BoxRec

Prior to James Figg fist fighting for money is something that is extremely difficult to follow. The term "prizefighter" basically applied to anyone who was a fencer, wrestler, or pugilist.

Therefore it's basically impossible to determine who was the champion fist fighter prior to Figg who had the presence of mind to not only promote himself across the country, but to compile a record of everybody he fought.

It must be noted, however, that Figg was more of an all-around martial artist than boxer. In fact he was thought to be a world-class fencer first, wrestler second and pugilist third. His matches were three rounds--- the rounds were of no time limit. Usually the first round was boxing, the second round was wrestling, and the third round was with quarterstaffs or swords.

The logic was whoever could win two out of three rounds would be the champion. Needless to say he went undefeated for twenty years because nobody was as diverse in their all-around fighting ability as he was.

The Bareknuckle Era

James Figg (1719-1730)
Tom Pipes (1730-1734)
George Taylor (1734-1736)

The Broughton Rules Era

Jack Broughton (1736-1750)
Jack Slack (1750-1760)
William Stevens (1760-1761)
George Meggs (1761-1762)
George Millsom (1762-1765)
Tom Jucua (1765-1766)
William Darts (1766-1769)
Tom Lyons (1769-1769)
William Darts (1769-1771)
Peter Corcoran (1771-1776)
Harry Sellers (1776-1779)
Duggan Fearns (1779-1779)
[1779-1787 Period Without a Champion]*
Tom Johnson (1787-1791)
Benjamin Brain (1791-1794)
Daniel Mendoza (1794-1795)
John Jackson (1795-1796)
Thomas Owen (1796-1797)
Jack Bartholomew (1797-1800)
Jem Belcher (1800-1805)
Henry Pearce (1805-1807)
John Gully (1807-1808)
Tom Cribb (1808-1822)
Tom Spring (1823-1824)
Tom Cannon (1824-1825)
Jem Ward (1825-1827)
Peter Crawley (1827-1827)
Jem Ward (1827-1832)
James Burke (1833-1839)
William Thompson (1839-1840)
Ben Caunt (1840-1841)
Nick Ward (1841-1841)
Ben Caunt (1841-1845)
William Thompson (1845-1850)
William Perry (1850-1851)
Harry Broome (1851-1856)
Tom Paddock (1856-1858)
Tom Sayers (1858-1860)
Sam Hurst (1860-1861)
Jem Mace (1861-1862)
Tom King (1862-1863)
Joe Wormald (1865-1865)
Jem Mace (1866-1871)


Honorable Mention

Dan Donnelly defeated British title claimer George Cooper at Belcher's Hollow in 1815 during the reign of George III. Many people still considered the champion to be Tom Cribb, although he was retired, so Cooper has never been officially put into the lineage as the champion of Great Britain although for all intents and purposes he was because he defeated Tom Mulineaux that Cribb also defeated.

So, in theory, Dan Donnelly was the champion of the United Kingdom and the second Irishman to be champion of the United Kingdom. However, Cribb would unretire, and continue fighting until 1822 and both Donnelly & Cooper were essentially dismissed as pretenders rather than genuine title holders.

During the reign of William Perry (1850-1851) his rival Ben Caunt managed to convince a circus strongman and acrobat Charles Freeman (6'11") to take up boxing and challenge Perry. Erroneously billed as "The American Champion" the first world title bout since Cribb-Mulineaux was staged and Perry lost.

However, since Freeman retired afterwards and the match was not seen as a British Heavyweight title bout Perry remained as champion of Great Britain until losing to Harry Broome.

Additional Notes of Consideration:

The timeframe of 1714-1837 (123 years) was throughout the House of Hanover reign of the British monarchy. The Georgian Period, 1714-1830, especially during the reign of George IV, is thought to be the first golden age of pugilism.

It would be during the reign of Queen Victoria that we would first see the Queensbury Rules be created in 1865 although the last title match under such rules occured in 1889.

The old Broughton Rules, however, would continue on into the early 20th century with Bill Squires most likely being the last heavyweight of note to participate in such a match in 1902.

For many years these new rules were seen as for sparring or amateur bouts. "Real" fights were done bare knuckle and under the Broughton Rules. However, little bit by little bit these rules became adopted in one aspect or another.

Fighters began requesting skintight gloves in Broughton Rules bouts, etc--- but it wasn't until John L. Sullivan done away with Jake Kilrain in 1889 were the old rules done away with for good. Sullivan, more than any other boxer in the world, did more to promote these new rules saying that it forced boxers to really fight rather than run away, wrestle or purposely throw themselves to the ground to avoid getting hit.

