BoxRec - User contributions [en]

Tom Cribb vs. Tom Molineaux (1st meeting)

2018-12-10T14:03:34Z

Bitplayer:

[[file:CribbMolineaux.jpg|center]]
 
I have rewritten this due to serious issues with the accuracy of previous versions of this article- Bitplayer

Molineaux, and especially his fight with Tom Cribb, have been the subject of much controversy. There is much claimed in later writings, such as Molineaux claiming the Championship of America, or Cribb receiving extra time to recover after the 29th round, which cannot be found in contemporary accounts. While Molineaux was said to have been a freed slave, Shelton concluded it more likely he was one of the free blacks in America at the time. A copy of his writing, including critisizing a previous version of this can be found at http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/blog/?p=8186#more-8186

It is possible there was racial and nationalist bias in the comtemporary reports, but without good evidence of their innaccuracy, I think they are the best sources to work with.

'''From London Courier - Monday 24 December 1810'''

The following account of the battle between Molineux the black and Crib, on Tuesday last, is written by an amateur:−
Molineux is a man of robust stature, weighing 14 stone 8Ib, and therefore deemed competent in point of strength to face any man in the united kingdom. From the specimen he gave of his powers and bottom in the combat with Tom Blake, some time ago, he was deemed the best match for Crib of the present day (it having been understood that Jack Gully had declined all contests as a prize fighter). It was accordingly agreed they should fight for 200 guineas aside.

A more unfavourable day for the sport could not possibly have been selected, as it rained in torrents the whole day, and notwithstanding the great distance from town at which the battle took place, the spectatos were numerous: and those who were not provided with covered carriages, were literally drenched. The last three miles of the road were almost knee-deep with clay; so that it can excite no surprise to learn that many horses were knocked up, and the riders, as well as a number of pedestrians, never reached the scene of action. At twelve o'clock Mr. Jackson, who did, and does, on all occasions of the kind, officiate as Master of Ceremonies, had the outer circle formed of the various cehicles, which had served to transport from the metropolis several thousand amateurs, who had arrived on the ground in spite of difficulties and bad weather.

The ring in the centre of the large one was strongly constructed of stakes and ropes; and, according to the terms of the fight, measured twenty-four feet every way. The spot was situated nearly at the foot of a hill, which protected the combatant from the chilling wind and rain from the eastward.

Now the champions appear, "armed cap-a-pee, and eager for the fray:" no more snivelling; every spectator felt himself a hero; and the lads of the fancy seemed by their counteuauces to say, "What a glorious thing's a battle?"

Molineux, the Moor, was the first so enter the ring: he made a graceful congee to the amateurs, hurled up his cap, in defiance of his adversary, then retired to strip for the battle. Crib followed so bright an example, except the gracefulness of the bow, and in that Molineux had the art of his side.

Gully, the second of Crib, and Richman, that of Molineux, entered the ring with their champions.

The awful moment is arrived for setting to, and the heroes threw off their upper Benjamins as the signal. They shake hands, retire two steps, put themselves in attitude, then eye each other with the most penetrating looks, at the same time each attentive to his guard.

A solemn pause for the moment ensued, and then commenced the

First Round.−Molineux commenced hostilities, by placing a right hand blow on the left side of Crib's body; but which was attended with trivial effect. The native champion smartly returned the hit, with a right and left at the head, and one for luck in the body; the Black then closed, and was thrown by his adversary. Thus terminated the first round without bloodshed or injury.

Second Round.−The combatants set to very sharp, and seemed to verify the opinion which had gone abroad, that they were both fully determined on a manly stand-up fight, to the exclusion altogether of sparring or shifting. A furious rally took place, several hard blows were exchanged on both sides. Crib's did the most execution; his blows having been directed straight forward, whilst those of Molineux were hand over head, given with miraculous power and resolution, but without judgment, insomuch that Crib was enabled to parry them or spoil their effect, by planting the first hit. Crib, on the whole, had the advantage of this round, although he exhibited the first blood.

Third Round.−Molineux, not the least dismayed at the taste he had had, faced his antagonist courageously this round, who met him with corresponding resolution, and coming in contact with the Black's head, at arm's length with his left hand, made him oy the blow measure his full length on the ground; the lusty Moor was on his legs in a second, and it was "Mungo here, Mungo there, and Mungo everywhere," who anxiously looked round for his customer, who he was prevented meeting until the

Fourth Round.−In which, after an ineffectual attempt to rally down Crib, the Black received a knockdown blow.

Fifth Round.−Consisted of straight forward fighting: they both rallied in good style. Molineux persevering in the system of boring down his opponent by main strength, whilst Crib evinced a determination-to prevent him by repeated blows on the head, which failed to have that effect. Towards the finish of this round the Black closed, when it was discerned he was the strongest man, and was as expert in the art of fibbing as Dutch Sam, who was the first that rendered that practice cognizable as part of the science. The Black, by this new manœuvre, ovtained the best of this round.

Sixth Round.−Was begun by a furious onset, but Crib being over anxious to compliment the Black for a hit he had received, fell, partly from a slip and a blow.

Seventh Round.−Crib had his revenge this round; the Black rushed on his adversary, according to custom, when he caught a violent blow on the forehead, by which he picked up a handsome rainbow. His cauntenance, however, was not the more clouded on the occasion, and he was the first to come to his time.

Eight Round.−If it were not invidious to single out any particular round, I would say, that this was the best contested round in the battle; the combatants were still in possession of their full vigour, and had been taught discrimination; they had discovered, also, the weak and strong parts in each other. Crib found out that, if the resolute Moor got him into so reduced a state as make his sledge hammer blows tell, that he should not like his head to be the anvil, and from the determined conduct of his tawney antagonist, things were fast approximating that way.

It was here, that it would seem, then, the grand push was to be made, in order to give a decided turn to the battle. Crib brought into the struggle his courage, strength, and science, which were not more than sufficient to cope with the persevering and invulnerable Moor. The rally was desperate; success was alternately on the one side and the other; the Black at length fell; but the extraordinary efforts of Crib rendered him more feeble at the end of the round than his adversary.

Ninth Round.−Was gallantly contested, but Crib was compelled to make play, by the Black following him up, and giving him no quater; neither would he take any, for his head was always at the service of his adversary. He never shrunk from a blow, and his great anxiety was always to return it. Crib evinced weakness, and fell from a hit. The knowing ones exchanged look with each other round the ring, as much as to say, "things look a little *****, master."

Tenth Round.−By this time the conccit was pretty well taken out of both the heroes,, and it was not to be wondered at, considering how hard they had fought, and how severly they had been punished. The head of Molineux was predigiously swollen; and if the Moor had been an artist he could not have laid on the black and red with a more regular hand on Crib's face, although Crib might think it might have been down with a more delicate touch. In this, as well as the seven successive rounds, Molineux appearedmuch the strongest man; he went into Crib, pell well, without standing for repairs, and rallied him at every part of the rin; and when he got him against the ropes, he either threw him, or encircled his neck with his left arm while he fibbed him with his right hand. If this could not be called murder, it was something like manslaughter; for Crib seemed all the same as in a blacksmith's vice. It was here where there was shown a little national prejudice against the Black; but being of a passive nature, he could derive no injury from it; and, to speak inpartially, and for the honour of pugilism, the strictest fair-play was shown to both parties throughout.

At the termination of the seventeenth round Crib was so completely exhausted as to be termed dead beat; but it must not be forgotten, that in reducing Crib to this state, Molineux himself was in a tottering condition, but appeared more animated, more gay, and was the first to appear to his time.

From the seventeenth to the twentieth rounds, Crib appearing to be convinced that he over-shot his mark in supposeing that he could beat Molineux off hand, as he had endeavoured to do, had therefore recourse to his favourite mod of retreating or fighting shy, without which, it appears to me, he must have been compelled to have given in the battle. The Black, naturally presuming this was Crib's forlorn hope, followed him up, and never quitted him until the

Twenty-third Round−When seeing a falling off in the Black, and feeling himself somewhat recovered, he made play and knocked his man down for the first time for several rounds.

From the twenty-fourth to the 28th round, bets were considerably reduced; they had been about 4 to 1 on the Black, and now the bets were even.

