Bare Fists: The History of Bare-Knuckle Prize-Fighting - Hardcover

Mee, Bob

3.87

30 ratings by Goodreads

9781585671410: Bare Fists: The History of Bare-Knuckle Prize-Fighting

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 158567141X ISBN 13: 9781585671410

Publisher: Overlook Pr, 2001

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Provides an illustrated history of bare-knuckle prize-fighting, from its origins, to its heydey in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, to the development of the Marquess of Queensbury Rules that saw the end of the sport, and profiles some of its great champions and fans. 10,000 first printing.

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Review:

“...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

From the Back Cover:

'There is plenty of blood. It will be pouring from a fighter's ears and probably from his groin where he has been bitten by his opponent. He will have soaked his hands in vinegar but his fists will end ip shredded to ribbons... There are no official rounds; instead, the loser is the one who's injuries are so bad he can no longer stand up...'

The critically acclaimed 'Bare Fists' is an in-depth look at the astonishing world of bare-knuckle prize-fighting, which flourished in the 18th and 19th Centuries. It's a strange sub-culture, which has continued almost unnoticed in the shadow the high-profile, structured world of professional gloved boxing.

In its heyday the Prize Ring was a weird, unique and significant sporting activity which, as gloved boxing does now, produced some extraordinary characters whose contests where big enough to empty Parliament for a day and draw huge crowds to barren pieces of land in the middle of the countryside. On one occasion unsuspecting villagers were so alarmed by the arrival of 'The Fancy' for a championship fight they thought the French had invaded!

Jem Belcher, Henry Pearce, John Gully and Tom Cribb, the celebrated quartet of pugilists who dominated the great era between the turn of the 19th century and the Battle of Waterloo were among the most popular sportsmen England has ever produced. For example, when Belcher defended the championship in 1800 and estimated 20,000 guineas was laid in bets.

'Bare Fists' chronicles the championship of England, blending historical anecdote, biographical detail and social analysis, and the result is a powerful rediscovery of a strange, forgotten world.

The later part of the book deals with the degeneration of the sport as the Victorian moral code shifted popular thinking and forced boxing to adapt in order to survive as a major sport. It also looks at the emergence of the sport in the United States, and it popularisation under the legendary John L. Sullivan in the 1880s.

'Bare Fists' also examines the change in bare-knuckle fighting's image and the arrival of 'underground' fighters like the late Lenny McLean and Roy Shaw in the 1970s, the phenomenon of Ultimate Fighting, as well of the effect of Brad Pitt's film 'Fight Club' which lent it a fashionable tag as the century closed.

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