The Transition to Gloves Era

Alf Greenfield (1883-c. 1886)

He rose to prominence after winning a heavyweight title tournament arranged by former champion Jem Mace in 1883. He would later challenge Sullivan (twice) for the heavyweight championship of the world but lost both matches. He would lose his claim to the championship of Britain to Charlie Mitchell, but Mitchell wouldn't truly be considered the champion of Great Britain until he defeated Mace in 1890.

Charlie Mitchell (1890-1898)

Mitchell had defeated veteran Jem Mace in four rounds, in what was billed as being for the heavyweight championship of England. Two minute rounds and six ounce gloves were worn. Mitchell never officially lost the title

The Marquis of Queensbury Era

Following the reign of Sullivan (1892) and the reign of Corbett (1897) Great Britain finally had a world champion in Bob Fitzsimmons (1897-1899) under the new rules, but when he lost to Jim Jeffries and the new champion easily handled the best Britain had in exhibition matches, the National Sporting Club (est. 1891) really began working in earnest to create an honest lineage not hinged on reputations but merit.

In 1905 the National Sporting Club staged the first true, legitimate Queensbury Rules match since 1883 between former middleweight Jack Palmer and Geoff Thorne, which was won by Palmer. The National Sporting Club title would in 1929 become the BBBC championship as the National Sporting Club became defunct.

Jack Palmer (1905-1906)
Gunner Moir (1906-1909)
William Hague (1909-1911)
Billy Wells (1911-1919)
Joe Beckett (1919-1919)
Frank Goddard (1919-1919)
Joe Beckett (1919-1923)
Frank Goddard (1923-1926)
Phil Scott (1926-1926)
Reggie Meen (1931-1932)
Jack Peterson (1932-1933)
Len Harvey (1933-1934)
Jack Peterson (1934-1936)
Ben Foord (1936-1937)
Tommy Farr (1937-1937)
Len Harvey (1938-1938)
Jack London (1944-1945)
Bruce Woodcock (1945-1950)
Jack Gardner (1950-1952)
Johnny Williams (1952-1953)
Don Cockell (1953-1953)
Joe Erskine (1956-1958)
Brian London (1958-1959)
Henry Cooper (1959-1967)
Jack Bodell (1969-1970)
Henry Cooper (1970-1971)
Joe Bugner (1971-1971)
Jack Bodell (1971-1972)
Danny McAlinden (1972-1975)
Bunny Johnson (1975-1975)
Richard Dunn (1975-1976)
Joe Bugner (1976-1976)
John L. Gardner (1978-1979)
Gordon Ferris (1980-1981)
Neville Meade (1981-1983)
David Pearce (1983-1983)
Hughroy Currie (1985-1986)
Horace Notice (1986-1988)
Gary Mason (1989-1991)
Lennox Lewis (1991-1992)
Herbie Hide (1993-1993)
James Oyebola (1994-1995)
Scott Welch (1995-1995)
Julius Francis (1997-2000)
Mike Holden (2000-2000)
Danny Williams (2000-2004)
Michael Sprott (2004-2004)
Matt Skelton (2004-2005)
Scott Gammer (2006-2007)
Danny Williams (2007-2010)
Dereck Chisora (2010-2011)
Tyson Fury (2011-2012)
David Price (2012-2013)
Tyson Fury (2014-2015)
Anthony Joshua (2015-2016)
Dillian Whyte (2016-2017)
Sam Sexton (2017-2018)
Hughie Fury (2018-2019)
Daniel Dubois (2019-2020)
Joe Joyce (2020-Present)

Great work HomicideHank

nobleart1978 wrote: ↑15 Nov 2021, 11:17 Great work HomicideHank

Thanks. I intend eventually to do little bios on all of the names on the lineage. Most people have never heard of any of them.

Also worth mentioning is the London Prize Ring rules. This for the most part replaced the Broughton Rules. They were created in 1838 and revised in 1853.

It cleaned up some of the dirty stuff. It outlawed stuff like head butts, thumbing ,and kicking. Also you could no longer go down without being hit. Definitely a huge step in the right direction.

It was still bare knuckles though. It gradually got replaced by the Marquis of Queensbury Rules.

True enough. I just simply did not know what to call that period of time from Figg to Taylor. I ought to call it the Learning Era simply because if you wanted to be a prizefighter Figg's place was essentially the only place in all of England to go and those first few champions after him were his own students. So was Broughton, but because he made the Broughton Rules and opened up his own school and amphitheater it was clearly a new era.

