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Boxing had long been a favorite male spectator sport in Nevada's saloons, and as state revenues declined, previously forbidden "glove contests" were legitimized by a legislature hungry for revenue in 1897. A county sheriff could issue an event license for $1000; ten percent went to the county and the remainder to the state. The prizefighting statute was the top legislative priority and emerged as the first bill to be signed into law. That same year, Livingston was chief among those organizing "The Fight of the Century" between heavyweight champion "Gentleman Jim" Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons. Livingston provided complimentary ringside tickets to media representatives, whose coverage appeared in newspapers nationwide. The event filled a 7,000 seat arena specially constructed at the Carson Race Track. It was Nevada's first venture into economic diversification through tourism, and it showed promise.

 

In 1899 Ormsby County voters elected Livingston to the first of two terms in the state senate. In 1903, the legislature passed laws to collect a $1000 fee from anyone promoting boxing events outside the state. To regulate boxing within the state, a new law required that all bouts be sponsored by a licensed athletic club. In 1905, Livingston, considered "Nevada's premier prize fight promoter," was elected first president of the Reno Athletic Club, which had been hastily organized to sponsor a contest between Marvin Hart and Jack Root, contenders for the heavyweight championship. The event attracted 4,000 spectators and was a memorable success. Livingston died in San Francisco in 1908, but his remains were buried near his first wife, Hannah, in the Jewish section of Lone Mountain Cemetery in Carson City. The economic benefits of the promotion of Nevada tourism, which originated with Livingston, have endured.