When Boxing Was a Martial Art

7/29/2019 When Boxing Was a Martial Art

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When Boxing was a Martial Art

The Sweet Science of Bare-knuckle Pugilismby Frank Allen

Striking with the fist as an organized sport came to the British Isles in 43 C.E.

with the Roman invasion. The Romans adopted the Greek Olympic sport and

created even more brutal versions of their own often involving the use of

studded gauntlets. The sport of boxing left the British Isles with the last ofthe Roman legions in 436 C.E. and did not reappear for almost 1300 years.

During the Middle Ages, armed combat was the order of the day, and

wrestling reigned as the combat sport of the common people appearing at

fairs and festivals. There was no art or science to striking techniques which

were only used in all-out brawling.

In the second decade of the 1700's, the premier fencer in England was James

Figg. He was considered to be the national champion of backsword andquarterstaff which he taught at his Fighting Academy on Tottenham Court

Road in London. It was at this Fighting Academy that Figg devised his

method of "fencing with the fists" and in 1719, declared himself to be the

Bare-Knuckle Champion of England. He defended this title against several

challengers including his arch rival Ned Sutton whom he defeated with fists,

staff, and sword.

With the help of his patron, the Earl of Peterborough, Figg opened the firstLondon arena devoted to prize fighting. It was located on Oxford Road and

known as Figg's Ampitheatre. His advertising card was designed by the

famous artist William Hogarth. Hogarth painted a portrait of his friend thefighter dressed as a gentleman with a powdered wig, lace shirt, and fistsclenched in front of him. Figg's Amphitheatre catered to the gentlemen of

London's upper classes so Figg often performed at Southwark Fair to the

delight of his working class fans. He would set up a booth and take on all

comers.

Figg remained undefeated in these booth matches and his occasional formal

title defenses until his retirement in 1734. Upon Figg's retirement, his topstudent George Taylor declared himself to be the new British Champion. Figg

remained popular with the gentry and socialized with the Prince of Wales and

other Royal Family members until his death in 1740. Years after his death,Figg became known as the "Father of Boxing."

The Art of Boxing Develops Boxing during the Figg and Taylor decades

was an all-out anything goes bare-knuckle fight with absolutely no rules. Figgand Taylor defeated their brash opponents by adapting fencing techniques to

fist fighting. They fought out of a fencer's stance and threw power punches

with a fencer's lunge. All this would change with boxing's first Renaissance

Man, the third British Bare-Knuckle Boxing Champion, Jack Broughton.


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Broughton defeated Taylor in 1738 to win the championship. The turningpoint of his career and the art of boxing came in 1741, when Broughton

defeated George "The Coachman" Stevenson in a brutal 45 minute bout.

Stevenson died as a result of the beating he took from Broughton. Broughton

was so moved that he decided to affect a change in his beloved sport. He

was already the first boxer to use a preconceived strategy. Broughton would

size up his opponent's technique before a bout and adjust his style to take

advantage of his opponent's weaknesses. The Stevenson bout led Jack towrite the very first rules for the sport of Boxing.

Broughton's Rules stated that the contest would take place on a raised

platform with a wooden rail around it, and a three foot square marked in the

middle. A bout began with both fighters placing one of their feet on a line of

the square and across from his opponent. A round lasted until a man went

down, then both fighters had a half minute to "toe the line" and begin to fightagain. This was thirty assisted seconds in which a boxer's handlers would

work on him for the entire time. This made it difficult to knock a man out.Many fighters broke a knuckle with a punch that would end a fight by modernrules. Thirty seconds later they were facing a refreshed opponent and a

broken knuckle. This led to a great deal of body punching, grappling and long

fights of attrition. Any fighter who could not toe the line in the allotted time

was the loser.

Broughton's Rules also said that nobody could be on the platform, but the

boxers and their seconds, that two umpires would be chosen from the

audience to settle disputes, and that fighters could not hit a fallen opponentnor could they touch the other fighter below the waist at any time for any

reason. These rules still left ample opportunity for martial improvisation. All

types of striking and grappling were allowed as long as it was above thewaist and the opponent was standing. This style of fighting was not too

different from the Chinese Platform Challenge Matches that were taking place

on the other side of the world then.

