Tom Molineaux was a African-American bare-knuckle boxer

Bare-knuckle boxing

Bare-knuckle boxing is the original form of boxing, closely related to ancient combat sports...

. He spent much of his career in Great Britain and Ireland

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....

, where he had some notable successes.
Born into slavery in Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

, Molineaux was trained by his father, also a fighter, as was Molineaux's twin brother. He boxed with other slaves to entertain plantation owners. Molineaux earned his owner a large sum of money in winnings on bets, was granted his freedom, and moved to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 where he expected to be able to earn money as a professional boxer.
Molineaux's first fight in England was on 24 July 1810, beating Jack Burrows in 65 minutes.