Big Time Boxing Returns To Atlantic City

Boxing has a rich history in Atlantic City. Throughout the 1980s, 90s, and early 2000s, most of the biggest fights in the sport took place in one of two destinations: Las Vegas, Nevada, or Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Countless world titles were won, lost and defended at the relatively small seaside gambling and resort capital.

Atlantic City, Gambling, and Boxing

Gambling was legalized in Atlantic City in June 1977, making the city the only legal place to gamble in America other than Las Vegas. The following year, Resorts International staged the first-ever boxing event at an Atlantic City casino, with Howard Davis Jr. winning a ten-round decision over Luis Davilla in the main event. The casino boxing era on the East Coast had begun.

Before that 1978 night, most of the boxing that took place in Atlantic City usually ended up at the Convention Center, which would later come to be known as Boardwalk Hall. It was the site of the Matchroom Boxing card with Jaron “Boots” Ennis and Eimantas Stanionis in the main event on April 12. The Convention Center (today Boardwalk Hall) opened in 1929 and has hosted boxing cards since 1930.

Matthew Saad Muhammad beat John Conteh by TKO at 2:27 in round 4 on March 29, 1980 at Resorts International. Photo: BoxRec Wiki/Bob Thomas

After the inaugural show at Resorts, casino boxing did not return until Resorts International again hosted a show in August 1979 with Mathew Saad Muhammad defending his world title in the main event. It would also be the only boxing event to take place at a casino before the end of the decade.

The 1980s arrived, and the boxing scene in Atlantic City hosted at the area casinos took off.

Resorts International began staging monthly boxing cards in January 1980, often having as many as three events per month. Soon after, in January 1981, other casinos like Caesars, Bally’s, and The Playboy Casino joined the mix, hosting regular boxing gatherings monthly at their properties.

As new casinos began to sprout all over Atlantic City, boxing would be regularly featured in what would turn out to be the most popular form of entertainment for these gambling houses.

Boxing brought out the crowds. Suddenly, Atlantic City was rivaling Las Vegas not only as a boxing capital of the country, but also as an entertainment home. In addition to pugilism, performers including Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, Cher, The Rolling Stones, Diana Ross, The Beach Boys, Eddie Murphy, Rodney Dangerfield, Bob Hope, and numerous other superstars appeared along with regular WWF Wrestling events throughout the 1980s.

The city came to be known as “America’s Playground.” As big an entertainment hub as Atlantic City had become, boxing remained the city’s most popular attraction, second only to gambling.

Mike Tyson knocks out Michael Spinks during the fight at the Convention Hall (later known as Boardwalk Hall) on June 27, 1988 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Tyson won the WBC, WBA, and IBF heavyweight titles by first-round knockout. Photo: BoxRec Wiki/The Ring

Boxing cards from small crowds of one thousand attendees to the nearly 22,000 fans that packed the Convention Center for Tyson vs Spinks in 1988 were held at various venues weekly. The frequent boxing cards also brought out the networks that would broadcast the fights. ABC, NBC, CBS, ESPN, USA Network, Fox Sports, HBO, and Showtime all televised Atlantic City boxing cards regularly.

As the 1980s came to a close, the marriage between boxing and Atlantic City was cemented, with nearly one thousand boxing cards being held that decade.

The Trump Era of Atlantic City Boxing

Donald Trump had a major presence in Atlantic City with several properties including the Trump Taj Mahal. He sold it to financier Carl Icahn, who closed it in 2016. The property was purchased, renovated and rebranded as Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City.  Photo: Wikimedia

A big benefactor guiding many of the biggest fights and events in Atlantic City throughout the late 80s into the early 90s was none other than Donald Trump. Long before entering the White House, Trump was a massive fixture in the sport, responsible for bringing many a Mike Tyson happening to Atlantic City, often aligning himself with promoter Don King.

Trump hosted regular boxing events at his three casinos (Trump Plaza, Trump Taj Mahal, and Trump Marina) and the Convention Center as well. Regardless of one’s personal feelings about the man, he was a significant part of the Atlantic City boxing scene and its success.

Boxing Closes Out The 20th Century

The 1990s were not as active as the 80s from an overall quantity perspective, as the cost of running events had increased quite a bit, but from a quality perspective, things were still very strong for the Atlantic City boxing scene. Cards took place regularly, with television a familiar fixture. Some of the sport’s biggest names of the 1980s like Tyson, Hector Camacho, Michael Spinks, and Dwight Muhammad Qawi, were replaced with new 1990s Atlantic City personalities. Ray Mercer, Bernard Hopkins, Arturo Gatti, and David Tua thrilled crowds regularly.

Atlantic City was still hosting more than its fair share of championship fight. But now there was competition from north coast venues in nearby Connecticut. New Yorkers and Tri-State residents who often made the three-hour trip to Atlantic City had another option. Connecticut opened two casinos, the Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods. These casinos also offered boxing as a fairly regular program, though not as frequently as Atlantic City.

