Boxing At Your Own Risk THE LAST BOXING BOOTH
What’s a Boxing Booth? Quite common up until the 1980s many fairs and show grounds would have a boxing booth that featured a house boxer who would take on any challengers who dared to step up and try to win a cash prize by beating him. If you entered the ring you were, ‘Boxing At Your Own Risk.’
Anyone could get up and take on the house champ to try and win the cash prize. Not for the faint hearted, many tried, most, if not all failed. This is the traditional boxing booth, the last of its kind.
Beyond taking on the house champ anyone from friends, rivals or complete strangers could be paired off to fight, it was all fair and square in the ring. After the fight everyone shook hands.
There was a unique skill in drumming up a crowd and then getting fighters to step forward. The boxing booth featured a front parade where the showmen would artfully call up a crowd and pull challengers out of the audience to face off against the champ. Then the audience would pay to file into the closed tent that housed the boxing ring. One by one the challengers would take on the house champ. Blood was spilled, many became over eager, most fights were a suitable outcome, rarely did anyone, if ever, beat the house champ. Most fights ended with some Prize money being awarded.
Filmed at Nottingham Goose Fair, in the UK, with Ron Taylor (RIP), his family and his famous Boxing Booth. It was the last Boxing Booth in the UK, and some said Europe, at the time in 1998/1999. Filmed with kind permission of the Taylor family and other Showmen and the Boxers who took on any body, come one, come all. One of the step up boxers is Sai Varley.
Filmed by myself and Kiwi Mark, at a previous company that I used to run.