Twenty-ninth round was ominons for the Black; he made an effort to get Crib against the ropes, but without effect; neither could he throw him as he had done; after a short rally, he was knocked down by Crib, who seemed more alive and full of confidence than he had been for many rounds before.

Thirtieth Round.− Crib had not certainly the lead, and finding his antagonist could not keep his legs well, stuck to him until he invariably rallied him down.

Thirty-first Round, after a short rally, was finished by the Black throwing Crib, but he fell over him in the struggle, by which means he pitched upon his head; and I have heard it from a friend of his, that the hurt he received on this occasion affected him with a giddiness, that he could not stand, and induced him to comminicate to his second (Richman), that he could not longer continue the contest. Richman, however, finding that Crib was also so much exhausted that he could scarcely support himself, encouraged Molineux to try a round of two more; he did so, and, on the termination of the 33d round he fell by an effort to keep his legs; which being termed by Crib's party falling without a blow, the victory claimed in favour of Crib, which would have originated a dispute, had not Molineux again repeated, "I can fight no more."

Crib, no doubt, was delighted at the declaration, but did not treat the spectators with a Somerset, according to custom. No, indeed, all the strength he had left, was insufficient to support him off the ground without assistance.

Thus terminated a battle which has not been excelled, in point of hitting and execution, for many years; and while the courage and resolution of the lusty Moor have been extolled to the utmost, the merits of Crib, as a bruizer, will not fail to be duly appreciated by the victory he has gained over so inculnerable an opponent. In this last contest, the struggle, I conceive to have been between science and strength. The advantage that Crib had, by his excelling in the former, the Black had, by superiority in the latter. With respect to coolness and bottom, it is but justice to place them on par. Before I saw the Black set to in this last rencontre, I thought him too irritable and hot; but I am convinced that his impetuosity is only a part of that principle upon which he fights, and which, no doubt, would have proved successful against most men. To be a finished boxer, a man must be possessed of a large portion of natural muscular powers, besides other acquirements, the chief of which is, to learn to hit straight, and with a jerk from the shoulder, without which, as Liston would say, "It is all my eye and Betty Martin." The Black is only deficient in this accomplishment. His style of fighting comes near to that of Bully Hooper of Ruffian memory. That battle lasted 55 minutes.

Tom Cribb vs. Tom Molineaux (1st meeting)

2018-12-10T14:02:47Z

Bitplayer: A complete rewrite due to critisms of serious inaccuracies, I will come back and add some notes to help clarify bits.

[[file:CribbMolineaux.jpg|center]]
 
I have rewritten this due to serious issues with the accuracy of previous versions of this article- Bitplayer

Molineaux, and especially his fight with Tom Cribb, have been the subject of much controversy. There is much claimed in later writings, such as Molineaux claiming the Championship of America, or Cribb receiving extra time to recover after the 29th round, which cannot be found in contemporary accounts. While Molineaux was said to have been a freed slave, Shelton concluded it more likely he was one of the free blacks in America at the time. A copy of his writing, including critisizing a previous version of this can be found at http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/blog/?p=8186#more-8186

It is possible there was racial and nationalist bias in the comtemporary reports, but without good evidence of their innaccuracy, I think they are the best sources to work with.

'''From London Courier - Monday 24 December 1810'''
The following account of the battle between Molineux the black and Crib, on Tuesday last, is written by an amateur:−
Molineux is a man of robust stature, weighing 14 stone 8Ib, and therefore deemed competent in point of strength to face any man in the united kingdom. From the specimen he gave of his powers and bottom in the combat with Tom Blake, some time ago, he was deemed the best match for Crib of the present day (it having been understood that Jack Gully had declined all contests as a prize fighter). It was accordingly agreed they should fight for 200 guineas aside.

A more unfavourable day for the sport could not possibly have been selected, as it rained in torrents the whole day, and notwithstanding the great distance from town at which the battle took place, the spectatos were numerous: and those who were not provided with covered carriages, were literally drenched. The last three miles of the road were almost knee-deep with clay; so that it can excite no surprise to learn that many horses were knocked up, and the riders, as well as a number of pedestrians, never reached the scene of action. At twelve o'clock Mr. Jackson, who did, and does, on all occasions of the kind, officiate as Master of Ceremonies, had the outer circle formed of the various cehicles, which had served to transport from the metropolis several thousand amateurs, who had arrived on the ground in spite of difficulties and bad weather.

The ring in the centre of the large one was strongly constructed of stakes and ropes; and, according to the terms of the fight, measured twenty-four feet every way. The spot was situated nearly at the foot of a hill, which protected the combatant from the chilling wind and rain from the eastward.

Now the champions appear, "armed cap-a-pee, and eager for the fray:" no more snivelling; every spectator felt himself a hero; and the lads of the fancy seemed by their counteuauces to say, "What a glorious thing's a battle?"

Molineux, the Moor, was the first so enter the ring: he made a graceful congee to the amateurs, hurled up his cap, in defiance of his adversary, then retired to strip for the battle. Crib followed so bright an example, except the gracefulness of the bow, and in that Molineux had the art of his side.

Gully, the second of Crib, and Richman, that of Molineux, entered the ring with their champions.

The awful moment is arrived for setting to, and the heroes threw off their upper Benjamins as the signal. They shake hands, retire two steps, put themselves in attitude, then eye each other with the most penetrating looks, at the same time each attentive to his guard.

A solemn pause for the moment ensued, and then commenced the

First Round.−Molineux commenced hostilities, by placing a right hand blow on the left side of Crib's body; but which was attended with trivial effect. The native champion smartly returned the hit, with a right and left at the head, and one for luck in the body; the Black then closed, and was thrown by his adversary. Thus terminated the first round without bloodshed or injury.

Second Round.−The combatants set to very sharp, and seemed to verify the opinion which had gone abroad, that they were both fully determined on a manly stand-up fight, to the exclusion altogether of sparring or shifting. A furious rally took place, several hard blows were exchanged on both sides. Crib's did the most execution; his blows having been directed straight forward, whilst those of Molineux were hand over head, given with miraculous power and resolution, but without judgment, insomuch that Crib was enabled to parry them or spoil their effect, by planting the first hit. Crib, on the whole, had the advantage of this round, although he exhibited the first blood.

Third Round.−Molineux, not the least dismayed at the taste he had had, faced his antagonist courageously this round, who met him with corresponding resolution, and coming in contact with the Black's head, at arm's length with his left hand, made him oy the blow measure his full length on the ground; the lusty Moor was on his legs in a second, and it was "Mungo here, Mungo there, and Mungo everywhere," who anxiously looked round for his customer, who he was prevented meeting until the

Fourth Round.−In which, after an ineffectual attempt to rally down Crib, the Black received a knockdown blow.

Fifth Round.−Consisted of straight forward fighting: they both rallied in good style. Molineux persevering in the system of boring down his opponent by main strength, whilst Crib evinced a determination-to prevent him by repeated blows on the head, which failed to have that effect. Towards the finish of this round the Black closed, when it was discerned he was the strongest man, and was as expert in the art of fibbing as Dutch Sam, who was the first that rendered that practice cognizable as part of the science. The Black, by this new manœuvre, ovtained the best of this round.

Sixth Round.−Was begun by a furious onset, but Crib being over anxious to compliment the Black for a hit he had received, fell, partly from a slip and a blow.

Seventh Round.−Crib had his revenge this round; the Black rushed on his adversary, according to custom, when he caught a violent blow on the forehead, by which he picked up a handsome rainbow. His cauntenance, however, was not the more clouded on the occasion, and he was the first to come to his time.

Eight Round.−If it were not invidious to single out any particular round, I would say, that this was the best contested round in the battle; the combatants were still in possession of their full vigour, and had been taught discrimination; they had discovered, also, the weak and strong parts in each other. Crib found out that, if the resolute Moor got him into so reduced a state as make his sledge hammer blows tell, that he should not like his head to be the anvil, and from the determined conduct of his tawney antagonist, things were fast approximating that way.

It was here, that it would seem, then, the grand push was to be made, in order to give a decided turn to the battle. Crib brought into the struggle his courage, strength, and science, which were not more than sufficient to cope with the persevering and invulnerable Moor. The rally was desperate; success was alternately on the one side and the other; the Black at length fell; but the extraordinary efforts of Crib rendered him more feeble at the end of the round than his adversary.

