Bare Knuckle Fighters by Rob Snell

[Mofo2]

Berks is considered by some to be a pioneer bare knuckle boxer. Three times (once unofficially) Jem Belcher dealt with Joe Berks (sometimes written Bourke or Burkes), who was a truculent, tough, sometimes drunken butcher from Shropshire and had a violent temper. Berks struck Belcher at a prizefight at Wimbledon in 1801, to which the champion had been specially invited. The outraged Belcher demanded honor be served there and then in the available ring. When he took almost 20 minutes to overcome Berks, the watching Lord Camelford considered it a worthy proposition to set them at each other again, in formal conditions, with Berks sober and well-prepared. Berks was considered one of the most resilient, and probably one of the craziest of championship contenders.

In 1806, Berks was charged with two accomplices, including an Irish prizefighter named Jack O’Donnell, with stealing a £5 note and a guinea from a man named William Gee. They were found guilty and sentenced to be transported. Only the intervention of Gentleman Jackson saved Berks from a new life in Botany Bay or some even worse place, and he was last heard of as a non-commissioned officer in the Grenadiers serving under Wellington in Spain.

Bob Gregson

1807-1808

Nicknamed “the Lancashire Giant.†Eccleston was the home of one of the best-known pugilists of his generation, Bob Gregson. Just after the turn of the 19th-century, he twice had memorable title battles against the legendary John Gully, champion prizefighter of All-England.

He fought Tom Cribb for the championship and 1,000 guineas in a 30 ft ring at Moulsey Hurst on 25 October 1808, only five months after Gregson had lost for a second time to John Gully (both fights were to determine the successor to Hen Pearce’s crown). Gentleman Jackson refereed the fight. They brawled head-to-head for round after slow, grueling round. Cribb was so exhausted by the start of round 21 that he only just made it to the scratch-line, yet from somewhere he found the inner resolve to press on and in round 23 he tossed Gregson to the ground. Gregson landed with his legs buckled beneath his l6st bulk and was unable to stand, let alone fight. Gregson retired to his pub, the Castle in Holborn, otherwise to be known as Bob's Chop-House, but Gregson was a bad businessman and was forced to relinquish the pub in 1814. He attempted to start a sparring school, but that did not take off, and instead left to try his luck in Dublin, where he made a better living. In 1819 he embarked on a sparring tour of Ireland along with Dan Donnelly and George Cooper, but later was landlord of a pub named the Punch House in Moor Street, Dublin. That failed too and he was virtually penniless when he returned to live out his last days in Liverpool, where he died in November 1824. Two of Gregson's major prizefights were in 1807 when he beat Six-Mile Bottom in 36 rounds, and in 1808 when he beat Woburn in 8 rounds.

Fred Henning, in his classic book about the bare knuckle days of boxing, "Fights for the Championship", tells us that on the evening of July 12, 1807 a new heavyweight Bob Gregson, was presented at the Fives Court, St Martin's Street, Leicester Square, in an exhibition bout against Isaac Bitton, in which Bob acquitted himself very well. The fancy that night included Major Morgan, Captain Mellish, and Lt. Wedderburne Webster of the 11th Dragoons [this should be the 10th Hussars], nephew of Fletcher Reid. Webster became one of Gregson's backers in the championship fight near Newmarket on October 14, against John Gully. Gregson lost.

The fearsome Gregson also made quite a name for himself later, owning a London pub, setting up as a bookmaker and fight promoter and earning something of a reputation as a poet! A poem of his “British Lads and Black Millers†was published in a book, “Perfect in Their Art: Poems on Boxing from Homer to Ali†by Robert Hedin and Michael Waters.

A bust of Gregson is located in the Royal Academy.

Dutch Sam

1801-1810

BIRTH NAME: Samuel Elias

BORN: April 4, 1775, Petticoat La., England (Whitechapel area)

DIED: July 3, 1816

HEIGHT: 5'6"

WEIGHT: 130-134 pounds

This phenomenal little battler was a prominent Jewish boxer and known for his "iron fists." He had unbelievable strength for a man who stood 5'6" and never weighed more than 135 pounds. His physical power and long arms enabled him to fight men up to 168 pounds.

