BOXING FIRSTS
Posted on | August 14, 2007 | 3 Comments
Boxing first fight facts
by Greg Goodrich, boxing press editor in chief
BOXING PRESS EXCLUSIVE: ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED DECEMBER 2004
1st boxing gloves- Greek oxeis himantes (sharp thongs in 4th century) 1st hand wraps- Roman caestus (iron/lead, thistle wrap in1st century)
1st Olympic Boxing Champion- Onomastos (38th Grecian Olympiad)
1st Olympic Programme for ‘boy boxing’- 41st games (in 616 BC)
1st Colored fighters to fight to the death- African blacks ordered by Patrobius, to entertain the Armenian King Tiridates
1st Official ban on professional boxing- by the English Parliament in response to the Duke of Cumberland’s lost wager on Jack Broughton when he was defeated by Jack Slack, who in turn was also defeated by Bill Stevens, thus the Duke lost two major wagers (1750-1789)
1st change from pugilism (bare knuckle fighting) to boxing (gloved prized fighting) to differentiate between brawling to settle personal disputes and for winning a purse- (in 1719)
1st day established for Heavyweight boxing- Monday (in 1719)
1st English Heavyweight Champion- James Figg (in 1719)
1st Boxing Stadium- Figg’s Amphitheatre, London, England (in 1719)
1st Heavyweight Champion of the 18th century- James Figg (in 1719)
1st Heavyweight Champion to retire (with title)- James Figg (in 1730)
1st Heavyweight Champion to claim vacant title- Tom Pipes (in 1730)
1st Heavyweight ring fatality- Jack Broughton vs. George Stevenson (in 1741- his death led to Broughton’s Rules in 1743)
1st Boxing poem- written by Paul Whitehead’s The Gymnasiad or Boxing Match in tribute of Jack Broughton vs. George Stevenson
1st Fixed Heavyweight bout- Bill Stevens v. Jack Slack (in 1760)
1st Heavyweight bout outdoors- Tom Juchau vs..Bill Darts (in 1766)
1st Irish Heavyweight Champion- Peter Corcoran (in 1771)
1st Heavyweight Champion to charge admission to see himself fight- Daniel Mendoza (in 1787)
1st Heavyweight Champion to write a book- Daniel Mendoza (wrote the Art of Boxing in 1789 and his Memoirs in 1793)
1st Latino English Heavyweight Champion- Dan Mendoza (in 1794)
1st Black prizefighter to kill another boxer- Joe Lashley (in 1796)
1st Heavyweight in the 19th century- Jem Belcher (in 1800)
1st Heavyweight Champion to be incarcerated- John Gully (in 1803)
1st Heavyweight Champion to train for fights- Tom Cribb (in 1805)
1st change to the Monday title fight category- Tuesday (in 1805)
1st American to fight for English Heavyweight title- Tom Molineaux (in 1805)
1st Heavyweight championship belt issued to Tom Cribb (in 1809)
1st American Heavyweight Champion- Tom Molineaux (in 1810)
1st Heavyweight Title (and international) bout between a white and black boxers- Tom Cribb vs. Tom Molineaux (in 1810)
1st American Heavyweight Championship fight- Tom Molineaux vs. Jack Burrows (in 1810)
1st Boxing Club- The Pugilistic Society (founded in 1814)
1st Heavyweight Champion to claim stripped title- Joe Coburn (in 1863 claimed John Heenan’s stripped American Heavyweight title)
1st English Heavyweight lion-skin title belt-Tom Cribb (in 1822)
1st Crooked Fight Promoter- John Turtell (in 1823)
1st Minority to defeat an English boxing champion- Australian Young Kable (in 1824)
1st English Heavyweight leopard-skin title belt- Jem Ward (in 1825)
1st Boxing book published in America- The Complete Art of Boxing (published by William Sharples in Philadelphia in 1829)
1st English Heavyweight Champion to fight in America- James Burke (fought in both New Orleans and New York in 1837)
1st brother combination to win Heavyweight titles- Jem and Nick Ward (in 1825, 1840)
1st boxing fight to utilize the railroad system- Charles Freeman vs. William Perry (in 1842)
1st boxing fatality in America- Christopher Lilly vs. Thomas McCoy (a 77th round knockout victory for Lilly in 1842)
1st English Heavyweight silver title belt-Tom Sayers (in 1860)
1st American Heavyweight silver title belt- John Heenan (in 1860)
1st World Heavyweight Championship (Bare Knuckle) bout- British champ Tom Sayers vs. American champ John Heenan (in 1860)
1st Heavyweight Champion to advocate and endorse boxing gloves- Jem Mace (in 1864)
