Pugilistica: The History of British Boxing, Volume 2 (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, 1719-1740, to the Last Championship Battle Between King and Heenan, in December 1863Miles, Henry Downes
History
Pugilistica: The History of British Boxing, Volume 2 (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, 1719-1740, to the Last Championship Battle Between King and Heenan, in December 1863
Miles, Henry Downes
Boxing
24.—Carter was now “himself again:” his wind had returned, and he
resumed the contest in the most decisive style. Oliver, like a lion,
rushed forward in the most gallant manner. The hitting, in a rally,
was terrible; both the combatants seemed totally to disregard
punishment. The fine game of Oliver was opposed by the bottom of
Carter, and this essential quality toward victory in pugilists, so
much doubted to be possessed in the latter, was now found not to be
wanting in the Lancashire hero. Oliver’s head was disfigured, and
Carter’s nob was a little altered from its originality. It was the
most desperate round in the fight; the closing of it at the ropes
was to the disadvantage of Oliver, and his friends were now
satisfied he could not win.
25.—It was astonishing to witness the courage of Oliver; he appeared
determined to conquer or perish in the attempt. One eye was
completely in the dark, and the other was rapidly closing. His
strength was also fast leaving him; nevertheless, he contested this
round in the most manly manner. He was ultimately thrown, and Carter
fell heavily upon him. (Ten to one upon Carter.)
26 to 32 and last.—The die was cast, and the brave Oliver, like
heroes of old, could not control his fate. Nature had been pushed to
the farthest extremity that the human frame could bear. Defeat
seemed to operate so much upon his mind that he fought till his
pulse was scarcely found to vibrate; and in the last six rounds,
during which he had not the least shadow of a chance, he persevered
till all recollection of the scene in which he had been so actively
engaged had totally left him. In the thirty-second round he was
taken out of the ring in a state of stupor, and completely deprived
of vision. The swelled appearance of his head beggared all
description; his body and back were shockingly lacerated all over
from his struggling so much upon the ropes; and, in point of fact,
much as fighting men may have suffered in former battles, the
situation to which Oliver was reduced, it appears, exceeded them
all. The battle lasted forty-six minutes. He was taken and put to
bed at Longtown, four miles from the ring, and in consequence of the
vast quantity of blood he had lost in the contest, added to his
exhausted state, the surgeons who were called in to attend upon him
deemed it dangerous that he should be bled.
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