Ninth Round.−Was gallantly contested, but Crib was compelled to make play, by the Black following him up, and giving him no quater; neither would he take any, for his head was always at the service of his adversary. He never shrunk from a blow, and his great anxiety was always to return it. Crib evinced weakness, and fell from a hit. The knowing ones exchanged look with each other round the ring, as much as to say, "things look a little *****, master."

Tenth Round.−By this time the conccit was pretty well taken out of both the heroes,, and it was not to be wondered at, considering how hard they had fought, and how severly they had been punished. The head of Molineux was predigiously swollen; and if the Moor had been an artist he could not have laid on the black and red with a more regular hand on Crib's face, although Crib might think it might have been down with a more delicate touch. In this, as well as the seven successive rounds, Molineux appearedmuch the strongest man; he went into Crib, pell well, without standing for repairs, and rallied him at every part of the rin; and when he got him against the ropes, he either threw him, or encircled his neck with his left arm while he fibbed him with his right hand. If this could not be called murder, it was something like manslaughter; for Crib seemed all the same as in a blacksmith's vice. It was here where there was shown a little national prejudice against the Black; but being of a passive nature, he could derive no injury from it; and, to speak inpartially, and for the honour of pugilism, the strictest fair-play was shown to both parties throughout.

At the termination of the seventeenth round Crib was so completely exhausted as to be termed dead beat; but it must not be forgotten, that in reducing Crib to this state, Molineux himself was in a tottering condition, but appeared more animated, more gay, and was the first to appear to his time.

From the seventeenth to the twentieth rounds, Crib appearing to be convinced that he over-shot his mark in supposeing that he could beat Molineux off hand, as he had endeavoured to do, had therefore recourse to his favourite mod of retreating or fighting shy, without which, it appears to me, he must have been compelled to have given in the battle. The Black, naturally presuming this was Crib's forlorn hope, followed him up, and never quitted him until the

Twenty-third Round−When seeing a falling off in the Black, and feeling himself somewhat recovered, he made play and knocked his man down for the first time for several rounds.

From the twenty-fourth to the 28th round, bets were considerably reduced; they had been about 4 to 1 on the Black, and now the bets were even.

Twenty-ninth round was ominons for the Black; he made an effort to get Crib against the ropes, but without effect; neither could he throw him as he had done; after a short rally, he was knocked down by Crib, who seemed more alive and full of confidence than he had been for many rounds before.

Thirtieth Round.− Crib had not certainly the lead, and finding his antagonist could not keep his legs well, stuck to him until he invariably rallied him down.

Thirty-first Round, after a short rally, was finished by the Black throwing Crib, but he fell over him in the struggle, by which means he pitched upon his head; and I have heard it from a friend of his, that the hurt he received on this occasion affected him with a giddiness, that he could not stand, and induced him to comminicate to his second (Richman), that he could not longer continue the contest. Richman, however, finding that Crib was also so much exhausted that he could scarcely support himself, encouraged Molineux to try a round of two more; he did so, and, on the termination of the 33d round he fell by an effort to keep his legs; which being termed by Crib's party falling without a blow, the victory claimed in favour of Crib, which would have originated a dispute, had not Molineux again repeated, "I can fight no more."

Crib, no doubt, was delighted at the declaration, but did not treat the spectators with a Somerset, according to custom. No, indeed, all the strength he had left, was insufficient to support him off the ground without assistance.

Thus terminated a battle which has not been excelled, in point of hitting and execution, for many years; and while the courage and resolution of the lusty Moor have been extolled to the utmost, the merits of Crib, as a bruizer, will not fail to be duly appreciated by the victory he has gained over so inculnerable an opponent. In this last contest, the struggle, I conceive to have been between science and strength. The advantage that Crib had, by his excelling in the former, the Black had, by superiority in the latter. With respect to coolness and bottom, it is but justice to place them on par. Before I saw the Black set to in this last rencontre, I thought him too irritable and hot; but I am convinced that his impetuosity is only a part of that principle upon which he fights, and which, no doubt, would have proved successful against most men. To be a finished boxer, a man must be possessed of a large portion of natural muscular powers, besides other acquirements, the chief of which is, to learn to hit straight, and with a jerk from the shoulder, without which, as Liston would say, "It is all my eye and Betty Martin." The Black is only deficient in this accomplishment. His style of fighting comes near to that of Bully Hooper of Ruffian memory. That battle lasted 55 minutes.

Tug Wilson

2018-10-09T17:32:50Z

Bitplayer: He wasn't an early bareknuckle boxer, he was pretty late, early would be like Broughton

[[File:Tug Wilson.JPG|left|thumb|275px]]
<boxer>218899</boxer>
'''Tug Wilson''' was a bare-knuckle heavyweight boxer.

Information from Great Grandson: 
Born 1853 and died in Leicester 1939, buried in Gilroes Cemetery Leicester. Began his career fighting in fairgrounds.

==Career Overview==
Tug Wilson was the assumed name of Joe Collins, a popular British pugilist of the bare-knuckle era. Standing five feet, eight inches tall, he weighed within the modern featherweight limit in his prime. He began his prize fighting career in his native Liverpool in 1866, but fought not one bout between 1868 and 1879. In 1882, Wilson was recruited by American newspaper publisher [[Richard Kyle Fox]], who had been impressed with tales of Wilson's scientific skills from overseas, to take on world heavyweight champion [[John L. Sullivan]]. Wilson accepted the invitation and arrived in Philadelphia on June 21, 1882. Fox was stunned to find that Wilson was by this time a middle-aged, overweight has-been. Still, Wilson was matched with Sullivan on July 17, 1882 at Madison Square Garden. Promised $1,000 if he could make it through all four scheduled "exhibition" rounds, Wilson resorted to running, wrestling, and intentionally falling in order to get away from the champion. Though he made it the full distance and received his reward, he was roundly booed by the crowd and won Sullivan's eternal hatred. Despite the injury to his reputation, Wilson went on to face British champion [[Charley Mitchell]] in 1883, losing by a third round knockout. He somewhat redeemed himself by holding the respected [[Alf Greenfield]] to a twenty-eight round draw, but failed to capture a win in subsequent bouts. He finally retired from the ring for good in 1902, his career having spanned thirty-six years. In later life, Wilson owned and operated a successful inn in England. '''Source:''' Isenberg, Michael T. [[John L. Sullivan and His America]]

[[Category:Bare-knuckle Boxers|Wilson, Tug]]

John L. Sullivan vs. Charley Mitchell

2018-10-09T17:31:35Z

Bitplayer: Removed the weird arguing at the end, it just makes it confusing.

<fight>69211</fight>
Richard K. Fox, editor of the ''Police Gazzette'' and hated rival of Sullivan, was constantly searching for the man who would dethrone John L. so that the Police Gazzette would finally hold a heavyweight kingpin. He found Charley Mitchell, heavyweight champion of England though he didn't weigh much more than a modern day middleweight. Mitchell combined tremendous speed in his hands and feet and when he arrived in America he had only one thought in his mind, to "knock out Mr. Sullivan". The bout was to be held in the world famous Madison Square Garden, gloved, and under the Marquess of Queensberry rules. Early on, Sullivan made his trademark charge, hoping to bombard the smaller Mitchell with his terrific punching power. Though Mitchell hit the deck three times he recruited to drop Sullivan for the first time in his career, off a quick left. Sullivan, who forever longer hated the fact that Mitchell dropped him, rose to his feet as quick as possible though the bell ended the tumulteous opening frame. Sullivan, infuriated, annhiliated Mitchell in the second and third until the Police stopped the slaughter when Mitchell was completely helpless on the ropes. Sullivan pleaded in vain for the police to let him get "one more crack at him" but when the police refused, Sullivan walked back to his corner in tears.

Fight:243625

2018-03-20T18:29:01Z

Bitplayer:

<fight>243625</fight>
Scholes was The Champion of Canada

Mitchell scored two knock downs.

Fought with "medium gloves"

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/139986847?searchTerm=John+Scholes+mitchell

Fight:243625

2018-03-20T18:28:16Z

Bitplayer: Created page with "<fight>243625</fight> Scholes was The Champion of Canada Mitchell scored two knock downs using medium gloves. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/139986847?searchTerm..."

