In the nineteenth round, during which the half-hour from the beginning was up, Cribb, who for some time past had been “milling on the retreat,” tried to land a desperate blow at the moment when Molineux had him up against the ropes. These were in three rows, the top one being five feet from the ground. The black dodged the blow, and, seizing the top rope on either side of Cribb with his two hands, pressed upon the champion with all his might. Cribb could neither hit, nor fall. The seconds on either side argued the propriety of separating the men: but the umpires decided that no such interference was allowable. One of the combatants must fall before a second touched either. At that moment about two hundred of the onlookers, infuriated at the black man’s behaviour, rushed the outer ropes and pressed upon the ring-side. Several men snatched at Molineux’s fingers, which still clung to the top rope, and tried to dislodge them. Some say that one or more of the black’s fingers were broken, others that they were at least injured. But all the time Molineux was resting and getting his wind, his head down on Cribb’s chest, his weight thrown forward upon his body. At last, what with his own efforts and the people plucking at his opponent’s hands, Cribb got free and retreated towards the nearest corner. A less courageous man would have contrived to slip down. As it was, Molineux caught him, and, avoiding a hard left with which Cribb lunged at his body, seized the champion’s head under his arm and proceeded to punish him with short, jolting blows, from which presently Cribb fell exhausted to the ground. He brought Cribb down again the next round as well. The twenty-second round, Egan tells us, was “of no importance,” and he leaves it at that, whilst we sadly reflect how many rounds of nowadays, tediously described in detail, deserve the same fate. It was at the end of the next round that Molineux should have won, though Pierce Egan entirely omits the incident from his full account, merely observing, in another volume of _Boxiana_ (where he makes a note upon the negro’s death in Ireland):-- [Illustration: THE BOXING MATCH BETWEEN RICHARD HUMPHREYS AND DANIEL MENDOZA ON THE 9TH OF JANUARY, 1788. “It was decided on an oak stage of twenty-four feet square. On the combatant mounting the stage, the odds were two to one on Humphreys. In the first round Mendoza obtained the advantage, and kept it for near twenty minutes. Humphreys then got the lead, and retained it about eight minutes; when, after a well contested fight, it terminated in his favour. The print represents Johnson as second to Humphreys, and Ryan to Mendoza. Of the figures surrounding the stage sixteen are portraits of amateurs.”] “His first contest with _Cribb_ will long be remembered by the Sporting World. It will also not be forgotten, if Justice holds the scales, that his _colour_ alone prevented him from becoming the hero of that fight.”