Arne’s Almanac: Goldfield’s First Big Fight, An Argentine Ring God and More

Tomorrow, Sept. 15, marks the 117^th anniversary of the first big fight in Goldfield, Nevada. No, we’re not talking about the first fight between Joe Gans and Battling Nelson, one of the most ballyhooed and hashed-over battles in the history of the ring. Before Gans-Nelson, there was Attell vs. Tenny, a fight-to-the-finish promoted as a flyweight championship tilt.

This was Monte Attell who would become less famous than Abe, his older sibling. But Monte was an outstanding fighter in his own right and his opponent, Harry Tenny, a fellow San Francisco Jew, was among the top fighters in his weight class.

Attell vs. Tenny was a classic “festival fight,” a match designed to add more sparkle to an event with many tendrils. Sept. 15, 1905 was Railroad Day in Goldfield, and the locals built a four-day festival around it. There were trunk lines for moving freight between Goldfield and nearby mining camps, but before 1905 a person visiting Goldfield from a “metropolis” such as Reno or Salt Lake City could not reach his destination without taking a stagecoach for the final leg of his journey. The arrival of passenger trains was seen as a signal to the outside world that a town was major league and the occasion became an informal holiday in many western mining towns.

It’s fun to read about the festival in the old Goldfield News. Marching bands came from as far away as Virginia City. The city was ablaze in decorative bunting. Rock drilling contests, tug-of-wars, pie eating contests, and burro races spiced up the festivities. All contests came with cash prizes and these weren’t penny-ante. Goldfield was awash with money, albeit on the precipice of a deep downturn. The gold mines would shortly peter out, causing a massive exodus. At its peak moment, Goldfield may have harbored as many as 25,000 people. Today the town in sun-parched, desolate Esmeralda County is home to fewer than 300 permanent residents.

By all accounts, Attell vs. Tenny was a fierce battle. According to a report in the San Francisco Examiner, Tenny’s nose was broken in two places and both of his eyes were nearly shut when he drew down the curtain, knocking Attell down for the count in the twenty-fifth round. The dispatch said “at least” 400 women were in attendance which would have caused a scandal in an Eastern precinct.

The bout had a sad postscript. Five months after meeting Attell, Tenny fought Frankie Neil in San Francisco. This was a rematch. Neil was given the decision over Tenny in their first encounter, a lusty 25-round affair.

Neil knocked Tenny out in the fourteenth round and Tenny died from his injuries the next morning. Born Harry Tennebaum, he was only 20 years old.

Horacio Accavallo (1934-2022)

Among boxing historians, there is an understandable prejudice against top Argentine boxers who rarely fight outside Argentina. Their records tend to vastly overstate their aptitude.

Horacio Accavallo, who was the reigning WBA world flyweight champion when he left the sport in 1967, retiring with a record of 75-2-6 (34), was an exception. Accavallo, who passed away yesterday (Sept. 13), one month shy of his 88^th birthday, was really, really good. The noted boxing historian Matt McGrain considers him the most underrated flyweight of all time. “His absence from the IBHOF makes a mockery of that institution,” wrote McGrain in a story that appeared on these pages.

Accavallo, who was a shade over 5-feet tall, was a trapeze artist and tightrope walker for a circus before finding his calling in the prize ring. His first defeat came at the hands of Salvatore Burruni in their second of three meetings. His other defeat came in his final year as a pro in a non-title fight in Tokyo with ex-Olympian Kiyoshi Tanabe, a boxer who would leave the sport undefeated, his career cut short by eye problems.

Between those two setbacks, Accavallo was unbeaten in 49 fights, going 48-0-1.

In Accavallo’s final fight, he successfully defended his flyweight title with 15-round majority decision over Hiroyuki Ebihara who was 55-3-1 heading in. Accavallo had a terrible time making weight for that fight and rather than move up into a higher division, he simply quit. “If I lose I will stop being a champion,” he reportedly said. “If I retire, I will be a champion forever.”

Born in one of the worst slums in Buenos Aires, Accavallo was the son of an Italian father and a Spanish mother, both reportedly illiterate. Historically, most fighters who grow up in poverty squander their ring earnings, but Accavallo was an exception. As noted by the noted Argentine boxing writer Diego Morilla, he used his earnings to build a chain of successful sporting goods stores.

Accavallo, who answered the bell as a pro for 732 rounds, developed Alzheimer’s and spent most of the last decade of his life in nursing homes. May he rest in peace.

Celebrity Fights

There’s good news for old-school boxing fans who are distressed to find social media influencers clogging up the fight calendar. By all indications, last Saturday’s show at LA’s Bank of America Stadium headlined by the exhibition between YouTube stars Austin McBroom and AnEsonGib was a big money-loser.

There were nine bouts in all, five on the pay-per-view card. According to various sources, the total purse money for the 18 participants amounted to about $600,000. Yes, that’s chump change considering what Eddie Hearn will pay Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin, but it’s a big nut for a promoter when factoring in other expenses – e.g., arena rental, ring rental and set-up, travel and lodging, insurance, ring officials (referees, judges, inspectors), and a laundry list of incidentals.

The event was available on multiple pay-per-view platforms for $40 ($39.99 for you nitpickers). Ticket prices for those attending the show ranged from $35 to $2,200.

Granted, sponsorship deals may compensate for disappointing returns from PPV and on-site sales, but yet it says something that there weren’t more than a few thousand people in the arena, many of whom were undoubtedly comped.

“Like it or not, the era of YouTuber’s boxing is not going away anytime soon,” says Daniel Yanofsky, the Combat Sports editor for The Sporting News. Perhaps not, but perhaps the light I see at the end of the tunnel isn’t merely wishful thinking.

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Arne K. Lang’s latest book, titled “George Dixon, Terry McGovern and the Culture of Boxing in America, 1890-1910,” has rolled off the press. Published by McFarland, the book can be ordered directly from the publisher (https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/clash-of-the-little-giants) or via Amazon.