Boxing

Charlotte hosted the World Featherweight Championship on October 16, 1982.  The match featured hometown hero Bernard Taylor versus Eusebio Pedroza of Panama and was nationally aired on ABC’s Wide World of Sports.  It was the first world championship boxing event held in NC.  In a letter from Knox to Governor Jim Hunt, the mayor notes that “[Bernard] is an outstanding example of a man who rose from a getto (sic) beginning to international prominence.” 

The amateur Golden Gloves boxing tournament has been a staple of the Charlotte boxing scene.  While the sport has declined in popularity over the past two decades, fighting has made a comeback with the emergence of Mixed Martial Arts.  The Grady Cole Center near Memorial Stadium continues to host both events.