Sam's first fight was recorded on Oct. 12, 1801 by Harry Lee. On that day, Sam defeated a boxer named Baker, a man much larger than he, on the roadside outside of Ensfield and won a prize of five guineas. Success soon followed as Sam defeated a heavyweight named Bill Shipley (called the Champion of Broadway) in 1803 in only 15-minutes, becoming Daniel Mendoza's successor as hero of England's Jewish community. Egan wrote, "among his own persuasion (the Jews) he is an object of great notoriety; and no money is ever wanting to back him upon any pugilistic occasion."

His power is legendary and is considered one of the hardest hitters of all time. Some have credited Sam with the invention of the uppercut. His frequent use of, and success with the punch, popularized it.

His tremendous courage, amazing endurance and iron hands made him a crowd favorite. Pierce Egan, the most famous historian of his time said, "terrific is the only way to describe him."

Two of Sam's more noteworthy opponents were Caleb Baldwin and Tom Belcher, who was the brother of Jem Belcher. Both Baldwin and Belcher were undefeated at the time he fought them. Sam knocked out Baldwin and decisioned Belcher.

At age 35 he was worn out by his career and hard-drinking. He retired May 31, 1810, nine years after his first fight, at 35. Six years later he returned to the ring but was beaten by William Nosworthy.

Despite his final defeat to Nosworthy, Dutch Sam's reputation and place in history as one of the two greatest Jewish fighters of the "pioneer" era -- along with Daniel Mendoza -- remains intact. Many historians believe that Sam was the first fighter to use the uppercut, and he is a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame (inducted 1997), and the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Sam's son was also a boxer known as Young Dutch Sam, and they are credited with being the first professional father-son team active in the ring. Young Dutch Sam was eight-years old when Dutch Sam died. According to the Edinburgh Advertiser, dated July 23, 1816, Dutch Sam’s death was “occasioned by having his ribs broke in one of the elegant Pugilist Amusements.â€

Buckhorse Smith

1732-1746

BIRTH NAME: John Smith

Buckhorse Smith was another famous fighting man, whose ugliness was probably a result of some form of infantile encephalitis. Whatever the reason, his head was big and bulbous at the top and his face pinched and narrow. He was born, according to Eccentric Magazine, “in the house of a sinner†in the notorious Lewkner’s

Lane near Drury Lane, where rogues, thieves and ne’er-do-wells gathered to eke out their grimy, violent and precarious existences. Buckhorse learned to steal, and then to fight, with equal mastery and through his appearances at Figg’s Academy and then under Broughton, he became something of a cult celebrity. He ranked high for courage and strength among the boxers of his day and displayed great muscular powers in the battles he had contested. “As ugly as Buckhorse†became a cliché of the time. Buckhorse was never a champion, but apparently his strange looks belied his talents. He was sought after by ladies, who it was said regarded him as enthusiastic and energetic in the arts of love. He died in a ditch one wintry night, cuddling his last bottle of gin.

The earliest known autobiography of an English boxer, Memoirs of the Noted Buckhorse, is printed in London. He was never much of a boxer, and reportedly earned his living picking pockets and singing in the streets (it is said that he "sucked in the love of gin" from his first nurse). In 1767 Buckhorse was also the subject of an ode by Christopher Anstey; this too celebrated the man about town rather than the pugilist.

The 1745 rebellion brought the heads of fresh victims to the Bar, and this was the last triumph of barbarous justice. Colonel Francis Townley's was the sixth head. Townley was hanged on Kennington Common. Before the carts drove away, the men flung their prayer-books, written speeches, and gold-laced hats gaily to the crowd. As soon as they were dead the hangman cut down the bodies, disemboweled, beheaded, and quartered them, throwing the hearts into the fire. A monster—a fighting-man of the day, named Buckhorse—is said to have actually eaten a piece of Townley's flesh, to show his loyalty.