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
to avoid being hit, is deemed the triumph of the art of boxing.
Randall was distinguished for this peculiar trait in all his
battles, Spring adopted the same mode, and by so doing he did not
disgrace his character as a boxer: on the contrary, he showed
himself a safe man to back, and reduced success to a certainty.
Spring called on Neat after the battle, whom he found in bed, and
his arm put to rights by a surgeon. The latter said, “I am not
beaten, but I lost the battle by the accident.” Spring generously
made Neat a present of ten pounds. Spring arrived in town on
Wednesday night, but he did not sport the colours of his adversary
until after he had quitted the town of Andover, and received the
shouts and smiles attendant on victory from the populace in all the
towns through which he passed. He had a slight black mark on his
eye, and his arm in a sling, one of the bones of his right hand
having received an injury.
The abrupt conclusion of the battle produced sensations among the
backers of Neat not easily described, and such coarse expressions were
uttered by the disappointed ones as we cannot give place to in print.
The Bristolians were outrageous in the extreme; a few of them positively
acted like madmen; others were dejected and chapfallen. Neat was thought
to be invulnerable by his countrymen, and also by the majority of
sporting people throughout the kingdom. A few silly persons, in their
paroxysm of rage and disappointment, pronounced the above event a cross.
We feel anxious for the honour of the ring, and no exertions on our part
shall be wanting to preserve it. Tom Belcher and Neat both courted
inquiry on the subject. It was the expressed opinion of a spectator of
the fight, that “if Neat had possessed four arms instead of two, he
never could have conquered Spring.”
It is utterly impossible to describe the anxiety which prevailed in the
metropolis to learn the event of the battle on Tuesday evening, May 20,
1823. Belcher’s house was like a fair; Randall’s crowded to suffocation;
Holt’s not room for a pin; Harmer’s overflowing; Shelton’s like a mob;
Eales’ overstocked; and Tom Cribb’s crammed with visitors. Both ends of
the town, East and West, were equally alive, and profited by the event.
Hampshire had not had such a turn since the day when Humphries and
Mendoza fought at Odiham. Thus was good derived by thousands of persons
not in any way connected with the event. Several wagers were won in
London after eight o’clock at night on Spring—so high did Neat stand in
public opinion.
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