Wyatt Earp and a Heavyweight Fix

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In 1896, retired from his life in the so-called "Wild West," Wyatt Earp was asked to referee a boxing match. But not just any boxing match - a bout that would determine the new heavyweight champion. Two legendary boxers, Bob Fitzsimmons and Tom Sharkey, duked it out in San Francisco. The legendary lawman Earp allegedly fixed the fight. On this episode of Footnoting History, come along from a walk through the seedy underbelly of illegal prizefighting and learn how Earp found himself at the center of tremendous controversy.

Host: Josh

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Further Reading

Les Carpenter, "The forgotten story of … Wyatt Earp and the 'fixed' heavyweight title fight," The Guardian, (22 July 2015).

Sean Gros, "The Fight That Haunted Wyatt Earp," The Fight City, (22 October 2022).

​Eliot J. Gun, The Manly Art: Bare-Knuckle Prize Fighting in America, Updated Edition, Cornell University Press, (2010).

Kieran Mulvaney, "The fight, the foul, and the lawman," ESPN, (26 October 2013).

Briggs Seekins, "Tom Hyer vs. Yankee Sullivan: The First American Championship Fight," Medium, (29 August 2015).

Music: "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin Macleod (www.incompetech.com)