johnny Davis of Hempstead. Both fought for the light-heavyweight crown and in 1984, Eddie lost a highly controversial decision to champion Michael Spinks. Other notable fighters from that era were Walter Seeley (Sayville), Larry Stanton (Merrick), John Capobianco (Huntington) and, of course, Gerry Cooney.

Cooney, of Huntington, is the most infamous of Long Island's fighters. The heavyweight was billed as a Great White Hope and challenged champion Larry Holmes in 1982. He fought courageously against Holmes until his trainer threw in the towel in Round 13. Cooney was later beset by personal and professional problems and was perceived as a product of shrewd matchmaking and opportunistic promoting, rather than a fighter of substance.

``Long Island was behind Gerry like he was a God,'' Brentwood's Buddy McGirt said. ``He could have been a better fighter. But he wasn't a bum. He wasn't a bad fighter. The fans turned on him after he lost to Larry Holmes. And that was wrong.''

If Cooney's unfulfilled potential sent Long Island boxing into a tailspin, McGirt salvaged its reputation when he captured the International Boxing Federation junior welterweight title in 1982 to become the Island's first champ. He also held the WBC welterweight crown in 1991 until losing two years later to Pernell Whitaker at the Garden.

Jake (The Snake) Rodriguez, born in Puerto Rico but a West Islip resident since his teens, became the Island's second titlist when he won the IBF junior welterweight title in 1994. The 1980s and 1990s have also produced main event fighters Gino Gelormino (Levittown), Kevin and Tim Moley (Selden), Mark McPherson (Malverne), Matt Farrago (Commack), Willie Wise (Westbury) and Scott Lopeck (Inwood).

The only title fight between Long Islanders was in 1988 when McGirt met Howard Davis at the Felt Forum. The day of the fight, the LIRR ran special trains from Brentwood and Glen Cove to Penn Station. McGirt sent them all home early with a first-round knockout.

The Foreman-Frazier rematch, won by Foreman via fifth-round knockout, was significant because of who the participants were. But both fighters were rebounding from losses against Muhammad Ali and considered on the downside of their careers. At least for Foreman, it was the downside of his first career.

The Coliseum hosted live boxing on rare occasions. Lightweight champion Roberto Duran decisioned Edwin Viruet there in a 1975 non-title fight, Cooney knocked out Ron Lyle in one round in 1980 and Mike Tyson fought his 19th pro fight there, knocking out Steve Zouski in three rounds in 1986.

The venues with the most consistency were Freeport Stadium, which hosted outdoor boxing in the 1960s, and the Commack Arena, where boxing flourished during the 1970s. ``The Commack Arena was terrific, that was our best venue,'' Brentwood matchmaker Gene Moore said. ``Not too big, not too small, it was just right for boxing.''

The most successful site though, was the Long Beach Arena. In the 1930s and 1940s when Long Beach was a haven for summer vacationers, legendary fighters like Benny Leonard, Tony Canzoneri, Kid Chocolate and Sandy Saddler fought at the arena.

``New York City had all the best fight clubs in that era,'' said George Corbitt, the coach of the Long Beach Boxing Club. ``But Long Island had an answer to that in Long Beach . . . [It] was certainly equivalent to any of the great fight clubs in the city.''

The Island has been represented in the Golden Gloves since 1944 when Republic Airport entered a team and produced champions in 1944 and 1945. Wayne Magee, of the Long Island Volunteers club, won three straight titles from 1967-1969. The best showing, though, was 1976 when Long Island had five Open Class champs -- James McNeece (Islip), Howard Davis, John Davis, Willie Starling (Hempstead) and Cooney.

In woman's boxing, Peggy Ward (Rocky Point) and Nicki Pryor (Brentwood) won Gloves titles in 1995, the first time women were permitted to compete. Plainview's Kathy Collins became the first to win a professional women's title in 1997.

West Hempstead's Arthur Mercante, who refereed the first Ali-Frazier fight and more than 100 other title bouts, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1995.