Boxing exhibitions had previously been illegal under a provision of the New Jersey Crimes Act, which made it a misdemeanor for "any two or more persons to fight together or commit or attempt to commit assaults and batteries upon each other" or to aid and abet such an event in a public or private place.[2]
Boxing was a polarizing issue in New Jersey at the start of the 20th century, as some viewed the sport as an artistic form of competition and fitness, while others viewed it as a spectacle solely displaying violence and brutality. Prizefighting bouts were often held in secret locations that were difficult to find or access, such as in underground halls, barns, meadows, and in many cases, barges on rivers and bays to prevent police from breaking them up.
The underlying bill was introduced by NJ Assemblyman Joseph Hurley in 1917, passed by the state Senate on February 27, 1918, and was signed into law on March 5, 1918, by Governor Walter Edge. Senators Pilgrim of Essex County and Glennon of Hudson County, who supported the bill, declared that, "boxing could not be considered a brutal sport in these days of war, but that on the contrary it was useful for young men."[3]
Many attempts were made by anti-boxing and religious groups, to no avail, to halt the Jack Dempsey-Georges Carpentier world heavyweight championship fight at Boyle's Thirty Acres on July 2, 192, and to arrest the participants, based on the fact that the New Jersey Crimes Act was technically still in effect.[4][5]