Broughton's Rules were accepted in 1743 and were Boxing's only rules until

1838. Broughton also invented Boxing's first gloves, which he called "TheMufflers." Broughton's mufflers were used in training and exhibition matches

and contributed greatly to the number of young noblemen who studied

Boxing for health and fitness in Broughton's school. The Duke of Cumberland

was Broughton's patron and he got Jack a position in Yeomen of the Guard,which Broughton held until his death at the age of 85.

The Duke bet heavily on Broughton when he met Figg's grandson, "TheNorwich Butcher," Jack Slack. Slack was a rough and tumble fighter who

billed himself as "The Knight of the Cleaver" and was known for his

"Chopper" punch. The Chopper punch was the equivalent of a modern rabbit

punch to the back of the neck, and mimicked the motion of work in hisbutcher shop. During the first ten minutes of the match Slack all but closed


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Broughton's eyes. The Duke of Cumberland, fearing for his wager, called out,

"What are you about Broughton? You can't fight! You're beat!" To whichBroughton replied, "I can't see my man, your Highness, I am blind, but not

beat; only let me be placed before my antagonist, and he shall not gain the

day yet!" This bravado did him no good and Slack won the bout at the 14

minute mark. The Duke of Cumberland withdrew his support and Broughton

retired from Boxing. He turned his arena/school into a profitable antique

shop.

Despite his illustrious heritage, Slack brought about Boxing's first of many

disreputable periods. He threw fights of his own, fixed the results of other

boxers matches and generally brought on the first era of the boxing scandal

The Patriarch of Irish Clever Boxers Boxing as an art form was raised to

new heights with the rise to prominence of the Spanish-English Jew, Daniel

Mendoza. Being raised in London's East End, and of Spanish descent and

Jewish faith, one can assume that Mendoza learned to fight early, although

he was only 5 feet 7 inches tall and never weighed more than 168 pounds.Mendoza competed from the mid-1780's until 1820. Probably due to his size,

Mendoza was the first boxer to popularize a style in which footwork, jabbing

and defense were used to overcome brute force. It is often said that Mendoza

was the first to put the "science" into the Sweet Science.

In his first match, Mendoza beat a fighter who was known as Harry the

Coalheaver. Daniel was first recognized as a top rank boxer in 1787 when he

defeated Sam "The Bath Butcher" Martin. However, it was his four-fightseries with "The Gentleman Fighter" Richard Humphries that really brought

him to the public eye. The two were very well matched and Humphries won

their first match in 1787. Mendoza was ahead in their return match thefollowing year, when he suffered a leg injury at the 29 minute mark and had

to throw in the towel. In 1789, Mendoza dominated their third match and

won in 52 minutes. When he beat The Gentleman in 15 minutes the following

year, Humphries retired.

Mendoza became the British Boxing Champion with his win over Bill Warr in

1794. With this title he toured England, Scotland and Ireland with the Aston

Circus. This tour greatly increased the popularity of Mendoza's Scientific Styleof boxing and it became the rage of young boxers throughout the British

Isles. While touring Ireland, he was challenged and had his skills, heritage,

and faith insulted by one Squire Fitzgerald. When Mendoza met and

thoroughly thrashed this upstart member of the Irish gentry, he and his

boxing style became the pride of the Irish working class and their inspiration

to learn to box. It was in this manner that a Spanish-English Jew became thePatriarch of Irish Clever Boxers. In April of 1795, Mendoza lost the title to

"Gentleman" John Jackson, who weighed over 200 pounds and specialized in

the left jab. It was Jackson's third and last fight.


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Mendoza became one of Britain's most respected boxing instructors, and

continued to fight on and off until 1820. At the age of 56, he lost his lastfight to 52 year old Tom Owens who invented the dumbbell weight. Mendoza

lived until the age of 73.

The First Afro-American Boxing Stars

The early years of the 1800's saw the rise of the first Afro-American boxingstars. Bill Richmond was born on Staten Island, New York, which housed

British Military Headquarters in the American Colonies. During the

Revolutionary War, Richmond worked for the household of General Earl Percy.