1st Amateur boxing tournament for Heavyweights, Middleweights, Welterweights and Lightweights- at Lillie Bridge, London (in 1867)
1st Amateur boxing begins in England- (in 1867)
1st Undisputed Heavyweight Champion- Jem Mace (in 1870)
1st Queensbury Rule bout- British professional tournament (in 1872)
1st Amateur program- Amateur Boxing Association (in 1880)
1st Middleweight category other than Heavyweight- (in 1880)
1st Heavyweight title bout fought on a river- John Sullivan vs. John Flood (on a moonlight barge on the Hudson River in 1881)
1st Heavyweight title fight in a ball park- John Sullivan vs. Jimmy Elliot (July 4, 1882)
1st fight held under Queensbury rules- Jack Kilrain vs. George Fuljames (in 1884)
1st American Heavyweight gold belt- John Sullivan (in 1885)
1st World Heavyweight Champion- John Sullivan (in 1885)
1st American state to legalize boxing- Louisiana (in 1890)
1st Queensbury Heavyweight title fight- James Corbett vs. John Sullivan (in 1892)
1st Commonwealth Heavyweight Champion- Peter Jackson (in 1892)
1st British Heavyweight Champion- Jem Smith (in 1895)
1st Female Heavyweight Championess- Elizabeth Stokes (in 1895)
1st Sheriff to referee Heavyweight title bout- Wyatt Earp (in 1896) at Tom Sharkey vs. Bob Fitzsimmons title fight
1st American Amateur boxing fight- ABA Championships (in 1902)
1st International Olympic Games Heavyweight boxing- (in 1904)
1st Heavyweight Champion of 20th Century-Marvin Hart (in 1905)
1st Official Olympic Boxing Games in England- (in 1908)
1st Boxing Publication- British Boxing News (in 1909-present)
1st British Heavyweight titles issued by Earl of Lonsdale (in 1909)
1st Commonwealth (British Empire) Olympic boxing (in 1911)
1st International Boycott of Olympic Boxing (by Sweden in 1912)
1st Heavyweight title fight with two colored fighters- Jack Johnson vs. Jim Johnson (in 1913)- for 10 rounds (IBU stripped Johnson)
1st Heavyweight fight filmed- Bob Fitzsimmons vs. Bob Sweeney (in 1914)
1st Mouthpiece worn in a fight- Ted Lewis vs. Jack Britton (in 1915)
1st Heavyweight title radio broadcast- Jack Dempsey vs. Jess Willard (in 1919)
1st prominent boxing promoter- George ‘Tex’ Rickard (in 1920)
1st $1,000,000 gate for a prize fight- Jack Dempsey vs. Georges Carpentier (in 1921)
1st NYSAC Heavyweight Champion- Jack Dempsey (in 1922)
1st $2,000,000 gate for a prize fight- Gene Tunney vs. Jack Dempsey (paid by 100,000 attendants in 1927)
1st NBA Heavyweight Champion- Ezzard Charles (in 1949)
1st Million Dollar purse- Sonny Liston vs. Floyd Patterson (in 1963)
1st WBA Heavyweight Champion- Ernie Terrell (in 1965)
1st WBC Heavyweight Champion- Joe Frazier (in 1970)
1st Heavyweight Championship fight televised on HBO- George Foreman vs. Joe Frazier (in 1973)
1st World Amateur Boxing Championship- (in 1974)
1st Woman to judge a Heavyweight title fight- Eva Shain at Muhammad Ali vs. Ernie Shavers (in 1977)
1st IBF Heavyweight Champion- Larry Holmes (in 1983)
1st Amateur women’s championship sanctioned by the Swedish Amateur Boxing Association (SABA) as event only (in 1988)
1st WBO Heavyweight Champion- Francesco Damiani (in 1989)
1st English Amateur women’s bout sanctioned by the British Amateur Boxing Association (BABA) for event only (in 1997)
1st Heavyweight Champion of the 21st century- Chris Byrd (in 2000)
1st Latino (American) Heavyweight Champion- John Ruiz (in 2001)
1st Amateur Women’s World Championship sanctioned by the Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) for title (in 2001)
1st International Olympic Women’s Boxing Games- TBA (in 2012)
Note of Disclaimer: this written material may be disseminated, published, syndicated or otherwise reproduced, without prior expressed, written consent, provided that its origint al source, intellectual property and authorship are attributed to Boxing Press Editor in Chief Greg Goodrich. Copy righted. 2007. All rights reserved. All statistics and records have been verified by due diligence searches via microfiche newspapers, verification from the Ring Record Book; and data obtained from websites bkbworld.com, boxrec.com and cyberboxzingzone.com. If any name is missing and/or any data is incorrect, please contact the author so that a correction can be made.
Republished: August 13, 2007