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"...a marvellous little book. Mee has created a gem" The Guardian "...highly recommended" The Sunday Times "...a splendid tale of brutality... a fascinating account" Boxing News
Although boxing historian Mee ("Boxing", not reviewed) is evidently captivated by the brutal sport of bare-knuckled fighting, his 300-year history is too lackluster (and his laundry lists of contestants too benumbing) to make any converts with this effort. Starting at the turn of the 18th century, the author charts the course of bare-fisted boxing from the earliest recorded brawls to the underground gloveless venues of today. He concentrates his research on English boxers (American bare-fisters are considered much later in the book), providing vest-pocket biographies of such boxers as James Figg, Tom Cribb, John Gully, William Perry, and Elizabeth Wilkinson (the "European Championess"), along with reformers like Gentleman John Jackson. Mee has a tendency to be wildly inclusive, especially in the early years, and he squeezes every last bit of recorded information into meaningless paragraphs composed almost entirely of names and dates. But what wafts off his pages is primarily the god-awful battering the contestants inflict on one another-all the vomiting of blood, the blue and lumpy foreheads, and the interminable battles (like the 140-minute fight between John Camel Heenan and Tom Sayers). The author's prose, it must be said, does not elevate pugilism to art (although a report excerpted here from the magazine "Bell's Life "on the Heenan vs. Sayers fight displays how exciting top-notch writing on the sweet science can be), and it comes with a great sigh of relief when Mee concludes that "pugilism is dead-and the signs are that we will not see its like again." Too often this reads like a telephone directory-but even as a reference it lacks an orderly design. (50 b&w illustrations) (Kirkus Reviews)
Product Description
This text takes a look at the forgotten world of bare-knuckle prize-fighting, from the heyday of pugilism in the 18th century, to its extinction at the end of the 19th, and its re-emergence this century in the form of illegal underground bouts. James Figg, the notorious prize-fighter, swordsman and bear-baiter, was the first man to help establish fist-fighting as the preferred sport of the masses, who had previously been entertained by such delights as women versus dwarfs and animals fighting in a burning barrel. From the age of Figg, until the late 19th century, prize-fighting was the dominant sport of the landed classes. All the chief combatants were backed by the rich aristocracy and a succession of kings from George I were keen followers of the sport and often to be found at ringside. The author charts the progress of the so-called Championship of England and, interspersed with social observation and biographical detail, he paints a vivid picture of the society in which this sport thrived. The reader is introduced to a variety of fighters including Jack Broughton, Jack Slack, Daniel Mendoza, Jim Belcher, Tom Cribb and Tom Sayers. Their hard drinking and prodigous fight achievements almost beggar belief, but they usually took their toll. Most succumbed to an early grave. The sport all but came to an end with the introduction of the Queensberry Rules in 1867, but that was not the end of the story. Fist-fighting continued underground as an illegal practice, and still does, although it is unrecognizable from its noble heritage. In the final part of the book, laments the decline of bare-knuckle fighting from the late 19th century. The modern-day version is a sickening and brutal world - the sort inhabited by Lenny McLean and Roy Shaw - where kicking, stamping and illegal weapons are more prevalent than the fist.
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"...a marvellous little book. Mee has created a gem" The Guardian "...highly recommended" The Sunday Times "...a splendid tale of brutality... a fascinating account" Boxing News
Although boxing historian Mee ("Boxing", not reviewed) is evidently captivated by the brutal sport of bare-knuckled fighting, his 300-year history is too lackluster (and his laundry lists of contestants too benumbing) to make any converts with this effort. Starting at the turn of the 18th century, the author charts the course of bare-fisted boxing from the earliest recorded brawls to the underground gloveless venues of today. He concentrates his research on English boxers (American bare-fisters are considered much later in the book), providing vest-pocket biographies of such boxers as James Figg, Tom Cribb, John Gully, William Perry, and Elizabeth Wilkinson (the "European Championess"), along with reformers like Gentleman John Jackson. Mee has a tendency to be wildly inclusive, especially in the early years, and he squeezes every last bit of recorded information into meaningless paragraphs composed almost entirely of names and dates. But what wafts off his pages is primarily the god-awful battering the contestants inflict on one another-all the vomiting of blood, the blue and lumpy foreheads, and the interminable battles (like the 140-minute fight between John Camel Heenan and Tom Sayers). The author's prose, it must be said, does not elevate pugilism to art (although a report excerpted here from the magazine "Bell's Life "on the Heenan vs. Sayers fight displays how exciting top-notch writing on the sweet science can be), and it comes with a great sigh of relief when Mee concludes that "pugilism is dead-and the signs are that we will not see its like again." Too often this reads like a telephone directory-but even as a reference it lacks an orderly design. (50 b&w illustrations) (Kirkus Reviews)
Product Description
This text takes a look at the forgotten world of bare-knuckle prize-fighting, from the heyday of pugilism in the 18th century, to its extinction at the end of the 19th, and its re-emergence this century in the form of illegal underground bouts. James Figg, the notorious prize-fighter, swordsman and bear-baiter, was the first man to help establish fist-fighting as the preferred sport of the masses, who had previously been entertained by such delights as women versus dwarfs and animals fighting in a burning barrel. From the age of Figg, until the late 19th century, prize-fighting was the dominant sport of the landed classes. All the chief combatants were backed by the rich aristocracy and a succession of kings from George I were keen followers of the sport and often to be found at ringside. The author charts the progress of the so-called Championship of England and, interspersed with social observation and biographical detail, he paints a vivid picture of the society in which this sport thrived. The reader is introduced to a variety of fighters including Jack Broughton, Jack Slack, Daniel Mendoza, Jim Belcher, Tom Cribb and Tom Sayers. Their hard drinking and prodigous fight achievements almost beggar belief, but they usually took their toll. Most succumbed to an early grave. The sport all but came to an end with the introduction of the Queensberry Rules in 1867, but that was not the end of the story. Fist-fighting continued underground as an illegal practice, and still does, although it is unrecognizable from its noble heritage. In the final part of the book, laments the decline of bare-knuckle fighting from the late 19th century. The modern-day version is a sickening and brutal world - the sort inhabited by Lenny McLean and Roy Shaw - where kicking, stamping and illegal weapons are more prevalent than the fist.
See all Product Description
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