HOLLY HUMPHREY
The Politics of Post War Boxing
THE SCORECARD / THE POLITICS OF POST WAR BOXING
In the tumultuous landscape of interwar America, few industries survived the economic downturn of the Great Depression. While much of the American economy staggered under the weight of the Great Depression, boxing seemingly flourished. Boxing can be viewed as a socio-economic organism, assisting the shaping of social and economic experiences across America.
In the immediate aftermath of World War I, the United States entered a period of prosperity commonly referred to as the Roaring Twenties. This decade was characterised by industrial expansion, rising wages and the growth of a consumer economy. Most notably, Detroit became the symbolic heart of America’s booming automotive sector. Mass production techniques pioneered by Henry Ford had made cars - and by extension, wages increases - more accessible to the average citizen. In this context of rising disposable income, boxing thrived as a cultural product and a commercial enterprise. Boxing’s appeal reflected American values of grit and upward mobility. Promoters, boxers and city officials alike recognised this. Municipal governments began to support boxing events not simply for the entertainment they provided but for the economic benefits they brought.
Yet on October 29th, 1929, that prosperity came to an abrupt halt. The catastrophic crash of the New York Stock Exchange triggered an economic free-fall. People cashed their savings, resulting in the subsequent bank closures accompanied by soaring unemployment. But boxing, curiously, remained stable. While it did not escape the effects of the Great Depression entirely, it weathered the storm better than most sectors. The answer lies in the logic of rational choice under scarcity. Even in an age of poverty, many Americans still chose to attend boxing matches. For a population deprived of stability and opportunity, the ring offered a symbolic return on investment. It became what economists refer to as an inferior good, a commodity whose demand increases even as income falls.
The boxing industry, recognising this irrationally rational behaviour, adapted. Promoters deployed strategies such as price discrimination to cater to both working-class and middle-class fans. Tickets were tiered, events staggered and promoters began to coordinate fight schedules. This was an increasingly professionalised and consolidated market, where a select group of promoters controlled the circulation of money and talent.
Behind the scenes, boxing had become a highly structured enterprise. Prior to World War I a promoter might handle a handful of fighters, by the 1930s they were managing expansive portfolios, carefully staging rivalries and shaping public perception through slick press-agentry.
Crucially, boxing also served a political function. As despair increased and radical political ideologies began to circulate among disillusioned workers, the state began to tolerate boxing as a stabilising force. Community formation around local gyms and venues also served to reinforce social cohesion during a period when the American Dream seemed perilously out of reach.
The political economy of post-war and Depression-era boxing reveals much about America’s broader social fabric. It exposes how crisis can sharpen the commercial instincts of culture industries and how the ring can become both a mirror and an antidote to national struggle. As such, boxing in the 1920s and 1930s stands not only as a sport but as a site of political negotiation and economic strategy.