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In the spring of 1810 there stepped on the
quayside at Liverpool a fine specimen
of black manhood.
His name was Thomas Molineaux.
He had worked his passage across the
Atlantic. He shouldered his stick and
bundle and began to tramp London.
In these days it was not unusual to see
negros in England. The emancipation of
the slaves was a big issue; and there was
much sympathy for the coloured men.
Those who managed to reach this country
were taken on as gentlemen's servants, or
were readily enlisted in the Army.
Thomas Molineaux sought out in London
others of his colour. He became friendly
with Bill Richmond, a boxer, and servant to
Lord Camelford.
A Test
Molineaux quickly made it known that
he had beaten all-comers at boxing on the
plantations of Virginia, and that he was
aspiring to the British championship,
which at the time meant the championship
of the world.
Richmond introduced Molineaux to the
fancy, and within a few days a fight was
arranged between the black and an
anonymous Bristol man.
"The newly-come American black is a
formidable fellow," wrote the newspapers.
"In height he is 5ft. 9in., his weight
between 13st. and 14st., his age 26 years."
The Bristol man, it was stated, was 6ft.
tall. His weight was not given.
On July 14, 1810, a crowd of top-hatted
gentry and their hangers-on, pugilists,
publicans and crooks, saw the black man
change the character of the Bristol fighter's
face. The fight, which lasted an hour, was
in the nature of a preliminary bout to test
the fighting qualities of the negro.
Tom Tough
The fancy were satisfied, and within a
month Molineaux was matched against
Tom Blake, better known by the name of
Tom Tough.
It was bare-fisted in those days, and
a round lasted until one fighter was thrown
or knocked down by the other.
The contest took place in a field at
Marggate. Tom Tough lay insensible in the
eighth round.
Molineaux now boasted that he would go
for the championship, then held by the
redoubtable Tom Cribb. his continued
reiteration of what he would do to
"Massa" Cribb brought an acceptance
of the challenge.
At East Grintstead on December 18 the
two boxers faced each other in a down-
pour of rain before a large gallery who
had waded knee-deep in the mud to get
to the ring.
Odds were laid that Cribb would win
in fifteen minutes. No one thought the
negro would stand up for half an hour.
But he did. He fought gallantly for exactly
twice that time, giving the backers of
Cribb many anxious moments.
Return Fight
Molineaux clamoured for another chance
to meet the champion. Cribb had
announced his retirement from the ring,
and it took much persuasion to induce him
to save British boxing from a black man
who would claim the championship in
default.
The return fight was held at Thistleton
Gap, Leicestershire. The combatants
slogged one another for twenty minutes,
and so fierce was the fighting that
Molineaux was unable to stand after the
eleventh round.
Molineaux fought many other good fights,
but his pretensions to the championship
were no longer seriously considered.
The fancy dropped him. fast living
brought him to poverty and, eight years
after he had landed in England, Tom
Molineaux died a wasted skeleton of a
man in the barrack room of a regiment
stationed at Galway.
Such was the end of the first negro
aspirant to the championship of the world.
Sayers v.
Heenan
In subsequent years the title was held
by such as Tom Spring, Jem Ward, Jem
Burke (the Deaf'un), William Thompson
(Bendigo), Benjamin Caunt, William Perry
(the Tipton Slasher), and Harry Broome.
Then came another great international
fight for the championship. In 1857 the
great Tom sayers beat Perry, who had
claimed the championship on the retire-
ment of Broome, and thus became the
holder of the belt. He was challenged by
the American, John C. Heenan.
In America boxing began to be popular
about the beginning of the 19th century,
the first recognized national champion
being Tom Hyer (1841-1848). He was fol-
lowed by James Ambrose (Irish born), who
was called Yankee Sullivan; John
Morrisey, who, like our John Gully, cham-
pion of England in 1808, was elected to the
legislature; John C. Heenan; Ton Allen,
of England, and J. Kilrain.
The fight between Tom Sayers and J.C.
Heenan took place at Farnborough in 1860.
The English champion was smaller and
lighter than the Benicia Boy, as the
American was called. Up to this time
America had not been regarded as a serious
contender for the world title, but the dis-
crepancy in the weights was expected to
give Heenan a real chance.
Banned
From the early days of pugilism the
English authorities had endeavored to
stop prize-fighting. Organizers, however,
adopted all kinds of dodges to prevent
interference. On ruse was to announce
that a fight would take place at a certain
venue, and then suddenly change it 12
hours before.
The usual ban was placed on the Sayers-
Heenan fight. Heenan complained that he
had "been chased out of eight countries."
Neverless, the contest took place.
It was one of the last great prize-fights
without gloves.
According to a newspaper report:
"Sayers is only about 5ft. 8in.; his chest
is not broad, nor are his arms powerful,
and it is only in the strong muscles of the
shoulders that one sees anything to account
for his tremendous power of hitting.
Sayer's lowest fighting weight was
10st. 10lb. The American towered above
him.
Cut the Ropes
That fight, it was said, emptied parlia-
ment. It was a crowd of top-hatted gentry,
and flap-capped proletariat. There has
always been speculation as to what would
have been the result if the police had not
intervened.
When the fight was stopped Heenan was
nearly blind. Sayers had an injured right
arm. His head was in chancery against the
ropes, and the Benicia Boy was pummeling
the Englishman with sledge-hammer blows
when the "peelers" came up and cut the
ropes, and the fighters fell into the sawdust.
The fight had been a rough and tumble.
Several times Heenan used his wrestling
ability to throw his opponent to the ground.
In the fourth or fifth round Sayers ruptured
a tendon in his arm.
"Give up, Tom!" cried his seconds.
But Tom shook his head and, despite the
pain, sailed in.
Never Fought
Again
American sportsmen have asserted that
the police interfered only when they
thought that Sayers was about to be
knocked out. Whether this be true or not,
it is certain that the Englishman's backers
were relieved that the fight should be
called a draw.
But Sayers deserved what glory he got
out of it; for he had lasted 37 rounds against
a man 6ft. 2in. tall, and weighing 14 stones.
The two fighters were given twin belts.
sayers received the cup which had once
belonged to Tom Cribb.
Sayers never fought again. He appeared
once in the ring as second to his old foe
Heenan against Tom King. Like the Game
Chicken, Jem Belcher, and many of the
great prize-fighters before him, he died of
consumption.
Public opinion was so much aroused by
this fight that henceforth prize-fights were
declared illegal. In the place of bare-fisted
pugilism came boxing and fighting with
padded gloves, small ones weighing about
4oz. being used by professionals, while
amateurs used larger and softer gloves.
Fitzsimmons
Until the introduction of the rules of the
Amateur Boxing Association in 1884, with
the division of boxers into several classes
according to weight, Briton was supreme
in pugilism. But under the Queensberry
rules the world championship was quickly
appropriated by America.
Only one Englishman since 1884 has held
the world heavyweight championship. He
was Bob Fitzsimmons, who came from
Helston, Cornwall. He was 35 when he
stopped James J. Corbett in 14 rounds at
Carson City, Nevada. Within two years,
however, Bob had to relinquish the boxing
crown to James J. Jeffries.
The first heavyweight champion under
the new rules was John L. Sullivan, of
Boston, Mass., who knocked out Paddy
Ryan in nine rounds at Mississippi City, on
February 7, 1882. The prize-money was
now beginning to rise. In this fight there
was a side bet of 2500 dollars.
Sullivan held the championship for ten
years and then was beaten by James J.
Corbett at New Orleans. The purse on this
occasion was about £5000.
Fitzsimmons beat Corbett on March 17,
1897.
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