The Colors Thread

[Marchegiano]

The olden sashes on the old fighters waists were colored. These colors are where our corners come from, red and blue. Originally the sashes were sold and tied to the corner of the boxer. They were the color of the boxer's choosing. I sometimes pick up whose colors are what, by chance. I'm going to, casually and as I chance on them, update this thread from time to time with men's colors.

Fitzs- Navy, sometimes with stars

Maher - Irish Green

Moroccan Young Molyneaux - Orange

Hammer Lane - Crimson

Jack Dempsey - Red

Tom Sharkey - American Flag




I know it's not much, but, that's because I forget...which is why I made the thread. If y'all know colors, drop them in and I'll edit the OP so's they're on the first post.


Just something I thought y'all might enjoy doing with me but maybe not.

[Willie Pep 229]

It is almost as though it disappeared with the fashion changes of the 1920s.

The painting of Dempsey-Willard that use to hang in Dempsey's Steak House on Broadway shows Dempsey wearing a red sash but photos of the fight suggest that maybe there was already no sash. Hard to tell.

But by the time you get into the the middle '20s the trunks start to take on the look that would dominate the 1940s and 50s.

I suspect the advent of adding a protective kidney belt in 1931 also negated using the tighter fitting trunks popular in the nineteen- teen years and out with them seems to have gone the sashes

The color sashes may not have only represented culture attachments they might have allowed identification of the fighters from the cheap seats.

Just around the same time the sashes disappeared, in 1927 the NYSAC added a mandatory trunk color rule to quiet fan complaints that the fighters couldn't be ID from the auditorium back seats.

[Anthony342]

It would be nice if they could make one fighter wear lighter and one much darker trunks for fights that were filmed, so viewers could tell the difference. Hard for me to tell in some of those grainy films sometimes.

Sashes sound pretty cool. So did the corners not always have colors on them then, just the fighter's waists before?

There's also a pretty damn good movie called Colors with Sean Penn and Robert Duvall.

[Willie Pep 229]

It would be nice if they could make one fighter wear lighter and one much darker trunks for fights that were filmed, so viewers could tell the difference. Hard for me to tell in some of those grainy films sometimes.

Sashes sound pretty cool. So did the corners not always have colors on them then, just the fighter's waists before?

There's also a pretty damn good movie called Colors with Sean Penn and Robert Duvall.

I am not near my computer but on my phone -- so I'm not certain (I will confirm later) but I believe the NYSAC trunk color rule called for purple and red trunks -- which of course were perfect distinctive colors when live and in color - but it would wreak havoc on us B&W film viewers decades later.

I guess that the fight would be filmed (in B&W) just wasn't on NYSAC agenda.

P.S. I confirmed what I wrote above; mandatory red trunks with a black band or purple trunks with a blue band. In B&W film all four colors were bound to blend indistinguishable.

[Anthony342]

I am not near my computer but on my phone -- so I'm not certain (I will confirm later) but I believe the NYSAC trunk color rule called for purple and red trunks -- which of course were perfect distinctive colors when live and in color - but it would wreak havoc on us B&W film viewers decades later.

I guess that the fight would be filmed (in B&W) just wasn't on NYSAC agenda.

P.S. I confirmed what I wrote above; mandatory red trunks with a black band or purple trunks with a blue band. In B&W film all four colors were bound to blend indistinguishable.

Lame, totally lame. They should have thought of something that WOULD have been distinguishable on B&W film. I often have trouble telling people apart if they're both wearing what look like white trunks with no trim and their hair looks the same.

Like in the Dempsey-Tunney fights, should've used better "colors. Co-co colors."

[markusmod]

Lame, totally lame. They should have thought of something that WOULD have been distinguishable on B&W film. I often have trouble telling people apart if they're both wearing what look like white trunks with no trim and their hair looks the same.

Like in the Dempsey-Tunney fights, should've used better "colors. Co-co colors."

I can't remember what fight it was, where both boxers wore the same yellow outfits.

[The Old LefHook]

I have seen olden fighters indistinguishable many times.

[Marchegiano]

I
Sashes sound pretty cool. So did the corners not always have colors on them then, just the fighter's waists before?

Yeah, I did a poor job explaining what colors were. This is mostly BK history, not many modern historians seem to care to mention. So, I'm not sure around the 1890s and early 1900s, gloved and sashed history, but I assume it's similar if not the same to 1860s on back.

They sold colors before the fights so that their supporters could wave them around in the air.

When they came to the ring the fighters used to have their colored sashes on and would wave around one of their for sale ones as a hello to their people while the crowd answered back waving about their banners too.

There were a few ways of deciding corners but once that was established the men or seconds would tie colors to the post of their corner.

During the fight when someone did something the crowd liked they let the fighter know by waving their colors around in excitement.

Once victorious the winner would take one of the losers colors and would display it along with other colors from other foes he'd faced similar to but obviously more flawed than record keeping.

They don't predate champions but they do predate belts.

Reckon that's about if not all I know about the colors.

[Anthony342]

Yeah, I did a poor job explaining what colors were. This is mostly BK history, not many modern historians seem to care to mention. So, I'm not sure around the 1890s and early 1900s, gloved and sashed history, but I assume it's similar if not the same to 1860s on back.

They sold colors before the fights so that their supporters could wave them around in the air.

When they came to the ring the fighters used to have their colored sashes on and would wave around one of their for sale ones as a hello to their people while the crowd answered back waving about their banners too.

There were a few ways of deciding corners but once that was established the men or seconds would tie colors to the post of their corner.

During the fight when someone did something the crowd liked they let the fighter know by waving their colors around in excitement.

Once victorious the winner would take one of the losers colors and would display it along with other colors from other foes he'd faced similar to but obviously more flawed than record keeping.

They don't predate champions but they do predate belts.

Reckon that's about if not all I know about the colors.

Reminds me of the old flag matches in pro wrestling where the babyface who had the American flag could take the foreign heel's flag once he won, but always opted to keep his own flag when he left the ring.

Also reminds me of in kung fu how the top ranked fighters get a red sash instead of a black belt to wear around their waists.

[markusmod]

Reminds me of the old flag matches in pro wrestling where the babyface who had the American flag could take the foreign heel's flag once he won, but always opted to keep his own flag when he left the ring.

Also reminds me of in kung fu how the top ranked fighters get a red sash instead of a black belt to wear around their waists.

Or when Bolo beat Frank Dux's friend and took his bandana.