Pugilistica: The History of British Boxing, Volume 1 (of 3): Containing Lives of the Most Celebrated Pugilists; Full Reports of Their Battles from Contemporary Newspapers, With Authentic Portraits, Personal Anecdotes, and Sketches of the Principal Patrons of the Prize Ring, Forming a Complete History of the Ring from Fig and Broughton, 1719-40, to the Last Championship Battle Between King and Heenan, in December 1863Miles, Henry Downes
History
Pugilistica: The History of British Boxing, Volume 1 (of 3): Containing Lives of the Most Celebrated Pugilists; Full Reports of Their Battles from Contemporary Newspapers, With Authentic Portraits, Personal Anecdotes, and Sketches of the Principal Patrons of the Prize Ring, Forming a Complete History of the Ring from Fig and Broughton, 1719-40, to the Last Championship Battle Between King and Heenan, in December 1863
Miles, Henry Downes
Boxing
And, like a captain who beleaguers round
Some strong-built castle on a rising ground,
Views all the approaches with observing eyes;
This and that other part in vain he tries,
And more on industry than force relies.
With hands on high Entellus threats the foe;
But Dares watched the motion from below,
And slipped a-side, and shunned the long-descending blow.
Entellus wastes his forces on the wind,
And, thus deluded of the stroke designed,
Headlong and heavy fell, his ample breast
And weighty limbs his ancient mother pressed.
So falls a hollow pine that long had stood
On Ida’s height or Erymanthus’ wood,
Torn from the roots. The differing nations rise,
And shouts, with mingled murmurs, rend the skies.
Acestes runs with eager haste to raise
The fallen companion of his youthful days.
Dauntless he rose, and to the fight returned;
With shame his glowing cheeks, his eyes with fury burned
Disdain and conscious virtue filled his breast,
And with redoubled force his foe he pressed.
He lays on load with either hand amain
And headlong drives the Trojan o’er the plain;
Nor stops nor stays nor rests nor breath allows
But storms of strokes descend about his brows,
A rattling tempest and a hail of blows.”
At this point of the combat—when, after what ought to have closed round
1, by the fall of old Entellus, the latter jumps up and renews the
fight, driving Dares in confusion before him—we find that the referee
and stakeholder had a judicial discretionary power to stop the fight,
the more necessary on account of the deadly gloves in use. Some such
power, in cases of closing and attempts at garotting (such as occurred
at Farnham and at Wadhurst in 1860 and 1863, and numerous minor
battles), should be vested in the referee; but then where is the man who
in modern times would be efficiently supported or obeyed in this
judicial exercise of authority?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account