The First Boxers

It was not until the early part of the eighteenth century that boxing became popular as a sport in the British Isles. Though the start of fist fighting in England coincided with the arrival of the Romans, boxing as we know it really got tinder way with the acknowledgement of James Figg as first British heavyweight king in 1719. Through the pages of ring history, the story of the heavyweights is the story of boxing itself.

When James Figg announced the opening of his Amphitheatre, his name became the first on the long roll of British prize ring champions, and because he was the first to advertise openly the teaching of boxing and exhibitions of skill, he has become known as the Father of Boxing. He was more expert as a cudgeller than as a pugilist. A master with the sword and an expert fencer, he attracted the patronage of the English "bloods," the sports element of the country.

It was Figg who popularized sparring exhibitions, and his initiative was responsible for the opening of many other amphitheatres. In these, wooden rails instead of ropes formed the ring enclosure, which was elevated upon a stage, the referee officiating outside the ring.

Figg died in 1740 and George Taylor, one of his pupils, succeeded to the championship.

Taylor was followed by the father of boxing rules, Jack Broughton, who in 1734 formulated the first code and invented the boxing glove, which at the time was used only in sparring exhibitions.

Broughton studied defense and attack and depended on the use of this style. Previously boxing was a toe-to-toe match, but Broughton introduced into the sport stopping and blocking, hitting and retreating. He was six feet tall, weighed 196 pounds and was quite intelligent.

The Duke of Cumberland took a deep interest in him, and obtained for Broughton a position with the Yeomen of the Guard which he held until his death at the age of eighty-five. Broughton's Rules governed boxing from August 18, 1743, until 1838, when a new code, "The London Prize Ring Rules," was adopted.

From Figg to Muhammad Ali is a long stretch-over 250 years-and in that period many famous heavyweights came to the fore. There were big men, small men, fat and lean ones; men of the rough-and-tumble school and men of science; fighters who were sluggers and those who were cool-headed boxers; men of culture, some of only an ordinary education, and others with none at all. But each was a champion - a heavyweight who had gained the top rung of the pugilistic ladder.

Eliminating the bare-knuckle and skin-tight gloves era, which covered a century and three-quarters of boxing, and coming down to the period governed by the Marquis of Queensberry Rules that called for glove contests, we find twenty-five heavyweights as kings of the division and one claimant, Marvin Hart.

Many thrilling battles were fought in the reign of these Kings of Pugilism.