Weegee, The Eyes Have It, 1953

…on Monday December 13, 2010, in an Internet auction.

This photo (the original was not made by Weegee) is from the first Jersey Joe Walcott vs. Rocky Marciano fight in Philadelphia, on Sept. 23, 1952. It was a knockout in the 13th round.
The verso of this photo references the rematch in Chicago, on May 15, 1953… again, a knockout, this time in the first round.

Surprisingly there are a lot of boxing videos on youtube, the final three rounds of first fight can be seen here, and the short second fight can be seen here…
(Spoiler alert: the undefeated, 30 year old, Rocky wins both fights, against the 38 year old Jersey Joe, and they are truly disturbing…)
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the videos are the beautiful press cameras circling the perimeter of the ring…

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the photo is the verso. It’s useful to have a definitive date for this photo and to know that UPI was distributing Weegee’s photos in the Spring of 1953…