You guys that responded to this thread are younger then me, I was in the 3rd grade and it was ALI vs Fraser, I won 50 cents on that fight, A big bet for an 8 yr old kid, but I wasn't able to see the fight live, I think it was the first fight people had pay to see it live, I do remember they had it at Cobo Hall in Detroit via sattelite or something. I was watching fights before that but can't remember who they were.
Pay Per View is what ruined boxing and has taking it away from the general public, now only the hardcore fans know who the fighters are, when I was a kid all the big fights were on ABC Wide World of Sports and everyone knew who the champions were, but back then we didn't have 4 or 5 champions in a division plus some of these divisions didn't exist.