<fight>243625</fight>
Scholes was The Champion of Canada

Mitchell scored two knock downs using medium gloves.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/139986847?searchTerm=John+Scholes+mitchell

Fight:93741

2018-03-10T16:32:59Z

Bitplayer:

<fight>93741</fight>
The fight was competitive until the 19th round when McCarthy was hurt. Dempsey then dropped McCarthy multiple times in the 26th round, who was advised to quit, but refused. In round 28 McCarthy was "knocked senseless" [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/213385109?searchTerm=dempsey%20mcarty&searchLimits=]
In round 27th McCarthy was dropped repeatedly, in the 28th Dempsey said he didn't want to beat him anymore, before McCarthy's second Paddy Gorman threw up the sponge. Full account here [https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/60729817/?terms=jack+dempsey+billy+mccarthy]

Fight:93741

2018-03-09T22:36:19Z

Bitplayer: Created page with "<fight>93741</fight> The fight was competitive until the 19th round when McCarthy was hurt. Dempsey then dropped McCarthy multiple times in the 26th round, who was advised to..."

Fight:826368

2018-03-09T22:11:33Z

Bitplayer: Created page with "<fight>826368</fight> 1 judge scored for Hall, while the other scored McCarthy, while the referee also scored it for McCarthy. Hall protested, but the decision was otherwise w..."

<fight>826368</fight>
1 judge scored for Hall, while the other scored McCarthy, while the referee also scored it for McCarthy. Hall protested, but the decision was otherwise well recieved.
[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/121790529?searchTerm=jim%20hall%20billy%20mcarty&searchLimits=]

Fight:17839

2018-03-08T18:05:14Z

Bitplayer: Added info

<fight>17839</fight>
'''World 170lbs Light Heavyweight Title'''

Fitzsimmons showed flashes of his skill, but while he hurt Gardner, he lacked the stamina to finish him. Still Fitzsimmons appears to have been a class above in terms of skill and cleverness

Newspaper report including a round by round description can be found here [https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=TDD19031126.2.1&srpos=6&e=01-01-1899-02-01-1905--en-20--1--txt-txIN-fitzsimmons+gardner-------0-#].

Fight:606039

2018-01-24T20:16:52Z

Bitplayer:

<fight>606039</fight>
"Those that saw the battle will never forget it"

Ed Dunkhorst "had an army of seconds", while Yank Kenny's included Bob Fitzsimmons. Kenny outlanded Dunkhorst landing many bodyshots, and other hard punches that staggered him. Dunkhorst, however, was resiliant, and was never droped. Dunkhorst landed some solid shots of his own, even closing Kenny's left eye, however by the 17th round he was so exhausted he could barely defend.

"Sourced from the New York Sun" [http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn83030272/1899-06-20/ed-1/seq-5/#date1=01%2F01%2F1725&index=8&date2=12%2F31%2F2016&searchType=advanced&SearchType=prox5&sequence=0&words=Dunkhorst&proxdistance=5&to_year=2016&rows=20&ortext=&from_year=1725&proxtext=ed+dunkhorst&phrasetext=&andtext=&dateFilterType=range&page=1]

Harry Wills

2018-01-18T21:50:27Z

Bitplayer:

[[File:Harry Wills U161386INP.jpg|left|225px|thumb|Harry Wills]]
[[file:Ibhof-logo.jpg|thumb|right|Class of 1992 Old Timer Category Hall of Fame bio:[http://www.ibhof.com/pages/about/inductees/oldtimer/wills.html click]]]
<boxer>017615</boxer>
'''Manager:''' [[Paddy Mullins]] 
'''[[:Category:Harry Wills Gallery|Harry Wills Photo Gallery]]'''

'''Harry Wills''' was a heavyweight contender during the late 1910s and 1920s. He was widely seen as [[World Heavyweight Champion]] [[Jack Dempsey]]'s top contender. Wills was unable to secure a title shot due to the controversial color line in boxing, which prevented men of color from fighting for the heavyweight title. 
Wills held the [[World Colored Heavyweight Championship]] and fought the best black fighters of the era. He fought [[Sam Langford]] 18 times, [[Sam McVea]] 5 times, [[Battling Jim Johnson]] 4 times and [[Joe Jeannette]] twice. 
[[Jack Johnson]] became the first black man to fight for the heavyweight title in 1908, and he made the most of his opportunity, dominating champion [[Tommy Burns]] and stopping him in [[Tommy Burns vs. Jack Johnson|fourteen rounds]]. After Johnson lost his title to [[White Hope]] [[Jess Willard]] in 1915, it would be twenty-two years before another black man got a shot at the heavyweight title. 
After Dempsey beat Willard for the title in 1919, he announced that he would draw the color line. Dempsey's promoter, [[Tex Rickard]], wanted nothing to do with a mixed-race fight. He promoted the [[Jack Johnson vs. James J. Jeffries]] fight in 1910, which resulted in deadly riots following Johnson's win. Rickard said would he would never again promote such a fight. 
During Dempsey's title reign, pressure mounted for him to defend against Wills. In a poll conducted by more than 500 newspapers, Wills was picked as the boxer the public most wanted to see Dempsey fight. Wills got 131,073 votes. [[Tommy Gibbons]] finished second, trailing by about 6,000 votes 
On May 1, 1924, Rickard announced that Dempsey and Wills would fight at Boyle's Thirty Acres in Jersey City, New Jersey, on September 6. Rickard then made a counter-announcement on July 5, stating that Dempsey would not fight in 1924. On March 6, 1925, the [[New York State Athletic Commission]] issued an ultimatum that Dempsey must agree to fight Wills within twenty-four hours. When that didn't happen, Dempsey was barred from fighting in New York State. Rickard said he received a hint from Governor Al Smith that such a match wasn't desired, but James A. Farley, chairman of the commission, emphatically denied the report. 
"I would have fought Wills," Dempsey told the ''New York Post'' in 1953, "but nobody would promote it. When Wills challenged, Tex Rickard would have nothing to do with the fight. He said he had instructions from Washington not to promote a mixed[-race] bout for the heavyweight title." 
In September 1925, Dempsey and Wills traveled to Benton Harbor, Michigan and signed for a 1926 title fight with promoter Floyd Fitzsimmons. Wills received $50,000 as his guarantee for signing the contract. Dempsey was to receive $125,000. Unfortunately, the fight never happened. This is what Dempsey wrote in a 1950 [[:File:Jack Dempsey Ebony February 1950.JPG|''Ebony'']] article: 
:"The facts clearly show that in 1926 I tried desperately to arrange a fight with Harry Wills but the deal collapsed when my guarantee was not forthcoming. Wills and I had signed to fight with a promoter named Floyd Fitzsimmons of Benton Harbor, Michigan. Wills, I understand, received fifty thousand dollars as his guarantee for signing the contract. I was to have received one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars in advance of the fight. As the date of the fight grew nearer and my money did not appear, I became anxious and asked Fitzsimmons what was the matter. He wired me to meet him in Dayton, Ohio, assuring me that he would have the money for me there. I met Fitzsimmons in Dayton who handed me a certified check for twenty-five thousand dollars and a promise to let me have the balance almost immediately. I balked at that, demanding the full amount right away. Fitzsimmons tried to placate me by calling the bank where he said he had deposited the money. The bank, unfortunately for Fitzsimmons, informed him that it did not have that much money on hand, that there wasn’t enough to cover the twenty-five thousand dollar check he had given me. Furious, I returned the check to Fitzsimmons and told him the fight was off. Later, the Fitzsimmons syndicate financing the fight sued me for failure to honor a contract. I won the case." 
Dempsey [[Jack Dempsey vs. Gene Tunney (1st meeting)|lost]] the title to [[Gene Tunney]] in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in September 1926. The following month, 34-year-old Wills [[Jack Sharkey vs. Harry Wills|lost]] to [[Jack Sharkey]]. All talk of a Dempsey-Wills fight was now over. 
Wills retired from boxing in 1932 at the age of 43. He invested his ring earnings in real estate and became a successful businessman. Wills died from diabetes on December 21, 1958. He left an estate valued at over $100,000, including a 19-family apartment building in upper Harlem.

