List of bare-knuckle boxers
Overview
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
that fought either all or part of their careers as bare-knuckle boxers
Bare-knuckle boxing
Bare-knuckle boxing is the original form of boxing, closely related to ancient combat sports...
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Jem Belcher
Jem Belcher
Jem Belcher was an English bare-knuckle boxer and Champion of All England 1800-1805.Born in Bristol, Belcher beat Paddington Tom Jones in April 1799 in the Middleweight Championship of England. He drew with champion Jack Bartholomew in a 51-round bout in 1799, and won the rematch in the...
Stu Bennett Andy Bowen
Andy Bowen
Andy Bowen was an American boxer from New Orleans. His promising career was cut short due to in ring injuries suffered in a fight against Kid Lavigne in his home town of New Orleans. He was 27....
Benjamin Brain
Benjamin Brain
Benjamin Brain was a bareknuckle prizefighter. A collier by trade, he was a valiant fighter whose career spanned twenty years...
Bill Brassey
Bill Brassey
Bill Brassey was an English bare-knuckle boxer.On October 26, 1840, Ben Caunt defeated Bill Brassey at Six Mile Bottom, Cambridgeshire, in 101 rounds.-See also:*List of bare-knuckle boxers...
Bill Brennan
Bill Brennan
Bill Brennan was an American boxer who fought and lost to World Heavy Weight Champion Jack Dempsey twice...
Bob Brettle
Bob Brettle
Robert "Bob" Brettle, born at Portobello, near Edinburgh, in January 1832, was a successful bare-knuckle boxer active in Birmingham, England, during the 1850s...
Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson (prisoner)
Charles Bronson is a Welsh criminal often referred to in the British press as the "most violent prisoner in Britain"....
Johnny Broome
Johnny Broome
Johnny Broome was a lightweight bare-knuckle boxer.Broome was a gifted pugilist known as “Young Duckro.” He was never defeated in the prize ring, and had a younger brother who became Heavyweight Champion of England...
Jack Broughton
Jack Broughton
John "Jack" Broughton was an English bare-knuckle fighter. He was the first person to ever codify a set of rules to be used in such contests; prior to this the "rules" that existed were very loosely defined and tended to vary from contest to contest...
Chris Brown James Burke
James Burke (boxer)
James "Deaf" Burke , 6 feet 2 inches tall, weighing 200 lb , was one of England's earliest boxing champions. He trained in the area around the River Thames....
Charley Burley
Charley Burley
Charley Burley was a boxer of the 1940s, compiling a record of 83 wins , 12 losses, and 2 draws with 1 "no contest"...
Simon Byrne
Simon Byrne
Simon Byrne , nicknamed "The Emerald Gem", was an Irish bare-knuckle prize fighter. The heavyweight boxing champion of Ireland, he was drawn to England by the larger sums of prize money on offer and his hopes of becoming the heavyweight champion there as well...
Ben Caunt
Ben Caunt
Ben Caunt was a 19th century English bare-knuckle boxer who became the "heavyweight" boxing champion known as the "Torkard Giant" and "Big Ben".-Early life:...
Arthur Chambers
Arthur Chambers
Arthur Chambers was an Anglo-American boxer.-Career:...
Joe Choynski
Joe Choynski
Joseph Bartlett "Joe" Choynski was an American boxer who fought professionally from 1888 to 1904.-Boxing career:"Chrysanthemum Joe", the son of a Polish immigrant that settled in California in 1867, weighed no more than 176 lb throughout his career but regularly fought heavyweights. He was...
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John ClarkJohn Clark (boxer)
John H. Clark was an Irish-American boxer.He was born in County Galway, but spent most of his childhood in England before moving to the United States. Clark was a clog and jig dancer before pursuing a career in prize-fighting...
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Mike ClearyMike Cleary
Mike Cleary was an Irish-American boxer.Cleary was born in County Laois, and emigrated to the United States. He was known as a quick and "scrappy" fighter. On October 18, 1882 he defeated the Middleweight Champion of America, John Rooke, in 3 rounds...
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Joe CoburnJoe Coburn
Joe Coburn was an Irish-American boxer. In 1862 he claimed the Heavyweight Championship from John Carmel Heenan based on Heenan refusing to fight him. Mike McCoole claimed Coburn's title in 1866 after Coburn retired. Coburn came out of retirement in 1871 against Jem Mace...
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Sam CollyerSam Collyer
Sam Collyer was a lightweight bare-knuckle boxer. He was of Scottish-French descent, weighed between 115 and 125 pounds, and stood 5 feet 5 ½ inches.-Early life:...
James J. Corbett
James J. Corbett
James John "Gentleman Jim" Corbett was an Irish-American heavyweight boxing champion, best known as the man who defeated the great John L. Sullivan. He also coached boxing at the Olympic Club in San Francisco...
