Brooklyn Welcomes Back Title Fights

In the other main event, Philadelphia’s Danny Garcia (25-0) knocked out Mexico’s Erik Morales (52-9) in the fourth round to retain the W.B.A. Super World and World Boxing Council light-welterweight titles.

The first fight of the night was between junior welterweights from Brooklyn, Boyd Melson (9-1-1) and Jason Thompson (5-6-2), who fought to a six-round draw.

“I know I won that fight because I was the busier fighter who landed more punches,” Melson said afterward. “But, hey, I can always say that I was the first guy in this new building to get punched in the face.”

Also on the undercard, two junior middleweights from Brooklyn, Luis Collazo (32-5) and Dmitriy Salita (23-1), thrilled the crowd with victories by unanimous decision. Collazo defeated Philadelphia’s Steven Upsher (24-2-1) in eight rounds. Salita turned aside Brandon Hoskins of Hannibal, Mo., (16-3-1) in six.

The Bronx was also represented as Eddie Gomez (11-0), a junior middleweight, knocked out Saul Benitez of Phoenix (2-3) in the first round.

After the Gomez bout, a buzz began building throughout the thickening crowd for the arrival of Daniel Jacobs, a super middleweight from Brooklyn. Jacobs was found to have spinal cancer in May 2011 and was temporarily paralyzed below the waist.

Jacobs, 25, sent the crowd into hysteria with a vicious first-round knockout of Josh Luteran: a sweeping left followed by a crushing right that sent Luteran to the canvas.

“It was left-right and nighty-night,” a smiling Jacobs (23-1) said. “A year and a half ago, I couldn’t walk or feed myself, so to come back from all of that and be able to do what I did tonight makes this the greatest and most memorable moment of my life.”

Before his fight, Malignaggi, 31, said that his family and friends had bought $50,000 worth of tickets.

Steve Farhood, a Showtime boxing analyst and historian, said the last world title fight in Brooklyn took place on Aug. 5, 1931, when the defending light-heavyweight world champion Maxie Rosenbloom outpointed Jimmy Slattery over 15 rounds at Ebbets Field. From the late 1800s until the Rosenbloom-Slattery bout, there were 37 world title fights in Brooklyn.

The middleweight champion Harry Greb fought in Brooklyn in 1917, and Jack Dempsey fought an exhibition bout in 1918. Long before those bouts, the heavyweight champion John L. Sullivan fought in Brooklyn in 1882.

“Most of those early fights were fought in athletic clubs around Brooklyn,” Farhood said. “But when the new Madison Square Garden opened in 1925, most of the title fights went there. After 1931, any other championship fight in New York was held at either Yankee Stadium, the Polo Grounds or a building in Queens called the Madison Square Garden Bowl.”

Malignaggi, Farhood said, is one of 17 Brooklyn-born boxers who won world championships, the most famous of whom is Tyson. Others include the heavyweights Riddick Bowe, Shannon Briggs and Michael Moorer; the middleweight Joey Giardello; the welterweight Mark Breland; and the junior welterweight Zab Judah.

Through the years, Farhood said, other marquee names fought in Brooklyn, including Tony Canzoneri 47 times, Rocky Graziano 18 times, and Benny Leonard 14 times.

“It’s a thrill for me to have been a part of all of this great history of Brooklyn boxing,” Jacobs said after the fight with nary a scratch. “I’m ready to do it again next week.”