NEW YORK --- Before we plunge headlong into nostalgia about Wednesday’s “retirement” ceremony for Madison Square Garden’s historic, 82 year-old ring, here’s something you might want to consider:

The Garden people will tell you that phasing out the ancient (circa 1925) boxing ring was part of a planned obsolescence, but do you think for a moment that if Bob Arum or the Garden honchos had known back in June that Miguel Cotto-Zab Judah would be the last fight ever to take place in the fabled ring, they’d have ever let us hear the end of it then?

The ring that hosted everyone from Jack Dempsey to Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali, from Benny Leonard   to Sugar Ray Robinson to Sugar Ray Leonard, is officially a 20-foot square – but that’s the outside dimension. Inside the ropes the old Garden ring was 18 feet, six inches. And when they got around to reading the fine print on the bout agreement for Oleg Maskaev’s Oct. 6 fight against Samuel Peter, a clause inserted by the Russian and agreed to by the challenger specified a 20-foot ring – INSIDE the ropes.

In other words, if the Garden still wanted to host Maskaev-Peter they’d have had to go out and buy a new ring whether they wanted to or not. MSG’s loss thus became Canastota’s gain, as Ed Brophy was only too happy to take the old one off their hands to put it on display at the upstate International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Partly to gain some publicity out of donating the ring, and partly to flog tickets for Maskaev-Peter show, the Garden assembled a ring-full of dignitaries, close to two dozen former champions who had plied their trade on the old Everlast-built canvas, for a retirement ceremony presided over by Sam Rosen Wednesday afternoon.

Ali wasn’t there, but Joe Frazier, who beat him in their 1971 “Fight of the Century” at the Garden, was. So was Jose Torres, who in 1965 won the light-heavyweight title from Willie Pastrano in that ring, and flew up from Puerto Rico for Wednesday’s retirement ceremony. Joey Giardello was also on hand. Giardello shared a distinction with Torres: They both lost their titles to Dick Tiger in that same Garden ring.

Bernard Hopkins, who unified the middleweight title when he beat Felix Trinidad there in 2001, was there, as were Buddy McGirt, Vito Antuofermo, Gil Clancy and Lou Duva, Emile Griffith and Marlon Starling, and a host of others. (Since the event was in New York and the ceremony was preceded by a free lunch, it would have been a major upset if Iran Barkely hadn’t been there.)

Television monitors played tapes of some of the more memorable  bouts to have taken place in the ring, including Ali Frazier I and Roberto Duran-Davey Moore, and countless others were cited. It occurred to us that some of the most epic moments ever to take place in that ring had been utterly ignored, their participants uninvited.

Where, for instance, were Riddick Bowe and Andrew Golota, whose 1996 disqualification produced a full-scale riot that nearly retired Madison Square Garden Boxing, period, never mind the ring?

What about Panama Lewis and Luis Resto, whose preflight shenanigans with the gloves produced a lopsided win over the late Billy Collins and got both Lewis and Resto thrown in jail and permanently banned from boxing?

Antuofermo was there, but nobody mentioned his 1978 fight against Willie Classen, one that produced another riot that was, according to witnesses, at least the equal of the Bowe-Golota denoument – if only because the Mosquito’s supporters could fight better than Golota’s could. (As beer cans rained down on the ring that night, Vito stood there beckoning his antagonists to climb into the ring with him; on their way out the door, Randy Gordon got his briefcase up just in time to block a whiskey bottle whizzing toward Bob Waters’ head.)

And, speaking of Classen, wasn’t it at least worth noting that a year later he was killed in that ring? (I know, the Classen-Wilford Scypion fight was next door at the Felt Forum, but the ring was the one now headed for Canastota.)

In another 1978 fight in that ring, Edwin Viruet and the late Esteban De Jesus were battling when a shootout erupted in the audience. With gunfire blasting all around them, they fought on, with DeJesus winning a split decision.

Eric Esch was probably off fighting somewhere Wednesday, but it wouldn’t have been that hard to find Mitchell Rose, the 1-7-1 Brooklyn pug who sent Arum into apoplexy (and nearly cost matchmaker Ron Katz his job) when he knocked out Butterbean in that ring on the 1995 Oscar De La Hoya-Jesse James Leija card.

And before we bid it a tearful farewell, it should probably also be noted that it was in this ring the late ring announcer Harry Balough was standing when he began his announcement “And Gladys Gooding will now…”

“GLADYS GOODING SUCKS!” loudly bellowed a voice from the audience.

Balough paused for maybe half a beat before he resumed his call.

“Nevertheless,” said Harry, “Gladys Gooding will now perform our national anthem.”

Who knows? Stuff like that might happen in the new ring, too. But I kind of doubt it.

M

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