== Notes ==
*Wills was called both "The Black Panther" and "The Brown Panther."
*In his second year as a professional, Wills served as a sparring partner for World Heavyweight Champion [[Jack Johnson]] when Johnson was training to fight [[Fireman Jim Flynn]] on July 4, 1912. The ''Kansas City Star'' reported that in a June 9 sparring session, Wills "did his best, but his best was not much, and Johnson called for [[Marty Cutler]] after Wills had been on duty for three rounds."

== Sources ==
*[http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F00A17F93F5E157A93C4A9178CD85F4D8185F9 "Jack Dempsey, New Heavyweight Champion, Announces He Will Draw The Color Line" - The ''New York Times'' - July 6, 1919]
*[http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=d8lPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yVMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2866,5569898&dq=dempsey+harry+wills&hl=en "Fight Fans Pick Wills As Best Bet" - The ''Evening Independent'' - March 13, 1922]
*[http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2211&dat=19320402&id=tkxGAAAAIBAJ&sjid=f-UMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4376,2712903 "Death of Paddy Mullins, Manager of Harry Wills, Revives Old Memories" - The ''Afro-American'' - April 2, 1932]
*[http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=l_ExAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7eIFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4388,1313695&dq=harry+wills&hl=en "'Brown Panther' Harry Wills Dead" - The ''Ottawa Citizen'' - December 22, 1958]
*[http://www.flickr.com/photos/vieilles_annonces/6043266569/ "Former Heavyweight Boxer Harry Wills Leaves $100,000 Estate" - ''Jet'' - January 15, 1959]
*[http://www.606v2.com/t11575-1963-article-by-jack-dempsey "Why Negroes Rule Boxing" by Jack Dempsey - ''Ebony'' - February 1950]
*[http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=3492743 "Iconic Dempsey exemplified the Roaring '20s" - ESPN.com - July 12, 2008]
*[http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/wills-h.htm Cyber Boxing Zone page]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wills, Harry}}
[[Category:African American Boxers]]
[[Category:IBHOF Members]]

Fight:96036

2018-01-09T22:00:44Z

Bitplayer: Created page with "<fight>96036</fight> Ed Dunkhorst was too exhausted to fight, but not hurt. In the end Ruhlin punched Dunkhorst "almost into a pulp". However Dunkhorst made it hard for Ruhlin..."

<fight>96036</fight>
Ed Dunkhorst was too exhausted to fight, but not hurt. In the end Ruhlin punched Dunkhorst "almost into a pulp". However Dunkhorst made it hard for Ruhlin especially early on, and was "game to the end",

"Sourced from the New York Sun" [http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn83030272/1898-09-20/ed-1/seq-9/#date1=01%2F01%2F1725&index=14&date2=12%2F31%2F2016&searchType=advanced&SearchType=prox5&sequence=0&words=Dunkhorst&proxdistance=5&to_year=2016&rows=20&ortext=&from_year=1725&proxtext=ed+dunkhorst&phrasetext=&andtext=&dateFilterType=range&page=1]

Fight:606039

2018-01-09T21:44:57Z

Bitplayer: Gave it a go at a quick write up

<fight>606039</fight>
"Those that saw the battle will never forget it"

Ed Dunkhorst "had an army of seconds", while Yank Kenny's included Bob Fitzsimmons. Kenny outlanded Dunkhorst landing many bodyshots, and other hard punches that staggered him but Dunkhorst was resiliant, and was never droped, and landed some solid shots of his own even closing Kenny's left eye, however by the 17th round he was so exhausted he could barely defend.

"Sourced from the New York Sun" [http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn83030272/1899-06-20/ed-1/seq-5/#date1=01%2F01%2F1725&index=8&date2=12%2F31%2F2016&searchType=advanced&SearchType=prox5&sequence=0&words=Dunkhorst&proxdistance=5&to_year=2016&rows=20&ortext=&from_year=1725&proxtext=ed+dunkhorst&phrasetext=&andtext=&dateFilterType=range&page=1]

Anthony Osbourne vs. Saoul Mamby

2017-07-24T21:43:39Z

Bitplayer: Added Jem Mace to list of over 60 boxers.

<fight> 1290731 </fight>

Ex-World Junior Welterweight champion Saoul Mamby became the oldest fighter ever to appear in an officially sanctioned bout. Though 29 years older than his younger opponent, Mamby, who is 60, appeared in good condition and took the fight seriously. He took the fight to his opponent and pressed the action, and occasionally landed some good flurries, but he did not land more punches than his foe. For the record, Mamby weighted in at 149 1/2 pounds (63 kilograms), and although he did not beat Osborne, he emerged the bout in fine shape.
Previously, on February 23, 2008, Mamby's attempt to fight on an unsanctioned card at a Native American Indian reservation in Lapwai, Idaho, was stopped. Although he was exempt from the usual licensing requirements while on Indian land, Mamby nonetheless failed the prefight physical, so the venue for the fight had to be moved to the Caymans where the bout was held anyway.

Mamby was retired from fighting in the United States by the California State Athletic Commission following a loss in North Carolina in 2000 and has occasionally worked as a licensed professional trainer. In an official bout which does not yet appear on the Boxrec,
Mamby returned in 2004 in Thailand and won a decision over 11-1 Thundluang Sitjanaat in a bout fought at the Junior Middleweight limit. Mamby's latest fight took place in the Cayman Islands as a Welterweight. Mamby is ranked 17th all-time among Junior Welterweights on Boxrec. His record to date: 45 wins, 34 losses, 6 draws, with 19 kayos.

60 AND OVER FOR THE RECORD

While this may be the oldest ' sanctioned' bout involving a fighter, Boxrec and Ring Record Book data indicate Lightweight Walter Edgerton was 'apparently' 63 years old when he defeated John Henry Johnson on January 27, 1916, but Edgerton's exact birthdate was unknown. Former World Heavyweight champion Jack Johnson was 60 years old when he was kayoed in the seventh round by Walter Price on September 1, 1938. Johnson last appeared in three 1 minute rounds in a World War II Bonds rally benefit exhibition against Joe Jeanette on November 27, 1945. Johnson was age 67, Jeanette was age 66. Former World Heavyweight champion 'Smoking Joe' Frazier fought three 1 minute rounds in an exhibition against Memphis Mayor and former Tennessee Golden Gloves amateur champion Willie Herenton on November 30, 2006, with Herenton declared the winner. 'Smoking Joe' was age 62, Mayor Herenton was age 66. Jem Mace is also listed as drawing with Mike Donovan aged 66 in 1897, and fought exhibitions into his 70's.

James J. Jeffries

2016-09-09T18:32:47Z

Bitplayer: /* Early Years */

[[File:JEFFRIES09.jpg|left|thumb|350px|James J. Jeffries]]
[[file:Ibhof-logo.jpg|thumb|right|Class of 1990 Old Timer Category Hall of Fame bio:[http://www.ibhof.com/pages/about/inductees/oldtimer/jeffries.html click]]]
[[File:WBHF Logo.jpg|right|thumb|200px|World Boxing Hall of Fame Inductee]]
<boxer>009022</boxer>
'''Trainers:''' [[Billy Delaney]], [[Tommy Ryan]] 
'''Managers:''' [[William Brady]], [[Sam Berger]] 
'''[[:Category:James J. Jeffries Gallery|James J. Jeffries Gallery]]

 

