boxing

Rough And Tumble: A Short History of Eye Gouging

September 7, 2022 by John Warren 2 Comments

Last week Thomas Webster, a 20-year veteran of the NYPD, was sentenced to the stiffest sentence so far – 10 years – for his actions while attacking the U.S. Capitol on January 6th in an effort to keep Donald Trump in power. In the effort to identify the insurrectionists, Webster was given the name “eye-gouger” for his attempt to gouge the eyes of a Washington D.C. police officer.

It’s a long American tradition. Eye gouging, not insurrection. [Read more…] about Rough And Tumble: A Short History of Eye Gouging

American Prize Ring, 1812-1881: A New Book Documents the Bare-Knuckle Boxing Era

February 6, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

A new book, The American Prize Ring: Its Battles, Its Wrangles, and Its Heroes, 1812-1881 (2022), reprints important boxing history columns by William E. Harding, one of America’s most prolific sportswriters of the bare-knuckle boxing period.

Harding’s “The American Prize Ring: Its Battles, Its Wrangles, and Its Heroes” appeared as a column in the weekly National Police Gazette from June 4th, 1880, until September 10th, 1881. Although the Gazette, and its editor Richard K. Fox, published several pamphlets on boxing, Harding’s monumental history of American pugilism was never published in book form until now. The columns end just before John L. Sullivan’s first prize fight.

Harding’s columns are here assembled for the first time by Jerry Kuntz, who provides an informative introduction. In a foreward New York Almanack founder and editor John Warren writes that “the importance of Jerry Kuntz’s yeoman work in assembling sporting writer William E. Harding’s columns on pugilism in America cannot be understated. Quite simply, this is the best reference work on bare-knuckle boxing in America…” [Read more…] about American Prize Ring, 1812-1881: A New Book Documents the Bare-Knuckle Boxing Era

1840s Troy: Blacksmith Dan, John Morrissey & Friends

January 6, 2022 by John Warren 1 Comment

Throughout the 19th century the blacksmith’s shop was a central part of American life. Even the smallest forge was kept busy mending and making the variety of tools and implements for home and garden, for workshop and industry, and tack and shoes for mules, horses and oxen. Blacksmiths were critical to transportation, manufacturing and home life. Like today’s auto garage, nearly every substantial crossroads had a blacksmith’s shop.

Better shops included the blacksmith, a fireman, a helper, and sometimes a furrier. In 1850 there were more than 150 blacksmiths in Troy, NY, a city of about 30,000 people, including one woman, Canadian Cyrilla Turcott. About half of these smithies were born in Ireland. More blacksmiths of all skill levels could be found in the city’s wagon, carriage and wheelwright shops, or employed in the city’s booming iron industry. [Read more…] about 1840s Troy: Blacksmith Dan, John Morrissey & Friends

The Oysters Sign: 19th Century Boxing’s Most Prized Trophy

December 28, 2021 by John Warren Leave a Comment

When bare-knuckle “fair fight” pugilism reached a height in popularity in England in the early 1820s, many English boxers moved to the city of New York. Some simply for greener, less crowded professional pastures and others out of frustration over corruption or suppression of the sport by British authorities.

In the United States, these men bolstered the “manly art of self defense” by competing in local matches, opening gymnasiums, arranging fights, and training a new generation of American boxers. [Read more…] about The Oysters Sign: 19th Century Boxing’s Most Prized Trophy

Staten Island Boxer Bill Richmond Delivered the Punches

July 12, 2021 by Jaap Harskamp 4 Comments

Archaeologists in Central London are involved in a massive undertaking excavating St James’s Gardens, a graveyard close to Euston Station, before a terminus for the controversial High Speed 2 (HS2) railway project is built on the site. Among the 45,000 skeletons due to be dug up it is hoped that the remains of Bill Richmond will be identified.

By the end of the eighteenth century boxing was England’s dominant sport. Confirmation of its repute occurred at the coronation of George IV on 19 July 1821 when eighteen pugilists were invited to guard the entrance to Westminster Abbey. One of the ushers selected for the grand occasion was Bill Richmond, a formerly enslaved man who descended from Richmondtown, a colonial outpost on Staten Island, New York. [Read more…] about Staten Island Boxer Bill Richmond Delivered the Punches

When Clifton Park Had Its Own Amusement Park

April 8, 2021 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

On April 3rd, 1935, wrecking crews began the demolition of buildings and rides that comprised an amusement park in Rexford, Saratoga County, NY.

Few remember when Clifton Park had its own amusement park. It was located on the Mohawk River in Rexford near the Alplaus border from 1906 to 1933. [Read more…] about When Clifton Park Had Its Own Amusement Park

Museums, Grave Robbing & The Dissection of Boxing ‘Giant’ Charles Freeman

March 7, 2021 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

Grave robbing has a long history in religion and science. As monasteries and churches were repositories of relics, religious institutions competed to take possession of bones, teeth, or skulls. Members of the clergy supported grave robbers – long before the word came into circulation – if a body, or parts thereof, were worthy of reverence. [Read more…] about Museums, Grave Robbing & The Dissection of Boxing ‘Giant’ Charles Freeman

John Morrissey: Toward Setting The Record Straight

February 12, 2021 by John Warren Leave a Comment

John Morrissey was born in Ireland on February 12th, in 1831.

As a result of bigoted attacks by his political enemies being carried forward by later writers like Herbert Asbury in Gangs of New York (1928), he’s been falsely accused of being in criminal league with Tammany Hall, for leading “the dead rabbits gang,” and for being involved in the killing of the nativist William “Bill the Butcher” Poole. [Read more…] about John Morrissey: Toward Setting The Record Straight

Newyorkitis, Bodybuilding, Gymnastics & The Origins of Pilates

November 2, 2020 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

In the late nineteenth century, commentators on the medico-psychological effects of rapid urban expansion identified two developments of concern.

One was an epidemic of nerves (neurasthenia) among the well-heeled; the other a slide towards degradation in inner-city slums.

In the battle for social regeneration, the need for physical exercise was emphasized. Man had to flex his muscles; his body needed rebuilding. [Read more…] about Newyorkitis, Bodybuilding, Gymnastics & The Origins of Pilates

French Pugilist Georges Carpentier’s Visit To NY

June 3, 2020 by Maury Thompson Leave a Comment

French pugilist Georges Carpentier was traveling with the Seils-Floto Circus from Albany to Montreal in May 1920 when the train stopped briefly at Plattsburgh.

(In an interesting side note, Carpentier was traveling in the same private rail car that President Woodrow Wilson used a few months previous on his trans-continental campaign to gain support for the League of Nations.) [Read more…] about French Pugilist Georges Carpentier’s Visit To NY