Tom Cribb
Tom Cribb
Tom Cribb was an English bare-knuckle boxer of the 19th century, so successful that he became world champion. He is a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame.-Life:...
Dick Curtis
Dick Curtis (boxer)
Dick Curtis was a professional boxing pioneer born in Southwark, London.-Pro career:Known as the “The Pet of the Fancy”, Curtis turned professional in 1820 and on February 27, 1827 defeated Barney Aaron...
Dan Donnelly
Dan Donnelly (boxer)
Dan Donnelly was a professional boxing pioneer and the first Irish-born heavyweight champion. He was posthumously inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, Pioneers Category in 2008.-Champion of the needy:...
Paddy Doherty
Paddy Doherty (television personality)
Patrick "Paddy" Doherty is an Irish Traveller and a former bare-knuckle boxer. He is best known as one of the interviewed 'gypsies' in My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding and as one of Danny Dyer's Deadliest Men...
Mike Farragher
Mike Farragher
Michael Joseph Farragher was a well-known welterweight boxer from Youngstown, Ohio. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Farragher faced opponents in venues such as New York City; Wheeling, West Virginia; Cleveland, Ohio; and Homestead, Pennsylvania.Early in his career, journalists compared...
Cliff Field James Figg
James Figg
James Figg was an English bare-knuckle boxer. He is universally recognized the first English bare-knuckle boxing champion, reigning from 1719 to 1730 or 1734. Many of the bouts at the time consisted of boxing, wrestling and fencing with sharp swords. Figg was also a great fencer that engaged in...
Bob Fitzsimmons
Bob Fitzsimmons
Robert James "Bob" Fitzsimmons , was a British boxer who made boxing history as the sport's first three-division world champion. He also achieved fame for beating Gentleman Jim Corbett, the man who beat John L. Sullivan, and is in The Guinness Book of World Records as the Lightest heavyweight...
Dan "Porky" Flynn
Dan Flynn (boxer)
Dan Flynn was an American boxer known for his punch and dirty tactics, earning him the nickname "Porky". He had a record of 26 wins , 22 losses, 8 draws, and 36 no decisions.-Biography:...
Sean Gannon
Sean Gannon (fighter)
Sean Gannon is an American police officer, and mixed martial arts fighter. He gained notoriety on the Internet due to a widely distributed video of Gannon defeating Kimbo Slice in an unsanctioned bare-knuckle street fight....
Lenny Gannon/
George GardinerGeorge Gardiner (boxer)
George Gardner , was a famous Irish-born American boxer who was the first undisputed Light - Heavyweight Champion of the World. He held claims to both the World Middleweight Title as well as the World Heavyweight Title. Gardner is one of the biggest names in boxing history and one of the most...
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Owney GeogheganOwney Geoghegan
Owney Geoghegan was a lightweight bare-knuckle boxer. Geoghegan claimed the Lightweight Championship of America in 1861, and held it until his retirement in 1863. He stood 5’ 6”, and weighed between 130 and 140 pounds....
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Harry Gilmore George "Old Chocolate" GodfreyGeorge Godfrey (boxer born 1853)
George Godfrey was the black Canadian heavyweight boxer that John L. Sullivan refused to fight as a champion. He is not to be confused with the American heavyweight George Godfrey who named himself after our subject....
Bartley Gorman
Bartley Gorman
Bartley Gorman V was an Irish Traveller who was the undefeated Bare-knuckle boxing champion of United Kingdom and Ireland, often referred to as King of the Gypsies....
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Joe GossJoe Goss
Joe Goss was born on 5 November 1838 in Northampton, England. Although he rarely scaled more than 160 pounds, the clever and aggressive Goss routinely fought men both bigger and heavier than himself....
John Gully
John Gully
John Gully was an English prize-fighter, horse racer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1832 to 1837.-Early life:...
Bobby Gunn
Bobby Gunn
Bobby Gunn is a boxer from Ontario, Canada-Career:Gunn was born on December 25 1973 in Ontario, Canada. His family immigrated from Ireland and Scotland.Gunn would make a name for himself in the Canadian amateur scene...
Jim Hall
Jim Hall (boxer)
Montague James Furlong , commonly known as Jim Hall, was an Australian middleweight boxer. He won the Australian middleweight title in 1887 before moving to the United States in an attempt to capture the World title from Jack Dempsey...
John C Heenan Jacob Hyer
Jacob Hyer
Jacob Hyer was an American bare-knuckled boxer. He is generally credited as the first professional American boxer, due to his 1816 match with Tom Beasley, and has even been called "The Father of The American Ring".-Hyer v...
Tom Hyer
Tom Hyer
Tom Hyer was an American bare-knuckle boxer. He was a champion of boxing in America from September 9, 1841 to 1851....
Christopher J.
Unanswered Questions
