RETIRED FIGHTERS & FRIENDS

Greg Goodrich, Editor in Chief

 

Boxing First Fight Facts

 

 

 

1^st boxing gloves- Greek oxeis himantes (sharp thongs in 4^th century) 1^st hand wraps- Roman caestus (iron/lead, thistle wrap in1^st century)

 

1^st Olympic Boxing Champion- Onomastos (38^th Grecian Olympiad)

 

1^st Olympic Programme for ‘boy boxing’- 41^st games (in 616 BC)

 

1^st Colored fighters to fight to the death- African blacks ordered by Patrobius, to entertain the Armenian King Tiridates

 

1^st 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)

 

1^st 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)

 

1^st day established for Heavyweight boxing- Monday (in 1719)

 

1^st English Heavyweight Champion- James Figg (in 1719)

 

1^st Boxing Stadium- Figg’s Amphitheatre, London, England (in 1719)

 

1^st Heavyweight Champion of the 18^th century- James Figg (in 1719)

 

1^st Heavyweight Champion to retire (with title)- James Figg (in 1730)

 

1^st Heavyweight Champion to claim vacant title- Tom Pipes (in 1730)

 

1^st Heavyweight ring fatality- Jack Broughton vs. George Stevenson 

     (in 1741- his death led to Broughton’s Rules in 1743)

 

1^st Boxing poem- written by Paul Whitehead’s The Gymnasiad or Boxing Match in tribute of Jack Broughton vs. George Stevenson

 

1^st Fixed Heavyweight bout- Bill Stevens v. Jack Slack (in 1760)

 

1^st Heavyweight bout outdoors- Tom Juchau vs..Bill Darts (in 1766)

 

1^st Irish Heavyweight Champion- Peter Corcoran (in 1771)

 

1^st Heavyweight Champion to charge admission to see himself fight- Daniel Mendoza (in 1787)

 

1^st Heavyweight Champion to write a book- Daniel Mendoza (wrote the Art of Boxing in 1789 and his Memoirs in 1793)

 

1^st Latino English Heavyweight Champion- Dan Mendoza (in 1794)

 

1^st Black prizefighter to kill another boxer- Joe Lashley (in 1796)

 

1^st Heavyweight in the 19^th century- Jem Belcher (in 1800)

 

1^st Heavyweight Champion to be incarcerated- John Gully (in 1803)

 

1^st Heavyweight Champion to train for fights- Tom Cribb (in 1805)

 

1^st change to the Monday title fight category- Tuesday (in 1805)

 

1^st American to fight for English Heavyweight title- Tom Molineaux (in 1805)

 

1^st Heavyweight championship belt issued to Tom Cribb (in 1809)

 

1^st American Heavyweight Champion- Tom Molineaux (in 1810)

 

1^st Heavyweight Title (and international) bout between a white and black boxers-  Tom Cribb vs. Tom Molineaux (in 1810)

 

1^st American Heavyweight Championship fight- Tom Molineaux vs. Jack Burrows (in 1810)

 

1^st Boxing Club- The Pugilistic Society (founded in 1814)

 

1^st Heavyweight Champion to claim stripped title- Joe Coburn (in 1863 claimed John Heenan’s stripped American Heavyweight title)

 

1^st English Heavyweight lion-skin title belt-Tom Cribb (in 1822)

 

1^st Crooked Fight Promoter- John Turtell (in 1823)

 

1^st Minority to defeat an English boxing champion- Australian Young Kable (in 1824)

 

1^st English Heavyweight leopard-skin title belt- Jem Ward (in 1825)

 

1^st Boxing book published in America- The Complete Art of Boxing (published by William Sharples in Philadelphia in 1829)

 

1^st English Heavyweight Champion to fight in America- James Burke (fought in both New Orleans and New York in 1837)

 

1^st brother combination to win Heavyweight titles- Jem and Nick Ward (in 1825, 1840)

 

1^st boxing fight to utilize the railroad system- Charles Freeman vs. William Perry (in 1842)

 

1^st boxing fatality in America- Christopher Lilly vs. Thomas McCoy (a 77^th round knockout victory for

Lilly in 1842)

 

1^st English Heavyweight silver title belt-Tom Sayers (in 1860)

 

1^st American Heavyweight silver title belt- John Heenan (in 1860)

 

1^st World Heavyweight Championship (Bare Knuckle) bout- British champ Tom Sayers vs. American champ John Heenan (in 1860)

 

1^st Heavyweight Champion to advocate and endorse boxing gloves- Jem Mace (in 1864)  

 