When Percy returned to England as the Duke of Northumberland Richmondwent with him. Although he was only a 5 foot-6 inch, 165 pound

middleweight under the Duke's patronage, Richmond met and defeated a

number of England's top heavyweights. He beat Jack Carter, Atkinson of

Bandbury, Ike Wood, Tom Davis, Tom Shelton, and split a pair of fights with

George Maddox. But he couldn't defeat the Champion, Tom Cribb, who

knocked Richmond out in 1805. Although he fought as "The Black Terror,"Richmond was known for his gentlemanly demeanor and lifestyle

Tom Molineaux was born a slave, on a plantation in Virginia. He, his father

and brothers fought matches against slaves from other plantations for their

owner, Algernon Molineaux. One time before a fight upon which very heavy

stakes were wagered, the master offered Tom his freedom if he won. Tomwon, Algernon was true to his word, and Tom was off for New York. While

working on the docks in New York, Molineaux heard about the success of Bill

Richmond and immediately signed on as a deck hand headed for England.Once in England, this 5 foot 8 inch-tall, 195-pound ebony warrior announcedthat he was "The Moor" Champion of America (a title that did not exist), and

that he could beat any man including retired champion, Tom Cribb. He then

found Bill Richmond and convinced him to both train him and back him.

Cribb was not pleased with any of this and talked his friend and protege, Bill

"the British Unknown" Burrows into taking on the Moor. When Molineaux

stopped the British Unknown with a series of short punches to the head,

Cribb turned to veteran boxer Tom Blake. When Molineaux easily defeated

Blake, he tried to declare himself the Champion of England. This prompted

Cribb to finally accept the challenge of Molineaux the Moor.

The two fighters met in an outside ring on a cold and rainy December day in

1810. It was perhaps one of the two most outstanding matches of the Bare-

Knuckle Era. Molineaux drew first blood in the second round, and was clearly

the harder puncher of the two. Cribb was relentless and kept up a continual

body attack. The Moor dropped the champion in the 28th round, and Cribb

failed to beat the 30 second count. But Cribb's second accused the black

fighter of hardening his punch with bullets in his hand. While the umpires


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searched for the nonexistent bullets, Cribb revived and the match continued.

A couple of rounds later, Molineaux began to shiver from the cold and showsigns of exhaustion. In the 33rd round he collapsed to the ground, looked up

at his second, Bill Richmond, and said, "Me can fight no more! " He then fell

into unconsciousness and had to be carried from the ring.

Cribb tried to retire again, but within a few months a revised Molineauxdefeated Jim Rimmer and tried to claim the championship again. This

brought the 5 foot 10 inches tall 200 pound champion out of retirement again.While Cribb was training arduously in Scotland, training camp being an

innovation in boxing, Molineaux, now estranged from the gentlemanly

Richmond, was enjoying his very first stint as a party animal.

They met for the second time in December of 1811, and the Moor's power

almost won the day early when he completely closed one of Cribb's eyes. The

Champion couldn't see until one of his seconds lanced the bruised area

around the eye. From that point on, Cribb's stamina began to win the day.

He dropped Molineaux with a body punch in the sixth round and finallycaught the Moor flush in the 11th, breaking his jaw and stopping him.

Molineaux traveled Britain with a Boxing and Wrestling Show, but continued

his dissipated lifestyle and died in Ireland at the age of 34. Cribb finally

retired in 1822 opening a successful tavern called The Union Arms. He lived

until the age of 68. British fight fans always loved Cribb for exemplifying theirfavorite qualities in a boxer: "Pluck and Bottom." Pluck meaning courage and

Bottom meaning stamina.

Boxing Comes to America The first official boxing match in America tookplace in New York City in 1816. Dutchman Jacob Hyer defeated Tom Beasley

in the only match that either of them fought. Thirty-three years later, Jacob's

son, Tom Hyer, won the first American Championship when he defeated

small-time criminal, James Ambrose, who fought as "Yankee Sullivan."

In 1838, Broughton's Rules for prize fighting were superseded by the London

Prize Ring Rules. The structure of the match remained essentially the same,but the fighting area was to be surrounded with rope instead of a wooden rail,

and, preferably, the bout would be contended outside on turf. There was also

an adjunct rule about not using the ropes to your advantage. The biggest

change brought about by the adaptation of the London Prize Ring Rules wasthe prohibition of what had formerly been common techniques. Head butting,

hair pulling, eye gouging, and neck throttling, which included choking, head

locking and neck cranking, were expressly forbidden. The earlier prohibition

against leg contact was extended to knee strikes. Until then, the knee strike

to the body had been a common technique known as gut-kneeing. The

London Prize Ring Rules also forbade throwing yourself to the ground in order


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to end the round and get yourself half minute of rest. It was a rule that some

of the better technical boxers learned to circumvent.

