Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
Posts about bare knuckle prizefighting and professional boxing contests from the 1850s to 1930s.
Sam McVey, who was considered the Idol of Paris, during his boxing career from 1902 to 1921, is largely forgotten today. One of the greatest black heavyweights of his time, he was frozen out of fighting for the world title even after Jack Johnson defeated Tommy Burns in 1908. McVey lost to Jack Johnson three times early in his career
Abe Attell was a tough boxer. He won the World Featherweight Boxing Championship twice. He and his brother Monte were the first brothers to be world boxing champions at the same time after Monte won the World Bantamweight Championship. Abe Attell won his first title when he was based out of the West End Boxing Club in St. Louis, MO.
For the October 5, 1861 edition of the Cincinnati Daily Press, editors pulled a story off the wire service from the Spirit of the Times. The wire story reported on a fight between former English prizefighting champion Tom Sayers and current English champion Jem Mace. Both Sayers and Mace were touring with English circuses, when they stopped in at a
While doing research, I found this picture of the Manassa Mauler training for his July 4th, 1919 title fight with Jess Willard, the World Heavyweight Boxing Champions. Willard had knocked out the great Jack Johnson in 1915 to become champion. Willard was a giant of a man at 6’06” and 235 pounds. He posed a threat to anyone based on size alone. However,