==Career Overview==
'''James J. Jeffries''', still regarded by some fight historians as the single greatest heavyweight in history, was a fearsome and intimidating fighter who established plenty of credentials for himself in just 21 professional prizefights. He was the very embodiment of the rugged, two-fisted hulk of brawn that people at the turn of the century wanted their champion to be. It is unfortunate that his loss to [[Jack Johnson]], after a six-year layoff from boxing, remains the best known moment of his career, for Jeffries' accomplishments were many. He fought nine bouts against future hall of famers and made seven defenses of the championship. His fighting prowess was so great, in fact, that respected boxing historian [[Tracy Callis]] wrote that Jeffries' combination of assets makes him the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time. Even Jack Johnson, Jeffries' more famous conqueror, before his own death in 1946, stated that he felt Jeffries was the best of any era.
===Early Years===
[[File:Jeffries 1899.jpg|right|thumb|275px|Jeffries early in his career.]]
Born to farmers in Carroll, Ohio, on April 15, 1875, Jeffries was the sixth of eight children. The family moved to Los Angeles, California, when he was six years old. As a teenager, Jeffries found work in the local mines, doing manual labor that helped to develop his bulky physique. At sixteen, he already weighed over 200 pounds, stood more than six feet tall and was regarded as the best all-around athlete among his fellow workers. In young adulthood, he left the mining camps and found work shoveling coal for the Santa Fe Railroad. (See also [http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88085947/1903-10-16/ed-1/seq-6/].) Later, he worked as a boilermaker, shaping, hoisting, riveting and assembling large sheets of iron and metal. In his free time, he often raced, wrestled and boxed at a local gym against friends from the boiler making plant. On September 19, 1895, while relaxing at home, Jim was approached by coworkers who pleaded with him to meet and box a black prizefighter who had wandered into town looking for tough locals to test his mettle against. The opponent was [[Hank Griffin]], a traveling heavyweight boxer and veteran of an untold number of unrecorded boxing matches. Griffin, like many boxers of the era, earned a living by traveling to mining, railroad, steel and farming camps offering to face any man before a paying crowd. Jeffries, who had never had any real schooling in boxing and had never previously fought for pay, accepted the match. Griffin used his obvious advantages in skill and experience to make Jim look ridiculous through much of the fight. Jeffries could do little else but fumble around after his opponent and take a blood-spattered beating. In the ninth round, however, Jim landed a lucky right to Griffin's throat, leaving the visitor stunned. The punch turned the tide of battle as Griffin's energy and confidence continued to wane until Jeffries finished him off with a body blow in the seventeenth round. The unknown Jeffries, not the experienced Griffin, collected the winner's purse.

Jeffries initially returned to his day job, but eventually, the prospect of more money for an hour or so of fighting lured him to San Francisco, the center for fighting and sporting culture in the West. His reputation had not followed him, however, and he initially found it hard to secure a fight and ended up as a bartender at Charlie Merry's saloon on Downey Street. Eventually, he was matched with Dan Long, a promising pug from Denver, on July 2, 1896. After he took Long out with a barrage of heavy punches in the second round, Jeffries won acceptance within the exclusive sporting culture of San Francisco. During February and March of 1897, he was chosen to act as a sparring partner for heavyweight champion [[Jim Corbett]], who was in preparations for his fight with [[Bob Fitzsimmons]]. Corbett was a fast, defensive marvel in the ring and, though he lost the match with Fitzsimmons, the several sparring matches he shared with Corbett proved to be invaluable learning experiences for the younger fighter.

The work with Corbett also introduced Jeffries to Corbett's manager, [[William Brady]]. Impressed by Jeffries' power, will-to-win and quick learning, Brady agreed to become the youngster's manager as well. Jeffries' next professional fight took place on April 9, 1897, against [[Theodore Van Buskirk]], a fighter out of the revered Olympic Club in San Francisco. Jeffries showed marked improvement in his boxing technique, using a bobbing-and-weaving style to avoid punishment. A hard right finished off the bloodied and frustrated Buskirk in the second round. A month later, he met Chicago's [[Henry Baker|Henry (Slaughterhouse) Baker]], a man renowned throughout the Midwest because he had allegedly once knocked a steer out with a single punch. Baker proved no match, however, and was himself slaughtered in the ninth.

With his recent successes and with Brady now in control of his career, Jeffries moved quickly into fighting more challenging competition. On July 16, 1897, he fought [[Gus Ruhlin]], a game fellow from Akron, Ohio, who was himself new to boxing but had already been in the ring with a few name opponents. With his first blow landed in the first round, Jeffries rattled Ruhlin to his heels. Ruhlin survived by holding until, in the third round, he began fighting back hard, stunning Jeffries on several occasions. His spurt of energy short-lived, Ruhlin was felled in the fourth and again in the fifth. Regrouping in the next several rounds, Ruhlin again came on and closed Jim's left eye by landing multiple big right hands. The remaining rounds were evenly fought until, in the twentieth and final round, Jim landed a left to the head that sent Ruhlin crashing down by the ropes. The fight ended with Ruhlin lying on his back, saved by the toll of the final bell. The referee announced his verdict of a draw.

The next opponent Brady found for his new charge was future hall of famer [[Joe Choynski]], a talented light heavyweight who had been Jim Corbett's toughest rival back when both men were getting their start in the fight business. Though Jeffries outweighed him by as much as fifty pounds, Choynski was considered one of the cleverest fighters in California and was expected to win. The fight took place in San Francisco on November 30, 1897. Choynski's strategy was to keep moving and outbox his massive opponent. He was successful at this during the first two rounds, but a left hook from Jeffries sent him crashing down in the third. Choynski rose to fight on but was met with relentless pressure from the younger fighter. As the rounds passed by, it was all Joe could do to keep moving in circles while popping out his quick left jab to Jim's face. When Jeffries finally cornered Choynski in the sixteenth round and came in for the kill, he was caught with what he would later call the hardest blow he ever took, a desperate right hand thrown by Joe that shattered Jim's nose. Spitting up blood, the determined Jeffries continued to press forward but could not knock his savvy opponent out. After twenty rounds, the referee declared the fight a draw.

On February 28, 1898, Jim took on [[Joe Goddard]], the "Iron Man" who had been one of the leading heavyweight sluggers of the past several years. Considered to be on the downside of his career, the Australian had nonetheless been in the ring with some of the era's best, including hall of famers Choynski, [[Peter Jackson]] and [[Tom Sharkey]]. He was thought to have enough experience and tricks to give Jeffries a fair test. Instead, he was crushed inside of three rounds. Less than a month later, the young contender was in the ring with the most accomplished opponent he had yet faced, Peter Jackson. A decade earlier, when the legendary [[John L. Sullivan]] ruled the boxing world as the world's heavyweight champion, Jackson had been considered the man most worthy of Sullivan's laurels. Sullivan had always refused to face the black Australian on account of his skin color, but many theorized that Jackson was so good that the race issue was only a cop out on the part of Sullivan. Jackson held Jim Corbett to a sixty-one round draw back in 1891 and previously held the championships of both England and Australia. He was said to be so talented that he often fought men with just one arm in order to make his fights more competitive. However, by the time Jackson fought Jeffries, he was past his prime. Inactive, debilitated by fast living and probably already suffering from tuberculosis, from which he died in 1901, Jackson was no match for his younger opponent. Jeffries hurt his man with a hard blow to the body in the opening round. Embarrassed at being hit by a relative upstart, Jackson was goaded into trading toe-to-toe in the second round and, caught by two big left hooks, was dropped to his knees. Before the end of the round, he was down again but managed to rise and survive the second. In the third, Jeffries bore in and had the living legend out on his feet against the ropes after landing a devastating left-right combination. Not wanting to permanently injure his opponent, Jeffries turned to the referee, who stopped the fight and gave Jeffries the biggest win of his career thus far.

===Sharkey and Fitzsimmons===
[[File:Jeffries-vs.-Fitzsimmons.jpg|right|thumb|355px|Jeffries and Fitzsimmons before their 1902 bout.]]
After knocking out the overmatched [[Mexican Pete Everett]] in the Spring of 1898, Jeffries began his campaign in search of a shot at the heavyweight championship held by [[Bob Fitzsimmons]]. Fitzsimmons insisted he would put the title on the line against no man until someone had proven himself as the undeniable leading contender for the crown. After the victory over Jackson, the only man who could contest Jeffries' assertion to be the top contender was Sailor Tom Sharkey. The Irish-born Sharkey was almost a mirror image of Jeffries. He was a young, burly slugger known for his ability to take and deal punishment on an almost inhuman scale. Though several inches shorter than Jim, he was nonetheless covered in bulky muscle and considered a peerless blood-and-guts warrior. When the two power punchers fought at Mechanics Pavilion in San Francisco, spectators expected fireworks and they got them. The entire fight featured back-and-forth action, as first one man would land a telling blow and then the other. By the ninth round, both men were bleeding profusely from open wounds and it wasn't until the eleventh that Jeffries appeared to gain any clear advantage. In that frame, he landed several hard blows that had his opponent sagging and dazed. Still, Sharkey survived and, though obviously nearing exhaustion, came out for the twelfth ready to fight on. Tom became the aggressor and Jeffries the counter puncher. It was clear that Jeffries was getting the better of the action, but Sharkey refused to relent. At the close of the twentieth round, both men were still standing and the referee announced Jeffries the winner.