Bare-knuckle pugilism may have reached its height as an art form under the

London Prize Ring Rules. Due to the limitation of brawling techniques, more

boxers began to learn the Scientific Style that was developed by Daniel

Mendoza. Many fighters began to add the art of Cornish Wrestling to theMendoza Scientific Style. This style of wrestling perfectly adapted to the new

rules of boxing. It developed through centuries of competition with its rival ofEnglish Westlands Wrestling, the Devonshire Style.

Traditionally the Devon men were known as the "kickers and trippers," while

the Cornish men were known for their "hugging and heaving." Techniques ofCornish Wrestling consisted mostly of upper body throwing techniques,

because it was a standing style in which a throw constituted a win. All the old

Celtic styles of wrestling ended in this fashion, because the Celts considered

ground grappling to be unmanly. Bare-knuckle Boxers favored a type of

spring hip throw, in which they followed their opponent down, landing theirfull weight on his abdomen. This technique was called a "Cross Buttock."

Another favorite technique under the London Prize Ring Rules was to "Seize

and Fib," grabbing and pulling in your opponent with one hand while

delivering short punches with the other hand.

The spinning backfist was also a common technique and was called the "PivotPunch." When a bare-knuckle fighter added the sweeps and low kicks of

Devonshire Wrestling to his arsenal he was in command of a practical

fighting system. This mixture of striking and grappling brought boxing to itshighest level as a complete martial art.

The Famous Fight of 1860 The most outstanding fight ever to becontested under the London Prize Ring Rules took place in 1860. It was theFirst World Boxing Championship and was between the English Champion,

Tom Sayers, and the American Champion, John Carmel Heenan. This fight

and the events surrounding it were a drama worthy of a Pulitzer Prizewinning novel and an Academy Award winning motion picture. It was a story

of courageous warriors, loyal managers, treacherous wives, adoring fans,

and outraged police.

Tom Sayers was a 5 foot 8 inch tall bricklayer from Brighton, England who

fought the early part of his career as a 140 pound middleweight. As a 19-

year-old novice prize fighter he fell in love with an attractive 21 year olddivorcee, named Sarah Powell. She would be the love and the bane of the

rest of his life. In their second year together, she had their first child, Young

Sarah. Young Tom was born 3 years later. Tommy loved his "little nippers"more than life itself and would do anything for the kids.

In 1853, Tommy got his shot at the British Middleweight Title, which was

held by Nat Langham. Langham was a lanky 37-year-old veteran, known as


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"Old Clever Nat." He was a master of the left jab to the eyes and then

slipping under his opponent, and looking like he had been thrown wheneverhe needed a rest. He was at his best when the grass was wet, as it was when

he met Sayers. The 25-year-old Sayers was the stronger of the two and won

all the early and middle rounds, but Langham was slowly working on the

younger man's eyes. In the 48th round Tom's eyes were so swollen that his

handlers had to cut the bruise areas to allow him to see. Langham was

almost completely exhausted, but continued throwing every punch at

Tommy's eyes. When Tom rushed Old Nat at the beginning of the 60th round,he was met by a left jab to each eye and a wild hook to the ear, which

Langham threw with such force, that both men went down.

Tom waved off the 30 second rest and charged right back at Langllam, who

caught him coming in with a left-right combination to Tommy's battered eyes.

Sayers spun and groped blindly towards his corner ending the match. It had

lasted 61 rounds, averaging 90 seconds each. Sayers learned a lot aboutboxing techniques in that match, but he couldn't ever get Langham into a

rematch. Old Nat retired and opened a bar. Seven years later, he would selltickets to the Sayers versus Heenan match at his bar. The following yearfound Tom so broke that he had to tour the countryside in search of matches.

