When Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk engage in a rematch of their May battle, one thing is certain: the victor will be hailed as the true heavyweight champion of the world. In the boxing realm, where one of the four (!) widely recognized sanctioning bodies may not bestow that honor, as seen with Daniel Dubois. Yet, in the grand scheme of things, by boxing's standards, the fight's implications are clear, and so is the modern heavyweight lineage.

The Perfect Referee?

There will be no mystery regarding the location, the officials overseeing the fight, or the rules that will govern it. Modern-day boxing, believe it or not, appears positively exemplary in terms of organization compared to its early years. If boxing is often referred to as the Wild West of the sporting world, there was a time when this was truly the case, with the fate of the heavyweight championship often in the hands of famous gunslingers.

The Genesis of the Heavyweight Crown

The concept of "the man who beat the man who beat the man" began with James J. Corbett, "Gentleman Jim," who defeated John L. Sullivan to claim the heavyweight title in 1892. He retired in 1895, leading to Bob Fitzsimmons gaining general recognition as the champion. However, Corbett decided to come out of retirement and reassert his claim. Even so, Fitzsimmons' December 2, 1896, battle with Tom Sharkey in San Francisco was promoted as a defense of the heavyweight belt. But on fight day, a problem arose - they couldn't find a referee. Fitzsimmons' manager rejected every suggestion due to concerns of a fix. In desperation, promoters J.J. Groom and John Gibbs turned to Wyatt Earp.Fifteen years earlier, Earp, along with his brothers Morgan and Virgil, and his friend Doc Holliday, participated in what would become one of the most famous shoot-outs in history, the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. The gunfight left three people dead, and in revenge, the dead men's allies assassinated Morgan and severely wounded Virgil. Wyatt, Holliday, and others went on a "Vendetta Ride" to seek revenge. They succeeded in eliminating some of their foes before leaving Arizona. Earp stopped in various places before ending up in San Francisco, where he became the head of security for the Hearst family and the San Francisco Examiner.

The Appointment of Wyatt Earp as Referee

Groom and Gibbs believed Earp would be the perfect person to oversee the fight. Initially, Earp resisted but later agreed to take on the role. When he entered the arena with just a few minutes left before the fight started, the crowd cheered. But their cheers turned to murmurs when they realized he would be the third person in the ring. It was unusual to nominate a boxing referee to participate in a gunfight, and vice versa. Earp did have some experience as a referee, mainly in non-Marquis of Queensberry contests.

The Fight and Its Controversies

Once the fight began, Fitzsimmons was in complete control. In the eighth round, as described by Earp biographer Stuart Lake, "Fitzsimmons landed a left hook squarely on the button of Sharkey's jaw and started his huge right fist from the floor to Sharkey's abdomen... [Sharkey] stumbled forward instead of back. Fitzsimmons' right, coming up, struck Sharkey in the groin. Sharkey collapsed." Fitzsimmons claimed the blow was his patented uppercut to the solar plexus, while Earp insisted it had gone lower and disqualified Fitzsimmons, much to the fury of the crowd.A temporary injunction prevented Sharkey from collecting his winner's purse until a hearing was held to determine the legitimacy of the evening's events and Earp's role. Fitzsimmons' manager complained about Sharkey fouling all evening and questioned whether the low blow had even occurred. A team of doctors later verified that Sharkey had been hit hard below the belt, and Sharkey claimed Fitzsimmons had apologized.The result stood, but Earp was fined $50 for the illegal firearm he had brought into the ring. The San Francisco Chronicle, the Examiner's rival, seized the opportunity to mock the referee, dubbed the "Tombstone Terror," stoking rumors by the publisher's loss of a $20,000 bet on Fitzsimmons. More likely, according to Earp biographer Tim Fattig, it was an easy opportunity to besmirch a rival publisher's poster boy.Humiliated, Earp left town, heading to Alaska in search of fortune as a gold prospector before returning to California to spend his later years in Los Angeles.Earp was the only unharmed participant in the Gunfight at the OK Corral. He survived the Vendetta Ride and became an icon of the Old West. But boxing was the one foe that bested him, as it would many others in the century and beyond. When he died in 1929, he was as famous for his controversial referee role as for his adventures in Tombstone."It was a complete publicity disaster for him," Fattig said. "Even in the 1930s, I found newspaper references to 'pulling an Earp' or 'Earping the job' as being shorthand for a crooked referee."The following year, Fitzsimmons and Corbett met to determine the undisputed heavyweight champion. Fitzsimmons won the fight by dropping Corbett in the fourteenth round with his patented punch to the solar plexus. Wyatt Earp was in attendance but not invited to be the referee.