They used to do close-circuit tv. That was how they did Holmes/Cooney; in my part of the world, you had to go out to the arena in San Bernardino to see the fight. But there was also ON Subscription TV, kind of like cable, but different, too.
My neighbors had ON and watched the Holmes/Cooney fight, but for some reason I was banned.
Same with the first Leonard/Hearns fight. You could get that via ON TV. Some people a few blocks away had the fight and projected it onto a big screen, like the old projector screens from years ago. I was walking my dog and saw that they had the fight, so I'd peer over the fence until their dog barked. Then they'd come and chase me away, I'd circle the block, come back and watch until they chased me away again.