Championship fights were still landing in Atlantic City from some of the sport’s biggest stars, including title defenses by Lennox Lewis and Pernell Whitaker. But Las Vegas pulled away. The substantial money fights landed in Sin City. It didn’t help matters that Las Vegas was an ever-evolving and expanding city. Atlantic City’s casino growth slowed to a crawl from a decade prior.  A two-horse race was now a three-horse race with Las Vegas well ahead on the boxing landscape.

Atlantic City: Arturo Gatti’s House

As we entered the early 2000s, the glory days of the Atlantic City boxing scene were in the rearview mirror. Long gone were the weekends when you could find two or three different boxing shows in the city. Two or three shows a month were now the standard, but the seaside resort still got its share of big cards. Most big cards would end up at Boardwalk Hall, the new name for the former Convention Center since 1999.

Arturo Gatti was a Boardwalk Hall fixture in the 2000s.. Photo: HBO Boxing

Arturo Gatti had been a big draw in the 1990s, and turned into an even bigger one in the early 2000s. Gatti was signed to HBO Boxing, which televised all of his fights. Almost every bout was a barn burner.

Gatti was the face of the Atlantic City boxing scene. After years of fighting at many casinos, he graduated to Atlantic City’s biggest venue, Boardwalk Hall. Sellout crowds and big television ratings were always associated with a Gatti fight. Who could forget his trilogy with another Atlantic City regular: Micky Ward of Lowell, Massachusetts?

Fights two and three of the Gatti Ward trilogy took place at Boardwalk Hall. Gatti fought there 14 times in his career.

After Gatti retired in the summer of 2007 following 23 Atlantic City appearances, the boxing scene in the town was never the same. Top-notch boxers, including Kelly Pavlik, Sergio Martinez, and Sergey Kovalev, would all take turns headlining multiple shows in Atlantic City. Each fighter drew solid crowds, but they were a far cry from the sellouts and electric atmosphere of a Gatti fight.

In time, the major promoters and broadcast networks stopped coming to the city. The casinos rarely offered boxing as an option to their patrons. Boardwalk Hall hosted an occasional card in its smaller ballroom but did not see a big fight for several years. The city that once offered boxing shows headlined by the likes of Tyson, Holyfield ,Foreman and Duran reduced to sporadic boxing events showcasing local talent.

The town that once produced dozens of world championship fights yearly would go nearly four years from November 2014 to August 2018 without a single world title fight. World-class boxing in Atlantic City had dried up.

Over the last several years, there has been an absence of big-name talent and championship fights coming to the city. Although high-level boxing has been scarce, boxing still took place.

Atlantic City Boxing Comes Back To Life

An important boxing figure for the city has been middleweight contender Thomas Lamanna. Lamanna, scheduled for a May 31 fight against Jermall Charlo, doubles as a promoter and has brought over 20 shows to various Atlantic City venues. The Millville native has also fought in the city 23 times and has helped keep boxing alive in the town over the last decade.

Before the April 12 Matchroom Boxing card televised on DAZN at Boardwalk Hall, the last time the famed building saw boxing in the big room was in November 2014, when WBO World light heavyweight Sergey Kovalev fought IBF World light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins in a unification fight, a near shutout decision won by Kovalev.

Eleider Alvarez scores an upset knockout win over Sergey Kovalev in Atlantic City. Photo: Main Events

Four years later, Kovalev returned to Atlantic City, losing his world title in a shocking seventh-round knockout upset by Eleider Alvarez of Montreal in the last big fight card in the city at the Mark G. Etess Arena at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. The property was opened on the site of the former Trump Taj Mahal.

Jaron Ennis and Eimantas Stanionis headlined a successful return of boxing to Atlantic City on Saturday, April 11. Photo: Tommy Rainone, NY Fights

The importance of the Saturday night card at Boardwalk Hall can not be underestimated. Philadelphia’s Jaron Ennis successfully defended his world title by sixth-round stoppage over Eimantas Stanionis of Lithuania to unify the IBF and WBA welterweight titles.

It was Ennis’s fourth Atlantic City appearance. Ennis last appeared on July 8, 2023, in the Boardwalk Hall Ballroom in front of a capacity crowd, which saw him stop Roiman Villa in the tenth round.

But in 2025, Ennis and Stanionis brought the return of big-time boxing to the big room at Boardwalk Hall, which has produced so many memorable fights throughout boxing history. A crowd of over 9,000 fans watched Ennis solidify his status as the best welterweight in the world.

Returning to the glory days of boxing in Atlantic City is a long shot. Credit goes to local promoters like Lamanna, Larry Goldberg, Manny Rivera, and Alex Barbosa, who have consistently put on boxing shows. They allowed a major promoter like Eddie Hearn to gamble on bringing a significant Matchroom Boxing event to Atlantic City.

Will regular big fights return to America’s playground? That remains to be seen. But on April 12, if only for one night, championship boxing evoked memories of a bygone era while calling to mind the promise of hope.