I remember many years ago trying to do a lineage here in America prior to Tom Mulineaux, but this was basically impossible because "rough and tumble" matches were not really written about all that much--- and quite frankly there were different kinds of prizefights.

In that colonial time frame of America eye gouging was quite the popular attraction and men purposely grew out their fingernails long so that they could get to somebody's eyes easier.

Fish hooks and other tactics were quite the norm. Even when Broughton's Rules made their way here to America there was still a lot of the old tactics going on, largely because such matches were set in taverns or clubs or barges or in the woods away from prying eyes and such matches always attracted the attention of pretty unfavorable characters.

So it was still "anything goes" in a lot of matches, or there would be hybrid rules allowing one thing but not another where the official rules didn't allow any of it, etc--- and one match from the Broughton Rules Era that sticks out to mind was with John Morrissey, and how he got the name Ol' Smoke.

They were fighting in a tavern and Morrissey was knocked into a burning wood stove and his hair and skin and clothes got burnt and began to smoke and he shot out of the wood stove fists flying and knocked out his opponent.

So in a lot of ways the old style of anything goes was still around into the 1800s because people in the crowd sometimes would join into the fight, or people would get knocked through walls or tables, etc--- attributes like head butting and elbowing, nutting (knee to the groin), bear hugging, and straight up kicking and stomping was things you had to be aware of.

That is why in a lot of the old pictures or old film you saw the boxers have more of an MMA type stance with their hands open because once upon a time grappling and other things were to be expected--- grabbing somebody by their wrist so that you could hit them with your free hand, was quite the popular tactic in the early 20th century.

Well put together Rufus. I wish there was more stuff on Figg. He must have been a truly fearsome fighter.

I'm guessing that he simply saw the British Commonwealth title as a stepping stone. Unlike many of the other British champions, Bugner saw himself as a real contender for the world title.

HomicideHenry wrote: ↑14 Nov 2021, 23:16 For many years these new rules were seen as for sparring or amateur bouts. "Real" fights were done bare knuckle and under the Broughton Rules. However, little bit by little bit these rules became adopted in one aspect or another.

Fighters began requesting skintight gloves in Broughton Rules bouts, etc--- but it wasn't until John L. Sullivan done away with Jake Kilrain in 1889 were the old rules done away with for good. Sullivan, more than any other boxer in the world, did more to promote these new rules saying that it forced boxers to really fight rather than run away, wrestle or purposely throw themselves to the ground to avoid getting hit.

The Transition to Gloves Era

Alf Greenfield (1883-c. 1886)

He rose to prominence after winning a heavyweight title tournament arranged by former champion Jem Mace in 1883. He would later challenge Sullivan (twice) for the heavyweight championship of the world but lost both matches. He would lose his claim to the championship of Britain to Charlie Mitchell, but Mitchell wouldn't truly be considered the champion of Great Britain until he defeated Mace in 1890.

Charlie Mitchell (1890-1898)

Mitchell had defeated veteran Jem Mace in four rounds, in what was billed as being for the heavyweight championship of England. Two minute rounds and six ounce gloves were worn. Mitchell never officially lost the title

The Marquis of Queensbury Era

Following the reign of Sullivan (1892) and the reign of Corbett (1897) Great Britain finally had a world champion in Bob Fitzsimmons (1897-1899) under the new rules, but when he lost to Jim Jeffries and the new champion easily handled the best Britain had in exhibition matches, the National Sporting Club (est. 1891) really began working in earnest to create an honest lineage not hinged on reputations but merit.

In 1905 the National Sporting Club staged the first true, legitimate Queensbury Rules match since 1883 between former middleweight Jack Palmer and Geoff Thorne, which was won by Palmer. The National Sporting Club title would in 1929 become the BBBC championship as the National Sporting Club became defunct.