While Torn was out of town, Sarah took up with Alfred Aldridge, a young

handsome gambler, who was a member of Tommy's entourage. When Tomreturned from a rather unsuccessful tour, Sarah announced to him that she

was seeing Aldridge and would continue to do so. If Tommy gave her any

trouble about it then she would explain to the kids that they were born

illegitimately because Tom married Sarah after their birth. Tom had marriedher as soon as her first husband died, but he didn't want his children

stigmatized in Victorian England so he agreed to Sarah's demands. He moved

in with his sister and continued to spend time with Sarah and the childrenwhenever it struck Sarah's fancy. Matters were really complicated when

Sarah had three children by Aldridge while married to Tom, making them

Tom's only legal heirs.

In 1855 Sayers was completely broke, so he accepted a match with

heavyweight contender Harry Poulson, who weighed over 200 pounds. Tom

went up to 152 pounds for the bout. Sayers first slowly, but methodicallyclosed the big man's eyes, then knocked him so unconscious that Poulson

couldn't be revived within the mandatory 30 seconds. This fight brought Tom

to the attention of his new manager and soon to be close friend, John Gideon.

It also started his lucrative heavyweight career and Sarah was right there tospend the money

Two years later, Tom Sayers won the British Heavyweight Title from William"The Tipton Slasher" Perry, in a bout which the champ's corner tossed in the

sponge, at the one hour and 45 minute mark. By this time, Gideon was

regularly advising Tom to divorce Sarah. but Tom steadfastly refused. He

claimed that it was for his nippers' sake, but he obviously still had strongfeelings for Sarah.


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Meanwhile, Back in the States...

Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, John C. Heenan had become

Heavyweight Champion of the Americas by default and without winning a

major match. This 6 foot 1 inch, 200 pound, muscular, handsome youngIrishman, was born in upstate New York. but gained his reputation as a

fighter while working for a steamship building company in Benicia, California.

A number of successful street fights led to Heenan's best friend, Jim Cusick,

settling up a number of pick up bouts for Heenan. Cusick was a nervous little

man who talked incessantly and always wore a bow tie. He was also a genius

manager and totally dedicated to Heenan. Cusick parleyed mere pick upfights into a chance for John to fight for the American Heavyweight Title,

against title claimant, "Old Smoke." John Morrissey.

The 23-year-old Heenan met the 26-year-old Morrissey on October 19, 1857

in Canada just across the border from Buffalo, NY. The steamboat carrying

the fighters and crowd left Buffalo at 8:00 AM, but spent all day avoidingpolice boats and the fighters didn't come to scratch until almost midnight.

Heenan overpowered the 5 foot 10 inch tall, 180 pound Morrissey in the first

round and may have knocked him out, except for a missed punch that hit a

rig post, hurting Heenan's hand. Heenan still won all the early rounds, butwhen an old leg abscess reopened and began to weaken the Benicia Boy, Old

Smoke got a second wind and began to pummel the weakening youngster. In

the 11th round, both men had to be led to the scratch line, where Heenanswung wildly, missed, fell down and passed out, giving Morrissey the match.

Morrisey promptly retired from boxing and went on to become a successfulgambler and New York politician. When he refused to give Heenan a rematch,the Benicia Boy was declared the American Champion. This was a title which

Cusick would use to set up the match with Tom Sayers.

It took a year and a half to get the trans-Atlantic match set up during whichJim and John stayed in New York. While visiting a newspaper office, Heenan

met a very cute, short, curvaceous little actress from New Orleans, named

Adah Isaacs Menken and he promptly fell in love. Adah had that effect on

men. She was sort of a cross between Marilyn Monroe and Betty Boop and

men seemed to do what she wanted. Adah and the "Boy" were seen

everywhere together right until he left for training in England. Just before he

left, they announced that they had secretly married. When John was gone,Adah billed herself as Mrs. John C. Heenan, making a big name for herself on

the New York Stage. In her most famous and oft repeated role, she donned

flesh colored silk tights and played a naked, captured princess. Her famespread far and wide as "The Great Naked Lady of the Stage." It finally spread

too far and Mr. Menken appeared and explained to the press that Adah had

somehow forgotten to divorce him.


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When John Morrisey departed for England to help Tom Sayers train for a

match against Morrisey's old nemesis, he was only too happy to bring thenews of Adah's bigamy. Heenan did not however come apart at the news. He

simply announced that he and Adah had never really, legally married and

began to train harder than ever. Jim Cusick, who hated Adah and was

detested by her in turn, was very happy at this outcome.

