Pugilistica: The History of British Boxing, Volume 1 (of 3) Containing Lives of the Most Celebrated Pugilists; Full Reports of Their Battles from Contemporary Newspapers, With Authentic Portraits, Personal Anecdotes, and Sketches of the Principal Patrons of the Prize Ring, Forming a Complete History of the Ring from Fig and Broughton, 1719-40, to the Last Championship Battle Between King and Heenan, in December 1863

It is certain Shaw had an eye upon the championship, for he now formally challenged all England. The amateurs were divided in opinion, but Shaw felt confident, in his own mind,...

Perhaps the prize ring in its palmiest day never exhibited a more accomplished boxer than Randall. Though claimed (_after_ his signal successes), by the Hibernian portion of the...

Ned Turner, who was born in Crucifix Lane, in the borough of Southwark, November 8th, 1791, was of Welsh extraction, his parents being natives of the Principality, and his kith...

“Advance, brave Broughton!” exclaims Captain Godfrey, with manly enthusiasm; “thee I pronounce Captain of the Boxers!” Had the worthy and trueborn writer of “the Characters” liv...

To whom this hardy little hero, who so long performed “clown to the ring,” was indebted for his grotesque _sobriquet_, is a point upon which history is silent, nor can its eluci...

Caleb Stephen Ramsbottom, for such were the registered sponsorial and patronymic styles of this well-known boxer, was born beneath the shadow of the venerable abbey church of St...

Jack Martin, on whom the ring reporters conferred the punning title of “Master of the Rolls,” from his calling as a baker, was born on the 10th of July, 1796, near Kennington Ch...

On the roll of fistic heroes to whom Bristol has given birth, the name of JEM BELCHER may claim precedence. He came of a good fighting stock, being descended by the mother’s sid...

In “the Introduction” I have dealt with the “Classic” pugilism of Greece and Rome. The darkness of the middle ages is as barren of record of “the art of self-defence” as of othe...

The pugilistic position of George Cooper at one period placed him in the very first rank. He was a pupil of Paddington Jones, and afterwards a particular favourite with Bill Ric...

Though the prestige of Broughton has gone far to illustrate the name of his conqueror, this lucky, rather than skilful, achievement will not give him the place he deserves among...

Brilliant as a meteor Hen. Pearce shot across the pugilistic horizon, as quickly to fall extinguished. When Jem Belcher had reached the zenith of his fame, he cast his eyes towa...

This well-remembered pugilist, whose career forms a link between the Second and Third Periods of the History of the Ring, well deserves a chapter, from his numerous and game con...

The third of the Belchers, Tom, remains in the memory of a few old ’uns as, for many years, “mine host of the Castle,” a jolly, rubicund, pleasant, and generous fellow, and the...

One of the most remarkable boxers of his time was the Israelitish phenomenon whose name heads this fifth chapter. In height about five feet six inches and a half; in weight nine...

Quoad the biography of this clever man of colour, we may safely follow “Boxiana,” seeing that he was a contemporary of Pierce Egan, who took his accounts, for better or for wors...

Thomas Molineaux, the hardy, determined and dangerous opponent of Cribb, under whose memoir we have already given the details of the two championship contests, next deserves a n...

The conveniences of the plan of a biographical history the editor flatters himself are by this time sufficiently obvious to the reader: the index of names and of events at the e...

In penning the History of Pugilism, one object has been our polestar—a desire on the one hand to avoid fulsome adulation, and, on the other, never to cast undeserved censure: to...

When Hen. Pearce, compelled by severe bodily illness to retire from the fistic arena, seceded from the position of champion, John Gully was looked to by common consent as his su...

This stalwart “navigator,”[152] at one period bid fair for a higher position on the pugilistic roll than his latter contests assigned to him. He was born at Wrotham, in Kent, on...

We have collected in our Introductory Chapter the few scattered notices of pugilism as practised and understood by the earlier Celtic nations. Despite, however, the proclivity o...

Broughton is indisputably entitled to be regarded as the founder of the modern art of self-defence. The successor of Fig in popularity, he far exceeded that stalwart cudgeller i...

Tom Johnson, whose real name was Jackling, was a native of Derby, although a general claim of Yorkshire extraction has been made for him, and “Boxiana” so states it; followed, o...

As a foil to the bright memoir of a high-minded, self-respecting, and honoured athlete, we cannot better “point a moral” than by devoting a brief chapter to the sudden rise and...

As a connecting link between the Second and Third Periods, George Maddox furnishes a career of some interest. He was a civil, facetious, illiterate man, but possessed of manly c...

On the decease of Fig the immediate patrons of pugilism seem to have cooled in their ardour, as we hear but little of the doings at the amphitheatre. For four years George Taylo...

Tom Owen, though living only in the memory of the present generation as a landlord combining liquor and literature, some fancy, more fun, a certain amount of old-school pugilism...

The popular cognomen of the “Gentleman Boxer” may give the cue to the prepossessing appearance, quiet self-possession, and amenity of manners, which contemporary writers agree i...

Benjamin Brain (called in the chronologies Brian and Bryan) was a native of Bristol, where he was born in the year 1753. His familiar nickname, “Big Ben,” was scarcely justified...

The history of “the Ring,” its rise and progress, the deeds of the men whose manly courage illustrate its contests in the days of its prosperity and popularity, with the story o...