Click2Flicks - Cinderella Man, Boxing: Its Rebirth, Chapter 3,

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>CINDERELLA MAN</p> <p><font size="4">CHAPTER 3 - BOXING: ITS REBIRTH</b></font></p> </div>  <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">In January of 1681, the <a target="_blank" href="images/protestant_mercury.jpg"><b><i>Protestant Mercury</i></b></a> (a London newspaper) reported the story of a bare-knuckle boxing match between the Duke of Albermarle’s footman and a butcher. In this first-known newspaper story about a boxing match, the butcher won.</p> <p>At the time, boxing was really a mixture of wrestling and boxing. (The ancients also had a mixed wrestling/boxing sport, called <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/pankration.html" target="_blank"><b>Pankration</b></a>, whose rules would never pass muster today. Biting an opponent - or gouging his eyes, nose and mouth with fingernails - was all that was prohibited.)</p> <p>Not until <a target="_blank" href="images/james_figg.jpg"><b>James Figg</b></a> became a boxer, in 1719, was any effort made to train would-be participants in a boxing school. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ibhof.com/figg.htm"><b>Figg</b></a>, known as the “father of boxing” (he fought nearly 300 times before his death in 1734), started a Boxing Academy and died unbeaten. He was known, as well, for challenging just about anyone to boxing bouts at his <a target="_blank" href="images/southwark_fair.jpg"><b>Southwark Fair</b></a> booth. Although the sport was still vicious then, without rules or regulations, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/george_i_king.shtml" target="_blank"><b>the King</b></a> (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.royal.gov.uk/files/images/george-I_lrg.jpg"><b>George I</b></a>) enjoyed the spectacle. His interest (in 1723 he set up a boxing ring in London’s <a target="_blank" href="images/hydeparkcorner.jpg"><b>Hyde Park</b></a>) helped boxing to regain respectability.</p> <p>One of Figg’s students, John (“Jack”) Broughton, introduced the sport’s <a href="http://www.ibroresearch.com/Boxing%20History/Broughton's%20Rules.htm" target="_blank"><b>first rules</b></a> in <a target="_blank" href="images/1743.jpg"><b>1743</b></a> - after an opponent died following a fight. His rules included breaks if a boxer were knocked down and gloves used for practice. <a href="http://www.ibhof.com/broughton.htm" target="_blank"><b>Champion</b></a> from 1729 until 1750, Broughton also taught boxing at his Amphitheater near Oxford Street. His rules were used until 1838 when the Pugilistic Society created the <a href="http://www.ibroresearch.com/Boxing%20History/LONDON%20PRIZE%20RING%20RULES.htm" target="_blank"><b>London Prize Ring Rules</b></a>.  Broughton lived until he was 86 years old and is <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/sport/boxing/broughton.shtml" target="_blank"><b>buried</b></a>, with his wife, in the <a target="_blank" href="images/west_cloister.jpg"><b>West Cloister</b></a> of <a target="_blank" href="images/abbey.ex.side.jpg"><b>Westminster Abbey</b></a>.  His gravestone notes his status as a champion boxer:</p> <p><center>Mr. John Broughton<br> Champion Prizefighter of England<br> Died Jan 8th 1789, Aged 86 years</center></p> <p>Other world-champion British boxers followed, including <a target="_blank" href="images/mendoza.jpg"><b>Daniel Mendoza</b></a>  (known as the "father of <a href="http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/DanielMendoza.htm" target="_blank"><b>scientific boxing</b></a>”), Jem <a href="http://www.ibhof.com/belcher.htm" target="_blank"><b>Belcher</b></a>, Tom <a target="_blank" href="images/Cribb.gif"><b>Cribb</b></a>, James <a href="http://www.ibhof.com/burke.htm" target="_blank"><b>Burke</b></a> and <a target="_blank" href="images/jem.jpg"><b>Jem</b></a> <a href="http://www.ibhof.com/mace.htm" target="_blank"><b>Mace</b></a>. Footwork, sparring and counter punches were developed during this time frame, changing the sport from a slugfest to something more sophisticated. The <a href="http://www.ibroresearch.com/Boxing%20History/Queensberry%20Rules.htm" target="_blank"><b>Queensberry Rules</b></a> of 1867 (written by <a href="http://www.ibhof.com/chambers.htm" target="_blank"><b>John Graham Chambers</b></a> and sponsored by John Sholto <a target="_blank" href="images/douglas.jpg"><b>Douglas</b></a>, the Eighth Marquess of Queensberry who was once embroiled in a famous trial involving Oscar Wilde), introduced three-minute rounds, the ten-second count (if a fighter went down), a prohibition against wrestling/hugging, and boxing gloves.</p> <p>At the end of the 19th century, American fighters began to <a target="_blank" href="images/defeat.jpg"><b>defeat</b></a> their British opponents. When <a target="_blank" href="images/sullivan.jpg"><b>John L. Sullivan</b></a> was world champion for ten years, the sport became popular in America. It was never more popular, however, than when a down-on-his-luck fighter named <a target="_blank" href="images/braddock.jpg"><b>Jim Braddock</b></a> staged one of the most incredible sports comebacks of all time.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font face="arial, helvetica" size="2"><a href="cinderella_man_ch2.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="cinderella_man_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="cinderella_man_ch4.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </body>