Heenan finally met Tom Sayers on the morning of April 17, 1860. Sayers

threw his hat into the ring at 7:20 AM and Heenan quickly followed him intothe ring. It was a fine morning, in that field in Farnborough, and Tom

remarked to the boy, "How are you M'boy? Fine morning, this." John replied,

"Yes, we've got a beautiful morning for it." To which Tom answered, "Yes, if a

man can't fight on such a day as this, he can't fight at all!"

When the boys toed the scratch at 7:29, it was noted that Tom's face was

stained walnut brown by the pickling solution that he used to toughen his

skin. Heenan was fair skinned but much larger. The first five minutes was a

warm up dance, with lots of movement and no punches actually landed. Justas they worked their way into Heenan's corner, they started to exchange

punches. When they backed out of the corner, Heenan's nose was bleeding,

causing money to exchange hands on the "first blood" bets. When the Boy

noticed the blood, he charged forward and effortlessly tossed the smaller

man to the turf, ending the first round.

Sayers began the second round by slipping, sliding, jabbing, and generally

confusing the big youngster, until a big, wide Heenan left hook dazed him,

allowing the Boy to wrestle him down and land his full weight on Tommy'sribs. For the next four rounds, Tommy took a beating, being countered and

knocked down in each of them. He was even knocked senseless in the fourth,

but was revived by his seconds. Sayers knew that Heenan's hands weretaking damage from the heavy head punching.

The seventh and eighth rounds were legendary, lasting thirteen and twenty

minutes, respectively. They are even more amazing in retrospect, knowingthat Tom's right arm began to swell at the end of the sixth round, heralding

an injury that would later prove to be a broken arm.

Tom Sayers got his second wind and began to time the Boy with lighting left

hand counter punches, that cut Heenan's right cheek and closed his right eye

in the seventh. The round still ended with Heenan knocking Sayers off

balance and down, but Sayers had scored the damage. Both men's mouths

were bloodied in the eighth, with the right side of Heenan's face gettingworse and Sayers' right arm swelling and stiffening. The round ended with

Sayers still going down.

Local police arrive during the ninth round, but there weren't enough of them

to do anything, so they just watched. Round after round Sayers punched

Heenan's face with his lightning left and was then thrown or knocked down.

His right arm is a mess, but Heenan's face looked worse. Round 21 began at


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8:38 AM, the beginning of the 2nd hour of unarmed combat. In the 26th

round, Sayers left jab finally found the mark, of Heenan's left eye. The roundstill ended with Sayers going down from a Heenan wild hook. As the fight

progressed it became a continual sequence of damage to Heenan's face

followed by Sayers being knocked or thrown to the turf.

The police reinforcements finally arrived and tried to stop the fight. Thefighters finished several more rounds, while the police fought their way

through the crowd and past the "Ring Bullies," which was the current termfor boxing match security guards. In the 36th round the police finally reached

the ring and distracted the referee, just as an almost blind Heenan tried to

strangle Sayers with a ring rope. One of Sayers' seconds cut the rope and

the ring came apart in the ensuing riot. However, a group of 30 or so hard

core betters threw their arms around each other, and made a shoulder to

shoulder ring, allowing the riot to swirl around them.

The boys fought six more rounds, before referee Dowling broke into the ring

of betters and declared the fight over. At which point everyone broke and ranfor the train. Both of the combatants had to be assisted to the train. The

bout had lasted for 2 hours and 20 minutes, dissected into 42 rounds.

Later the match was declared a draw and each fighter was presented with a

silver belt. After a lengthy healing period, Sayers and Heenan toured Britain

together reenacting their famous bout. During this trip they became fastfriends. Tom's health began to fade and he never fought again. John

returned to the States to make up with Adah, but when she spurned him, he

returned to England to wait out the Civil War. When he lost to the newEnglish Champion, Tom King, Tom Sayers was a second for Heenan. Sayers

was obviously sick at the time. Two years later, in 1865, Tom quietly died of

diabetes at his sister's house. Sarah got all of his money and Gideon set uptrust funds for Young Tom and Young Sarah.

John Heenan returned to America and became successful in Tammany Hall

politics, in New York City. Unfortunately, he was connected to Boss Tweedand when the Boss went down in 1871 John lost everything. By 1873, he was

in bad health and was trying to make a living as a sparring partner. His ever

present friend and manager suggested that they return to their roots. SO,

they boarded a train for the sunny skies of California. However, at the stationin Green River, Wyoming, Heenan died in the arms of his friend, Jim Cusick.

