Pugilistica: The History of British Boxing, Volume 3 (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 3 (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
[20] Not to complicate this confusion of “claimants” for the
belt, we may here state that while Caunt, Bendigo, the
Deaf’un, and the Tipton were playing duettos, trios, and
quartettes, as leading performers in the discordant overture
to the farce of “Who’s the Champion?” there was no lack of
accompanying instrumentalists, each blowing his own trumpet
of defiance, and thumping the big drum of “benefit” bounce.
At the end of 1845, Caunt introduced a new candidate in the
person of a formidable black, standing a trifle over six
feet, and weighing hard upon 13st., who, rather curiously,
dubbed himself William Perry! This mysterious “darkey”
displayed such remarkable talent with the gloves, and was,
in many respects, a man of such superior address and
conversation, that he might well have been expected to turn
out more than a second Molyneux. As, however, the proof of
all pudding, whether black or white, is in the eating, an
opponent was sought for the American importation. Bill
Burton, of Leicester, a much smaller man, standing five feet
nine, and weighing 11st. 10lb., was selected. Burton’s
credentials were good; he had defeated Angelo, of Windsor,
in May, 1845――a game contest of seventy-four rounds――and had
been previously victor in many unrecorded affairs. The
meeting took place on the 20th January, 1846. The Black more
than justified the anticipations of his backers. He defeated
Burton with the greatest ease in fifteen rounds, the
Leicester man’s friends humanely throwing up the sponge at
the end of twenty-four minutes of a hopeless, one-sided
contest. This was the first and last appearance of the
so-called William Perry in the English P.R. He proved to be
connected with a gang of forgers of American bank-notes, and
having been previously imprisoned more than once, he was now
transported to the Antipodes, being provided with passage to
Australia at Government expense, where, it would appear, he
became a ticket-of-leave man, as he is recorded as having
defeated Hough, the “Champion of Australia,” at Cumming’s
Point, Sydney, in December, 1849. In the last-named year
(1849) another “big ’un” came out, but quietly went in
again. This was Con (Cornelius) Parker, standing six feet,
and weighing 12st. 10lb.; his first victory was over Jem
Bailey (Irish), in the Essex Marshes, February 13th, 1849.
He then received forfeit from the Tipton in the same year;
but, on November 26th, also in 1849, he had his
“championship” pretensions ignominiously snuffed out at
Frimley, in Surrey, by Tass Parker, who somewhat retrieved
the disgrace of his double defeat by the Tipton, by
triumphantly thrashing Mister Con, who ended the battle by a
“foul.” Con then emigrated to America, where he died rather
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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