The bare-knuckle era

Boxing history picks up again with a formal bout recorded in Britain in 1681, and by 1698 regular pugilistic contests were being held in the Royal Theatre of London. The fighters performed for whatever purses were agreed upon plus stakes (side bets), and admirers of the combatants wagered on the outcomes. These matches were fought without gloves and, for the most part, without rules. There were no weight divisions; thus, there was just one champion, and lighter men were at an obvious disadvantage. Rounds were designated, but a bout was usually fought until one participant could no longer continue. Wrestling was permitted, and it was common to fall on a foe after throwing him to the ground. Until the mid 1700s it was also common to hit a man when he was down.

Although boxing was illegal, it became quite popular, and by 1719 the prizefighter James Figg had so captured the public’s imagination that he was acclaimed champion of England, a distinction he held for some 15 years. One of Figg’s pupils, Jack Broughton, is credited with taking the first steps toward boxing’s acceptance as a respectable athletic endeavour. One of the greatest bare-knuckle prizefighters in history, Broughton devised the modern sport’s first set of rules in 1743, and those rules, with only minor changes, governed boxing until they were replaced by the more detailed London Prize Ring rules in 1838. It is said that Broughton sought such regulations after one of his opponents died as a result of his fight-related injuries.

Broughton discarded the barroom techniques that his predecessors favoured and relied primarily on his fists. While wrestling holds were still permitted, a boxer could not grab an opponent below the waist. Under Broughton’s rules, a round continued until a man went down; after 30 seconds he had to face his opponent (square off), standing no more than a yard (about a metre) away, or be declared beaten. Hitting a downed opponent was also forbidden. Recognized as the “Father of Boxing,” Broughton attracted pupils to the sport by introducing “mufflers,” the forerunners of modern gloves, to protect the fighter’s hands and the opponent’s face. (Ironically, these protective devices would prove in some ways to be more dangerous than bare fists. When boxers wear gloves, they are more likely to aim for their opponent’s head, whereas, when fighters used their bare hands, they tended to aim for softer targets to avoid injuring the hand. Thus, the brain damage associated with boxing can be traced in part to the introduction of the padded boxing glove.)

After Jack Slack beat Broughton in 1750 to claim the championship, fixed fights (fights in which outcomes were predetermined) became common, and boxing again experienced a period of decline, though there were exceptions—pugilists Daniel Mendoza and Gentleman John Jackson were great fighters of the late 1700s. Mendoza weighed only 160 pounds (73 kg), and his fighting style therefore emphasized speed over brute strength. Jackson, who eventually defeated Mendoza to claim the championship, contributed to the transformation of boxing by interesting members of the English aristocracy in the sport, thus bringing it a degree of respectability. During the early to mid 1800s, some of the greatest British champions, including Jem Belcher, Tom Cribb, Ben Caunt, and Jem Mace, came to symbolize ideals of manliness and honour for the English.

After the British Pugilists’ Protective Association initiated the London Prize Ring rules in 1838, the new regulations spread quickly throughout Britain and the United States. First used in a championship fight in 1839 in which James (“Deaf”) Burke lost the English title to William Thompson (“Bendigo”), the new rules provided for a ring 24 feet (7.32 metres) square bounded by two ropes. When a fighter went down, the round ended, and he was helped to his corner. The next round would begin 30 seconds later, with each boxer required to reach, unaided, a mark in the centre of the ring. If a fighter could not reach that mark by the end of 8 additional seconds, he was declared the loser. Kicking, gouging, butting with the head, biting, and low blows were all declared fouls.

The era of Regency England was the peak of British boxing, when the champion of bare-knuckle boxing in Britain was considered to be the world champion as well. Britain’s only potential rival in pugilism was the United States. Boxing had been introduced in the United States in the late 1700s but began to take root there only about 1800 and then only in large urban areas such as Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, and to some extent New Orleans. Most of the fighters who fought in the United States had emigrated from either England or Ireland; because boxing was then considered to be the national sport of Britain, there were few American-born fighters of the time.

Boxing’s hold upon the British imagination is evidenced in the many idioms taken from pugilism that entered the English language during this period. Phrases such as come up to scratch (to meet the qualifications), start from scratch (to start over from the beginning), and not up to the mark (not up to the necessary level) all refer to the line that was scratched in the dirt to divide the ring. At the beginning of each round, both boxers were required to put their toes up against the line to prove they were fit enough for the bout. If they were unable to do so, they were said to be unable to come up to scratch, or to the mark. The term draw, meaning a tied score, derives from the stakes that held the rope surrounding the ring: when the match was over, the stakes were “drawn” out from the ground, and eventually the finality of taking down the ropes came to stand for the end of an inconclusive fight. Further, these stakes were also the basis behind the monetary meaning of stakes. In early prizefights a bag of money, which would go to the winner of the bout, was hung from one of the stakes—thus high stakes and stake money. As for the ropes held by the stakes, to be against the ropes connotes a posture of defense against an aggressive opponent. And any telling point in an argument is spoken of as being a knockout blow, and a beautiful woman as being a knockout.