Heenan was 38 years old, a year younger than Tom Sayers was at his

passing, 8 years earlier.

New Rules for Boxing, John L. Sullivan In 1867, famous English amateur

sportsman and athletics organizer, John Graham Chambers wrote a new set

of rules to govern gloved, amateur boxing contests and exhibitions.

Chambers had been a much heralded oarsman for Cambridge, and was the

organizer of the Amateur Athletic Club, and a key figure in the beginnings of


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England's first Amateur Athletic Association. Besides mandating the use of

gloves, his rules created the first three minute timed round, forbade all typesof grappling, and invented the 10 second long unassisted knockout. The

limited number of timed rounds created the first need for judges' decisions.

When Chambers got his old college buddy, John Sholto Douglas, the Eighth

Marquess of Queensberry, to sponsor his rules, they became known as theQueensberry Rules. It would be almost two decades before these rules would

begin to influence the ranks of the professional prize ring

The late years of the 1870's saw the rise of the last of the great bareknuckle

fighters, "The Boston Strong Boy," John L. Sullivan, himself. His reputation

began in his teens, when he would walk into various Boston taverns, thumploudly on the bar and announce, "I'm John L. Sullivan, himself, and I can lick

any man in the house!" It was a boast that he never failed to back up. At 5

feet 10 inches tall and 190 pounds, the young Irishman was a natural power

puncher. From the beginning of his career, he would fight by either the

London or Queensberry rules. He always favored the gloves, which protectedhis hands while throwing multiple power punches at the large bones of an

opponent's jaw and temples.

Sullivan's first big match took place on a barge in the Hudson River in New

York, in 1881. It was a bare-knuckle affair, and when the Boston Strong Boy

knocked "the Bulls Head Terror," John Flood, down eight times and stoppedhim in the ninth round, he set up a match with Paddy Ryan, the American

Champion. They met in Mississippi City on Feb.7th of thc following year. It

was a one-sided match, with Sullivan knocking Ryan senseless, with a rightto the jaw in the ninth. This fight made Sullivan the Bare-Knuckle Champion

of American and a national hero who most people considered to be

unbeatable. In January of 1885, Sullivan stopped Ryan in the first round oftheir rematch and in August of the same year he stopped Dominick McCaffery,

in the sixth round, with gloves on, to win the new Queensberry Rules World

Heavyweight Boxing Championship.

The following year, Sullivan fought a third bareknuckle match with Ryan and

stopped him in the third round. In 1889. Sullivan met Jake Kilrain for the

Bare-Knuckle Championship of the World. Kilrain had recently defeated the

current English Champion and was already called the World Champion by ahandful of publications. When Sullivan won a grueling 75 round contest, he

became the undisputed World Heavyweight Boxing Champion.

The Sullivan-Kilrain fight became the last of the Bare-Knuckle ChampionshipMatches and John L. Sullivan the last of the Bare-Knuckle Champions. When

the Great John L. decided to defend his overall title by the Queensbury Rules

in 1892 it was the end of bare-knuckle boxing. When he was stopped in the21st round of that match by Gentleman Jim Corbett there was no turning

back. The San Francisco bank clerk was strictly a gloved fighter and after him

the sport never looked back.


12/12

The Queensbury Rules were always presented as safer than bareknuckle

boxing, but, in reality, they became the standard of the sport because theycreated a faster paced and more exciting sport for the new industrial age.

The timed round with a mandatory minute rest kept the fighters going at a

quicker pace as well as the ten second, unassisted knock-out which

presented the possibility of an abrupt and exciting stoppage at any moment!

The absence of grappling stopped a lot of bone injuries, and the padded

gloves produced less facial blood, however, the same protection for the

hands allowed for more power head punches with less damage to the handsleading to increased brain trauma. In the long run, the sport was probably

not more or less safe, but, rather, faster, more exciting, and more saleable

to the pubic. This exciting new sport was also much less of a completemartial art than it had been in the days of the London Prize Ring and the

warriors of the Sweet Science of Bare-Knuckle Pugilism.

Documents

When Boxing Was a Martial Art