It was a battle that intrigued the dual geniuses of Mark Twain and Charles Dickens. Its illegality forced it to move to different parts of the country to avoid detection, and whispers of mention were heard in bars, backyards, drawing rooms, and shipyards. It was supposed to be a grueling, unrelenting bare-knuckle match on a muddy field in Hampshire, in front of a thousand-plus spectators who had only known what happened in the vineyard, and the three-man race to Waterloo before dawn. I had to leave by train from the station. Guinea ticket stamped “To Nowhere”.
That was the year before the Civil War divided the country. James Buchanan is the 15th President of the United States. Queen Victoria is in her 23rd year on the throne. It took almost half a century for Cy Young, Babe Ruth, and Ty Cobb to solidify their status as national heroes of American sports, and the man credited with inventing basketball hadn't even been born yet. It took decades for Jack Dempsey and Johnson to become ideals of beauty. of boxing.
For many, the position was instead taken by John Carmel Heenan. This month marks the 161st anniversary of the Benicia Boys' participation in the first-ever world title international boxing match.
Heenan was born between 1833 and 1835 in West Troy, New York, the son of Irish immigrants. A fighter with great strength and amazing punching power, he reportedly earned a reputation as a resilient but rough-and-tumble man while doing hard labor as a blacksmith at Watervliet Arsenal, and then – during the Gold Rush – in the West. After moving to – Pacific Mail Steamship Company. He began his bare-knuckle boxing career in California. There, the round ends only if a fighter goes down. Heenan was also a notorious enforcer in San Francisco's Benicia neighborhood, which gave him his nickname.
His fame grew to the point that barbershops were flooded with requests to do his hair. The newborn boy was given his name. He was also the subject of cheeky speculation by the press. In Cincinnati, Ohio, the boxer met and fell in love with stage actress Ada Isaacs Mencken, and the two were married in April 1859. Her scandal and newspaper headlines were abuzz when it was revealed that Mencken had not yet divorced her first husband. “The Incubus and the Disgrace”. The new Mrs Heenan said she was now “proud and happy to be known as the wife of the bravest man in the world”.
She later became involved with a man who walked a tightrope 1,100 feet across the Niagara Gorge.
(From left to right) British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston, writers Charles Dickens and William Thackeray
Eventually, Heenan's trainer Jim Cusick suggested that Heenan's fighter try his luck in the Atlantic and face the British champion. A handwritten note from across the pond said, “Challenge accepted.”
The best the United States had to offer was the strength of a boxer that his British compatriots believed to be unparalleled – Heenan's opponent was the famous novelist William Makepeace Thackeray, and on that day he He himself was planning to attend. God-like Trojan horse.
Tom Sayers was a Brighton-born bricklayer who won all but one of his 16 fights (12 official prize fights) against much stronger and much larger men. Since 1857 he held the English heavyweight title.
at that time, manchester guardian newspaper He said: “No punitive match ever decided has generated greater interest, both in our country and in other countries, than the upcoming clash between Sayers and Heenan.”
Sayers was 34 years old and Heenan was about 25. Sayers was 5 feet 8 inches tall and 149 pounds, while Heenan was much taller and weighed 6 feet 2 inches and 195 pounds.
On April 17, 1860, the long-awaited battle began at 7:29 a.m. behind the Ship Inn in Aldershot.
He boarded a secret pre-dawn train from Waterloo, reportedly awaiting publication of the first serialization of his work, with Thackeray and Charles Dickens by his side. great heritage – British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston and Prince of Wales – was the future King Edward VII. From among the 1,000 people gathered at Farnborough, they witnessed Heenan and Sayers fighting for two hours and 27 minutes, each bruised and bleeding.
Sayers was injured in the sixth round and Heenan was injured in the seventh.
The police had arrived by the 30th.
However, the audience did not take kindly to the authorities' attempts to end the proceedings, and soon fists were flying both inside and outside the ring, with both police and members of the public being beaten.
By the 30th round, the police arrive and chaos ensues.
The Heenan vs. Sayers match was fortunately finally declared a draw in the 37th round, but each side remained firmly convinced that their team had won. A few weeks later, although no agreement was reached, each fighter was awarded a championship belt.
But the impact was far greater. The circumstances and method of the battle caused considerable debate in Parliament, with Lord Palmerston in particular condemning it.
Nevertheless, Heenan returned to the United States a hero, reenacting the battle for the paying public, meeting Abraham Lincoln, and even playing Hamlet on stage (fighting Laertes, of course). It was a somewhat unconventional approach.)
Significantly, as a direct result of this barbarous game, by 1865 the “Dozen Rules” (now better known as the Queensberry Rules) had been created by the London Amateur Athletic Club and passed by Parliament. The approval was swift. This regulation, which includes the use of gloves and a 10-second count on knockdowns, still governs the sport.
That very same year, Tom Sayers died from a diabetes-related illness. He was visited at his home in Camden Town before his death. John C. Heenan returned to England and wanted to pay homage to his former adversary of five years.
Mark Twain would later mention both fighters in this iconic match in his 1889 novel. Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's CourtFolk songs, on the other hand, pay tribute to the men who, by representing their nation and entertaining a thousand people behind the Ships Inn, inadvertently helped change the history of boxing.
“They were never the better two, and there was no one better.
They are both brave heroes of honor and fame,
Tom Sayers was good at juggling cannon bolts, but
But when Heenan was done for the day, he played with lightning. โ
References: The Guardian, Heenan Footsteps, Slate