The road to the heavyweight championship was now open for Jeffries. As if to reinforce the point, he battered around the overmatched [[Bob Armstrong]] in his New York debut before negotiations began for a match with Fitzsimmons. Bob Fitzsimmons had proven himself to be the greatest middleweight of his era, a fearsome puncher with a veteran's skills, before moving up and taking on some of the best big men in the game. With his fourteenth round knockout of Corbett in 1897, he had become the only middleweight champ to ever win the heavyweight title. It was he who invented and proved the saying "The bigger they are, the harder they fall." Such was not true, he learned, with Jeffries. Though the betting odds were against the challenger, he stood several inches taller than his opponent and outweighed him by forty pounds.

On June 9, 1899, at the Coney Island Athletic Club in Brooklyn, New York, the pair engaged in the toughest, most grueling heavyweight championship match since the days of John L. Sullivan. Fitzsimmons was on the floor as early as the second round from a left hand blow to his nose. From that moment, the fight turned into a give-and-take slugfest, with Jeffries clearly landing the harder shots. By the fifth round, both men were bleeding heavily and would continue to do so for the remainder of the bout. As the fight moved into the eighth round, Fitzsimmons appeared to be getting the better of his challenger, whose energy seemed to be waning. Jeffries, who was already renowned for his ability to endure punishment, did not give up, however, and continued to deliver the harder punches of the two. His punishing straight left gave Fitzsimmons considerable trouble and became an important factor in the fight. In the tenth, Fitzsimmons fell twice more, apparently as much from exhaustion as from Jeffries' punches, and the tide of battle had turned once more. In the eleventh, a crisp left hook to the champion's jaw finished the job, knocking out Fitzsimmons and claiming the title for Jeffries.

Jeffries' first matter of business after becoming champion was to give Sailor Tom Sharkey a rematch. After an exhibition visit to London, England, Jeffries returned to Coney Island to face Sharkey on November 3, 1899. Jim would later call this bout "the hardest of my life." It has since been called by multiple historians the most savage war for the heavyweight championship ever fought, surpassing even Jeffries' previous struggle against Fitzsimmons. It would be the first boxing match ever filmed indoors and the grainy film of the bout confirms the legend of its brutality. Though the age and poor quality of the film obscures the details, it is clear that both men fought shoulder-to-shoulder for an entire twenty-five rounds, delivering punishment on the inside, underneath the newly installed and achingly hot electric lights that hung just above their heads. Sharkey was down in the second round but rose to deal out as good as he was getting for the next several rounds. By the seventh and eighth rounds, it appeared to some at ringside that Jeffries was finished, sapped by the heat and Sharkey's relentless body attack. He fought on, though, and opened a cut above the challenger's eye in the tenth. Sharkey retaliated five rounds later by drawing blood from the champion's nose. Just as Sharkey seemed to be taking complete control of the fight once again in the seventeenth, the champion landed a devastating right hand haymaker to the body that cracked three of the challenger's ribs in an instant. Amazingly, Sharkey fought on, despite the fact that one of those ribs began to pierce his skin and was forced to keep his left hand at his side to protect the wound. He continued to land with precision and power with the right, but Jeffries now had an obvious advantage. A right hand from Jim in the nineteenth landed directly onto Sharkey's ear, creating an immediate "cauliflower" effect that would later require surgery. In the twentieth, a headbutt opened a cut on the champion's forehead, but he continued to dominate and appeared to have Sharkey all but out by the twenty-third. The challenger could only survive by clinching and resting on the ring ropes. In the twenty-fifth and final round, after one of Jeffries' gloves fell off and while it was being replaced by the referee, a desperate Sharkey charged his opponent, only to be caught with a bare-fisted blow from the champion. As Sharkey recovered from the punch and Jeffries from the pain in his hand, time expired and the fight came to an end. Referee George Siler declared Jeffries the winner and still champion.

===Undefeated World Champion===
[[File:JimJeffriesRefereeEddieGraneyandJimCorbett.jpg|right|thumb|450px|Jeffries and Corbett before their 1903 bout.]]
William Brady, who had managed Jeffries as well as former champion Jim Corbett, next sought to make a match between the pair. Though Corbett had not won a fight in six years, he was already a part of boxing lore, the savvy defensive genius who, in 1882, dethroned the living legend, John L. Sullivan. To get in shape and help promote a Corbett fight, Jeffries was matched with the relatively unknown palooka [[Jack Finnegan]] at the Cadillac Athletic Club in the old Masonic Hall at First & Layfayette in Detroit, Michigan. Finnegan's sole claim to fame was a previous quick knockout at the hands of Jeff's rival, Gus Ruhlin. When Jeffries pummeled and knocked out his victim in less than a round, it proved the perfect hype for his fight with Corbett, which took place just five weeks later at the Seaside Athletic Club in Brooklyn on May 11, 1900. Corbett, who had once hired Jeffries as a sparring partner, proved that he was still a talented fighter at age thirty-three. He used every slickster trick in the book to make the younger fighter appear foolish. He boxed masterfully for twenty-two straight rounds and appeared just minutes away from regaining the championship. When Jeffries did finally catch up, though, in the twenty-second, he landed several combinations which took an obvious toll on the challenger. A left hook to the jaw a round later rendered Corbett unconscious and Jeffries had saved his title.

The champion's next three title defenses were rematches. Gus Ruhlin, who had been fortunate enough to hold Jeffries to a draw in 1897, challenged the champion on November 15, 1901. Ruhlin was decisively punished until his own seconds stopped the fight in the fifth. Next came a second go with the former champion Bob Fitzsimmons on July 25, 1902. It was another trying affair. Fitzsimmons got the best of the early going, landing hard shots and slicing up the defending champion's face. Amazed at Jeffries' ability to walk through such obvious punishment, Fitzsimmons became even more discouraged when he broke his right hand on Jim's forehead. Bob continued to lead, however, until a left hook to his belly sent him gasping to his knees. He remained down for the count and was subsequently hired as a sparring partner in the Jeffries camp. Meanwhile, Jim Corbett was hard up for cash and asked Jeffries to give him another title shot as a favor. On August 14, 1903, Corbett tried to box his way to a lead once more, but age and vision problems had taken their toll. Jeffries caught him more easily and knocked him out in the tenth round.

By 1904, the champion was running out of possible challengers. After Sharkey, Ruhlin, Fitzsimmons and Corbett, there remained no more bankable names among white opponents. [[Joe Jeannette]] and Jack Johnson, two of the leading African American heavyweights of the day, had issued repeated verbal challenges for Jeffries to face them, but the champion had no intention of upsetting the majority of white America by allowing a black man a shot at the championship. Jeffries had no disinclination to fighting blacks in general, as he had bested Hank Griffin and Peter Jackson, two very dangerous black fighters, before winning the title. But he knew an interracial title match would prompt controversy and turmoil he did not crave.

Jeffries' seventh title defense came against [[Jack Munroe]] on August 26, 1904, at Mechanics Pavilion in San Francisco. Munroe was a brave but overmatched coal miner from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Munroe had some experience and had been in the ring with both Griffin and Sharkey; he had even made headlines by knocking Jeffries down in a four-round exhibition bout back in 1902. But, with only thirteen professional bouts under his belt, he was hardly championship caliber competition. Munroe was thrashed unmercifully until the referee stopped the fight, saying, "I don't want to see anyone killed."

With no more credible white challengers on the horizon, Jeffries announced his retirement from boxing in 1905. He left the sport with a record of 18-0-2 (15 KOs). "I was 29 years old, in fine physical condition and anxious to fight when I realized how Alexander felt when he sighed for more worlds to conquer," Jeffries wrote in his 1929 autobiography. "There were no more heavyweights left for me to meet, and I found no pleasure in the idea of going around and knocking out a lot of young fellows with more courage than skill or strength."

On July 3, 1905, Jeffries refereed a bout between Louisville's [[Marvin Hart]] and Chicago's [[Jack Root]] for the vacant championship, which Hart won by a twelfth-round knockout.