Jack Palmer (1905-1906)
Gunner Moir (1906-1909)
William Hague (1909-1911)
Billy Wells (1911-1919)
Joe Beckett (1919-1919)
Frank Goddard (1919-1919)
Joe Beckett (1919-1923)
Frank Goddard (1923-1926)
Phil Scott (1926-1926)
Reggie Meen (1931-1932)
Jack Peterson (1932-1933)
Len Harvey (1933-1934)
Jack Peterson (1934-1936)
Ben Foord (1936-1937)
Tommy Farr (1937-1937)
Len Harvey (1938-1938)
Jack London (1944-1945)
Bruce Woodcock (1945-1950)
Jack Gardner (1950-1952)
Johnny Williams (1952-1953)
Don Cockell (1953-1953)
Joe Erskine (1956-1958)
Brian London (1958-1959)
Henry Cooper (1959-1967)
Jack Bodell (1969-1970)
Henry Cooper (1970-1971)
Joe Bugner (1971-1971)
Jack Bodell (1971-1972)
Danny McAlinden (1972-1975)
Bunny Johnson (1975-1975)
Richard Dunn (1975-1976)
Joe Bugner (1976-1976)
John L. Gardner (1978-1979)
Gordon Ferris (1979-1981)
Neville Meade (1981-1983)
David Pearce (1983-1983)
Hughroy Currie (1985-1986)
Horace Notice (1986-1988)
Gary Mason (1989-1991)
Lennox Lewis (1991-1992)
Herbie Hide (1993-1993)
James Oyebola (1994-1995)
Scott Welch (1995-1995)
Julius Francis (1997-2000)
Mike Holden (2000-2000)
Danny Williams (2000-2004)
Michael Sprott (2004-2004)
Matt Skelton (2004-2005)
Scott Gammer (2006-2007)
Danny Williams (2007-2010)
Dereck Chisora (2010-2011)
Tyson Fury (2011-2012)
David Price (2012-2013)
Tyson Fury (2014-2015)
Anthony Joshua (2015-2016)
Dillian Whyte (2016-2017)
Sam Sexton (2017-2018)
Hughie Fury (2018-2019)
Daniel Dubois (2019-2020)
Joe Joyce (2020-Present)

Nice list, although (to be petty) Gordon Ferris didn't win the British title until 1981.

1980* my mistake. Corrected.

Noticed that there was nothing between 1871-1905.
Went through an old boxing book of mine :The Boxing Encyclopedia" by Gilbert Odd.

It lists British heavyweight Championships fights, starting in 1882.
Here are the champions in that period up to 1905:

Charlie Mitchell (1882-?)
Jem Smith (1885-?)
Charlie Mitchell (1890-?)
Ted Pritchard (1891-1895)
Jem Smith (1895-1897)
George Crisp (1897-)
Jack Scales (1901-1902)
Charlie Wilson (1902-?)
Jack Palmer (1903-1906)

Notes:
- Often the title was vacant. Don't know exactly when a guy gave the title and how long it was vacant. That is why there is a questions marks for when Champion's title reign ended.

- Mitchell won a tournament in 1882 to win the title. Defeated Jack Knifton in the final via a 3-round decision.

- When Smith won the title in 1885, he won it in a bare knuckles fight. All of the other title fights in this period were with gloves, including Mitchell winning it 1882.

- The book lists Mitchell winning the title again in 1890 with a 3rd round stoppage against Jem Mace. Another book of mine refers to this fight as a four-round draw.

- The book lists Palmer as winning the title in 1903, not 1905. He knocked out Ben Taylor in the 12th round to win it.

I have the british boxing yearbook 1990 that lists P.O. Curran as british champ circa 1909 but he was obviously not generally recognised even though he beat Iron Hague.

Remember, in those days, the british title was only on the line if the bout was held at NSC headquarters. Maybe this absurd rule had summatt to do with P.O. Curran being wiped from history ?

Interesting that your book listed Curran as a champion. Guessing that maybe the he was just "claiming the title."

In my book, he is not listed as champion. Though he is listed as getting a title shot against Hague in 1910 but he lost.

Curran was the de facto champion in as far as he beat the man, who beat the man etc and whoever mentioned the NSC is correct in that he didn't win these fights in their club and therefore he was not officially regarded as the champion, however after defeating Moir, Hague and Jewey Smith in 1910 he didn't lose to a "British" fighter until Voyles beat him in 1912.

Well, this is interesting. I checked the Boxrec records and they confirm that Curran knocked out Hague in the 15 round on February 11, 1910, as you mentioned.

However, according to my book (Encyclopedia of Boxing by Gilbert Odd) on that exact date, it was Hague knocking out Curran in the 15th round!

That's Odd....

Ambling Alp II wrote: ↑23 Nov 2021, 16:36 Well, this is interesting. I checked the Boxrec records and they confirm that Curran knocked out Hague in the 15 round on February 11, 1910, as you mentioned.

However, according to my book (Encyclopedia of Boxing by Gilbert Odd) on that exact date, it was Hague knocking out Curran in the 15th round!

Curran knocked out Hague in 15 rounds.

