Two World Middleweight Boxing Championship Ticket Stubs Featuring Utah-Native Champion Gene Fullmer vs. Sugar Ray Robinson and Dick Tiger
Las Vegas, NV: Silver State Sports Club, February 25, 1961 & February 23, 1963. Ephemera. Two ticket stubs (approx. 2" x 3.75"). Admission stubs detached at perforations. Both printed by Globe Ticket Company, Los Angeles, CA, and each featuring a tiny Allied Printing Trades Council Union Label (495) printer's 'bug' in the right-hand margin. The 1961 white Ringside Ticket Stub is printed in black and red with halftone portraits of Fullmer and Robinson at each side. Four punch cancellations. Seat assignment stamped in red. This 1961 ticket bears a partial blue 'COMPLEMENTARY' [sic] stamp on both sides, with additional neat contemporary ink notations on the reverse, and some light dust soiling and edgewear; Very Good. The 1963 green Club Circle Ticket Stub is printed in black and red with portraits of Tiger and Fullmer at each side, seat assignment stamped in red, light handling wear and some creasing; Very Good.
The tickets read:
1. [Ringside Ticket Stub, 1961]: "LAS VEGAS CONVENTION CENTER | LAS VEGAS, NEVADA | SATURDAY EVE. FEBRUARY 25, 1961 - 7:00 P.M. | 15 ROUNDS | MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE WORLD | GENE FULLMER (West Jordan, Utah) CHAMPION | vs. | SUGAR RAY ROBINSON (New York, N.Y.) CHALLENGER | Silver State Sports Club, Inc. | A MEL GREB, JACK DOYLE, NORMAN ROTHSCHILD PRESENTATION | EST. PRICE $35.49 FED. TAX 3.45 STATE TAX 1.06 TOTAL $40.00 | RINGSIDE | [SEC. 4 / ROW A / SEAT 3]"
2. [Club Circle Ticket Stub, 1963]: "LAS VEGAS CONVENTION CENTER | LAS VEGAS, NEVADA | SATURDAY EVE. FEBRUARY 23, 1963 - 7:00 P.M. | 15 ROUNDS | MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE WORLD | DICK TIGER (Nigeria) CHAMPION vs. GENE FULLMER (West Jordan, Utah) CHALLENGER | Silver State Sports Club, Inc. | A MEL GREB, JACK DOYLE, NORMAN ROTHSCHILD PRESENTATION | EST. PRICE $17.79 FED. TAX 1.68 STATE FEE .53 TOTAL $20.00 | CLUB CIRCLE | [SEC. 12 / ROW P / SEAT 8]" Very Good. Item #71453
A pair of original boxing ticket stubs tracking the career peak of world middleweight champion, the Utah native Gene Fullmer (1931–2015). Known as "The Utah Cyclone," Fullmer remains the state's most celebrated prizefighter. He famously balanced his world championship bouts on the global stage with his ongoing work as a welder and millwright at the Kennecott Copper Mine in the Salt Lake Valley.
The 1961 ticket stub documents the historic fourth and final meeting between Fullmer and Sugar Ray Robinson. Though the stub prints the originally scheduled February 25th date, there were administrative disputes over the match which delayed the bout to March 4th, when Fullmer won a decisive 15-round unanimous decision to retain his National Boxing Association middleweight title. The 1963 stub marks Fullmer's grueling world title challenge against Nigerian powerhouse Dick Tiger on February 23, 1963, which resulted in an infamously bloody, 15-round split-decision draw. Two distinctive items of regional sports history documenting a legendary Utah athlete.
Price: $350.00