===The Johnson Fight and Later Years===
[[File:Johnson-Jeffries 1292193.jpg|right|thumb|450px|Jeffries and Johnson during their 1910 bout.]]
On December 26, 1908, Jack Johnson defeated Canadian [[Tommy Burns]] to win the heavyweight championship. Jeffries publicly criticized Burns for giving Johnson a shot at the title. "The Canadian never will be forgiven by the public for allowing the title of the best physical man in the world to be wrested from his keeping by a member of the African race," Jeffries stated. "I refused time and again to meet Johnson while I was holding the title, even though I knew I could beat him. I would never allow a negro a chance to fight for the world's championship, and I advise all other champions to follow the same course."

Many called for Jeffries to return to the ring and recapture the championship from Johnson, who had become the most hated man in White America, for the Caucasian race. They dubbed him the "Great White Hope." For months, Jeffries, who had become a 300-pound alfalfa farmer, resisted all offers. But promoter [[Tex Rickard]] was able to lure him out of retirement with an offer of $101,000, a then-record purse. Jeffries felt compelled to accept, and the fight was set for San Francisco on July 4, 1910. Johnson said, "He can never get into his former good trim.” He was right. Although Jeffries lost the weight in training and looked the part, his hand-eye coordination and reflexes had lost their sharpness. He knew he was in trouble. “It was plainly evident that he was suffering a terrible mental struggle,” said Joe Choynski. On June 15, when boxing opponents in Washington, D.C., persuaded California to cancel the fight, it was moved to the little known city of Reno, Nevada. However, Jeffries said he wouldn't fight in Reno, an obvious tactic to pull out. But the wily promoter Rickard claimed impending bankruptcy should Jeffries make good on his threat. Jeffries eventually agreed not to pull out and set up camp outside Reno.

Jeffries worked himself down to 227 pounds by the day of the fight, which took place in a stadium specifically built to house the crowd of more than 16,000. Johnson, perhaps the cleverest boxer of his generation, was in his prime and easily smothered Jim's bullish rushes. He dodged, held and pushed the ex-champion, sapping Jim's strength as the fight wore on under the desert afternoon sun. At no point was Jeffries able to assert control of the fight or land a single telling blow. In the fifteenth of forty-five scheduled rounds, Johnson floored Jeffries for the first time in his professional career. Though Jeffries rose to his feet and was allowed to continue, he collapsed again just seconds later and the referee stopped the fight. "I never could have whipped Johnson at my best," Jeffries said in the immediate aftermath of the fight. "I could not have reached him in 1,000 years." However, in his 1929 autobiography, Jeffries argued that he had been doped before the fight by a turncoat in his camp, but his story was discounted.

After suffering the only loss of his career, Jeffries re-entered retirement and returned to his alfalfa farm. He went into voluntary bankruptcy in February of 1923. It took him many years to become solvent. To earn money, he and Tom Sharkey toured as vaudeville fighters. The tour was a minor success, but he soon returned to stock farming on what was left of his property after it was subdivided to pay his debts. At times, he appeared in boxing-themed stage shows and movies, boxed exhibitions, refereed fights, or showed up as a spectator at major boxing events. An intensely private man who preferred the solitude of fishing and hunting to social parties and prying cameras, James J. Jeffries died of a heart attack on March 3, 1953, at age 77. In 1990, he was part of the inaugural class of inductees into the [[International Boxing Hall of Fame]].

==Notes==
[[File:Jeffries in 1950.JPG|right|thumb|300px|Jeffries in 1950.]]
*Jeffries was examined by Dr. D.A. Sargent of Harvard University in December of 1903 and was recorded to be precisely six feet tall.
*Jeffries' parents were Alexis C. and Rebecca (Boyer) Jeffries. His father was a Methodist minister. His sisters were Lydia, Alameda and Lillian, and his brothers were William, Charles, Jonathan and Calvin. Charles was also a pro boxer who went by the name [[Jack Jeffries]].
*Jeffries went on an exhibition tour of England in August and September of 1899. Many of the bouts were with his brother, Jack Jeffries. Some sources report that Jack boxed several of the bouts under the names Ed Dunkhorst and Jack Dunkhorst.
*A lover of hunting, Jeffries once killed a large deer and carried it on his shoulders nine miles to camp without stopping to rest. Friends who accompanied him had difficulty keeping up with him on the jaunt home.
*In 1904, national attention was drawn to Burbank, California, when Jeffries bought 107 acres for a ranch on Victory Boulevard. He paid $2,000 down and assumed a $10,000 mortgage. Only ten acres were placed under cultivation, and the rest was sagebrush and sand. Jeffries later developed another 93 acres and planted alfalfa. The market price for alfalfa dropped shortly after this time, and it did not pay Jeffries to harvest his crop. He decided to put cattle on the land to eat the alfalfa. This proved to be a prosperous enterprise. Jeffries became one of the country's foremost suppliers of thoroughbred bulls. Most of them were sold in Mexico and South America, thus establishing Burbank's first foreign trade relations.
*Directly across the street from his ranch, on the opposite corner, Jeffries had a barn that served as a boxing gym and fight arena, where weekly amateur matches were held. Film stars would often turn out to see the amateur fights, always drawing capacity crowds. Jeffries would often referee these bouts.
*John Garfield's big boxing scene in the 1939 "Dead End Kids" film ''They Made Me a Criminal'' was filmed in Jeffries' barn.
*In 1941, Jeffries' wife of 37 years, Freda Jeffries, was hit by a car and killed as she crossed the street on her way home from the barn. The couple had one child, a daughter named Mary.
*In 1954, the California Historical Society put the Jeffries Barn on its list of historical buildings, and it was moved from its Burbank location to its current home at Knotts Berry Farm. It used to contain a boxing museum complete with a historian to discuss boxing. In the late 1960s, however, the historian died and the boxing museum was removed. Today, the Jeffries Barn hosts a collection of china dolls and the like. Hidden on a wall in the back is a small brass plaque that reads: "Jeffries Barn--Historical Landmark."

== External Links ==
*[http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1302&dat=19090127&id=djlVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cJUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6332,1350892 "Jeffries Scores Burns" The ''Sydney Mail'', January 27, 1909]
*[http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZfA_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=OqQMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5706,2444977&dq=jack+johnson+james+jeffries&hl=en "Jeffries' Admission" ''Nashua Telegraph'', July 8, 1910]
*[http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/18507942 "Jim Jeffries, A National Hero" The ''Sunday Herald'', March 8, 1953]
*[[The Boxing Register|''The Boxing Register: International Boxing Hall of Fame Official Record Book'']] By James B. Roberts and Alexander G. Skutt, McBooks Press, July 2002.
*''[[A Man Among Men]]'' By Kelly Richard Nicholson, Homaward Bound Publishing, 2002
*[http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/w0403-tc.html "Jeffries and Other Heavyweights" By Tracy G. Callis, "WAIL!...The CBZ Journal, April 2003]
*''[[Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson]]'' by Geoffrey C. Ward, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, October 26, 2004 
*[http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/JamesJJeffries-AdamPollack-Book-Review.htm Tracy Callis' review of Adam J. Pollack's 2009 book ''In The Ring With James J. Jeffries'']
*[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/sports/othersports/04boxing.html "Great White Hope: Not Great, No Hope" By Wayne Rozen, The ''New York Times'', July 3, 2010]
*[http://www.thesweetscience.com/news/articles/17342-the-legend-of-james-j-jeffries "The Legend of James J. Jeffries" ''The Sweet Science'', October 04, 2013]
*[http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/jeffrx.htm Jeffries' ''Cyber Boxing Zone'' page]
*[http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=3548 Jeffries ''Find A Grave'' page]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj2jOpoecfc Video of Jeffries-Sharkey II]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CauVMvNspIY Vidoe of Jeffries training]

{{start box}}
{{Succession box|
before=[[Bob Fitzsimmons]]|
title=[[World Heavyweight Champion]]|
after=[[Marvin Hart]]|
years=1899 Jun 9 – 1905 May 13 '''Retired'''
}}
{{end box}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeffries, James J.}}
[[Category:World Heavyweight Champions]]
[[Category:American World Champions]]
[[Category:IBHOF Members]]
[[Category:World Boxing Hall of Fame Members]]