Miles Templeton

Miles - Where have seen that Curran was the winner?

Dark dark days between Lennox and Fury.

CURRAN BEATS HAGUE AT PLYMOUTH Curran knocked Hague out in the 15th round with a clean punch the point, in the contest Plymouth laSt night. It was a very hot fight the fourth round Hague was down three times. Manchester Courier p 8 12/2/1910

Thanks for posting that .
It looks like it is just a mistake in the book that I have.

James Figg is considered by most to be the first boxing champion, but he's really the first champion of note who had the presence of mind to truly promote himself and keep a record of his matches.

Boxing (fist fighting) already existed prior to him but it is virtually impossible to determine who was champion prior to him considering the term prizefighter applied to anyone who fought with swords, cudgels, wrestled, etc.

Allegedly Figg had a record of 269-1-0 but one has to bare in mind that the vast majority of these contests were hybrid rules where the first round was with swords, the second round was boxing and the third round was wrestling. These rounds had no time limit. To be the champion one had to win two out of three rounds.

Figg really belongs to the world of martial arts rather than the world of boxing, but it was the fist fighting that truly brought in the crowds because it was not perceived as high brow like sword fighting. It was a sport of the people, although truth be told boxing in those days pretty much allowed anything to occur.

He was seen as a world class swordsman, and seen as a prodigious wrestler, and that his boxing ability was his weakest attribute although very few individuals were able to beat him in that particular area--- and that is probably because he was a rather large man for the time standing 6 feet tall and weighing 185 pounds, in addition to being a conditioned athlete with good skills.

His legacy really is that he made combat sports so popular and so accessible to the common man through his fight academies that he opened across the country where many people was able to become actively involved in those sports--- and some of his students became champions of England, most notably Broughton who formulated the London prize ring rules. Furthermore, Figg was the grandfather of two future champions: Jack Slack and Jem Belcher.

I would love to have visited Figgs amphitheatre (somewhere near the corner of Oxford Street and Tottenham court road).

As stated above it was the superb talent for publicity that enshrined Figg's legacy as champion.

Also the golden age was greatly helped by the writing of journalist Pierce Egan.

Egan was one of the first and certainly the most gifted at observing and recording the contemporary game but also traced the glorious history and lineage right the way back to the misty times of ancient Greece and trials of stamina and skill known as pancratia.

Pierce Egan is largely forgotten now but his hugely popular series 'tom and jerry' illustrated by George Cruikshank were a great influence on Charles Dickens.

There's so little between Slack and Tom Johnson, that it's really impossible to reconstruct the lineage with any certainty. If you look at the contemporary sources there are a number of fights that contradict the tradional lineage.

There doesn't seem to be any record of Tom Juchau and George Milsom or William Darts. Juchau was fairly notable at the time, and I kind of wonder if notable fighters were just inserted in in fictional fights to filling out a lineage that wasn't recorded.

Some time ago, I attempted to reconstruct the early English lineage, but I honestly have doubts there was anyone really recognised between Jack Broughton and Tom Johnson.

Jack Slack actually lost to George Taylor in 1751 and Goddard in 1752.
William Darts lost to William Stevens (who beat Slack) in 1767

George Milsom probably actually beat George Meggs in 1763 if the fight happened, and then later beat him in 1770
Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Thursday 24 May 1770
On Monday last the much talked-of buising-match between George Maggs, of Pensford, and George Milsom, of Kingswood, was decided on Leigh down near Bristol, within four minutes, in favour of the latter.- Very large sums were depending on the issue of this battle, and many of Magg's friends were so sanguine in his behalf, that bets of two to one against Milsom were laid to a considerable amount.

I tried to reconstruct the lineage several years ago and came up with
A time including 1681 [Name Unknown] "A Butcher"
???
Before 1730 John Gretton may have been champion for several years
Possibly from 1730 or before -1750 April Jack Broughton from beating Gretton and many others, firmly establishing himself as champion
1750 April Jack Slack from beating Broughton
1751 Feb George Taylor from beating Slack (Retires immediately)
1752 Goddard also defeats Jack Slack
1753-1760 Jack Slack (seemingly)
1760 William Stevens from beating Jack Slack, and other victories
1761 March George Meggs from beating William Stevens
1763 George Millsom from beating George Meggs
1765 August Tom Juchau from beating George Millsom
1766 May William Darts beats Tom Juchau
1767 August William Stevens defeats William Darts
1769 June George Millsom defeats William Stevens

But I'm pretty doubtfull of it, or if any real lineage existed now.