1^st Amateur boxing tournament for Heavyweights, Middleweights, Welterweights and Lightweights- at Lillie Bridge, London (in 1867)

 

1^st Amateur boxing begins in England- (in 1867)

 

1^st Undisputed Heavyweight Champion- Jem Mace (in 1870)

 

1^st Queensbury Rule bout- British professional tournament (in 1872)

 

1^st Amateur program- Amateur Boxing Association (in 1880)

 

1^st Middleweight category other than Heavyweight- (in 1880)

 

1^st Heavyweight title bout fought on a river- John Sullivan vs. John Flood (on a moonlight barge on the Hudson River in 1881)

 

1^st Heavyweight title fight in a ball park- John Sullivan vs. Jimmy Elliot (July 4, 1882)

 

1^st fight held under Queensbury rules- Jack Kilrain vs. George Fuljames (in 1884)

 

1^st American Heavyweight gold belt- John Sullivan (in 1885)

 

1^st World Heavyweight Champion- John Sullivan (in 1885)

 

1^st American state to legalize boxing- Louisiana (in 1890)

 

1^st Queensbury Heavyweight title fight- James Corbett vs. John Sullivan (in 1892)

 

1^st Commonwealth Heavyweight Champion- Peter Jackson (in 1892)

 

1^st British Heavyweight Champion- Jem Smith (in 1895)

 

1^st Female Heavyweight Championess- Elizabeth Stokes (in 1895)

 

1^st Sheriff to referee Heavyweight title bout- Wyatt Earp (in 1896) at                                                 

     Tom Sharkey vs. Bob Fitzsimmons

 

1^st American Amateur boxing fight- ABA Championships (in 1902)

 

1^st International Olympic Games Heavyweight boxing- (in 1904)

 

1^st Heavyweight Champion of 20^th Century-Marvin Hart (in 1905)

 

1^st Official Olympic Boxing Games in England- (in 1908)

 

1^st Boxing Publication- British Boxing News (in 1909-present)

 

1^st British Heavyweight titles issued by Earl of Lonsdale (in 1909)

 

1^st Commonwealth (British Empire) Olympic boxing (in 1911)

 

1^st International Boycott of Olympic Boxing (by Sweden in 1912)

 

1^st Heavyweight title fight with two colored fighters- Jack Johnson

     vs. Jim Johnson (in 1913)- for 10 rounds (IBU stripped Johnson)

 

1^st Heavyweight fight filmed- Bob Fitzsimmons vs. Bob Sweeney (in 1914)

 

1^st Mouthpiece worn in a fight- Ted Lewis vs. Jack Britton (in 1915)

 

1^st Heavyweight title radio broadcast- Jack Dempsey vs. Jess Willard (in 1919)

 

1^st prominent boxing promoter- George ‘Tex’ Rickard (in 1920)

 

1^st $1,000,000 gate for a prize fight- Jack Dempsey vs. Georges Carpentier (in 1921)

 

1^st NYSAC Heavyweight Champion- Jack Dempsey (in 1922)

 

1^st $2,000,000 gate for a prize fight- Gene Tunney vs. Jack Dempsey (paid by 100,000

attendants in 1927)

 

1^st NBA Heavyweight Champion- Ezzard Charles (in 1949)

 

1^st Million Dollar purse- Sonny Liston vs. Floyd Patterson (in 1963)

 

1^st WBA Heavyweight Champion- Ernie Terrell (in 1965)

 

1^st WBC Heavyweight Champion- Joe Frazier (in 1970)

 

1^st Heavyweight Championship fight televised on HBO- George Foreman vs. Joe Frazier (in 1973)

 

1^st World Amateur Boxing Championship- (in 1974)

 

1^st Woman to judge a Heavyweight title fight- Eva Shain at Muhammad Ali vs. Ernie Shavers  (in 1977)

 

1^st IBF Heavyweight Champion- Larry Holmes (in 1983)

 

1^st Amateur women’s championship sanctioned by the Swedish Amateur Boxing Association (SABA)

as event only (in 1988)

 

1^st WBO Heavyweight Champion- Francesco Damiani (in 1989)

 

1^st English Amateur women’s bout sanctioned by the British Amateur Boxing Association (BABA) for event only (in 1997)

 

1^st Heavyweight Champion of the 21^st century- Chris Byrd (in 2000)

 

1^st Latino (American) Heavyweight Champion- John Ruiz (in 2001)

 

1^st Amateur Women’s World Championship sanctioned by the Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) for title (in 2001)  

 

1^st International Olympic Women’s Boxing Games- TBA (in 2012)