James "Jem" Mace was an English boxing champion, primarily during the bare-knuckle era. He was born at Beeston, Norfolk. Although nicknamed "The Gypsy", he denied Romani ethnicity in his autobiography. Fighting in England, at the height of his career between 1860 and 1866, he won the English Welterweight, Heavyweight, and Middleweight Championships and was considered one of the most scientific boxers of the era. Most impressively, he held the World Heavyweight Championship from 1870 to 1871 while fighting in the United States.
John Jackson was a celebrated English pugilist of the late 18th century. He is sometimes described in 20th and 21st century sources as having been the bare-knuckle boxing champion of England in 1795, after defeating Daniel Mendoza. However, sources from the 1790s and subsequent decades never describe either Jackson or Mendoza as having been champions of England.
The London Prize Ring Rules were a list of boxing rules promulgated in 1838 and revised in 1853. These rules were based on those drafted by England's Jack Broughton in 1743 and governed the conduct of prizefighting/ bare-knuckle boxing for over 100 years. They "introduced measures that remain in effect for professional boxing to this day, such as outlawing butting, gouging, scratching, kicking, hitting a man while down, holding the ropes, and using resin, stones or hard objects in the hands, and biting." They were later superseded by the Marquess of Queensberry Rules, which were the origin of the modern sport of boxing.
John "Jack" Broughton was an English bare-knuckle boxer. He was the first person to codify a set of boxing rules; prior to this the "rules" that existed were very loosely defined and tended to vary from contest to contest. His seven rules were widely used in boxing for nearly a century, until they were replaced by the London Prize Ring rules in 1838. Pierce Egan characterised Broughton as the "Father of the English School of Boxing".
Nat Langham was an English middleweight bare-knuckle prize fighter. He had the distinction of being the only person ever to beat Thomas Sayers while defending the English middleweight championship. Langham first took the championship by defeating George Gutteridge on 23 November 1846. Langham was considered a scientific boxer, and known for using sharp, well-timed blows, particularly with his left, though he was right handed. He was a 1992 inductee into the International Boxing Hall of Fame and a mentor to the British boxers Tom King and Jem Mace.
Simon Byrne, nicknamed "The Emerald Gem", was an Irish bare-knuckle prize fighter. The heavyweight boxing champion of Ireland, he was drawn to England by the larger sums of prize money on offer and his hopes of becoming the heavyweight champion there as well. He became one of only six fighters ever to have been involved in fatal fights as both survivor and deceased since records began in 1741.
Tom King also known as "The Fighting Sailor" was an English boxer who fought both bare-knuckle and with gloves. Strong, fast, and durable he was a skilled pugilist. One of his quirkier pre-fight rituals was to drink a tot of gin before every bout. He retired from the ring in 1863, as the Heavyweight Champion of England, following his defeat of the reigning champion Jem Mace and American contender John C. Heenan.
Jem Ward was an English bare-knuckle boxer. "A fine fighter and powerfully built man", he was the English champion from 1825 until 1831. He became known for being one of the first boxers to be sanctioned for deliberately losing a fight. During his fighting career he was nicknamed "The Black Diamond". In his retirement he became a successful artist.
Nicholas Ward was an English bare-knuckle fighter. Nick Ward was the heavyweight champion of England for four months in 1841. His first recorded fight was in 1835 against Harry John Lockyer. In 1840 he fought his brother Jem Ward's old enemy James Burke; Burke was a feared and dangerous fighter, who had killed one opponent, the champion Simon Byrne. Following the match Jem Ward had refused to fight Burke, would not hand over the championship belt or acknowledge Burke as the heavyweight champion, even after he was acquitted of murder. Nick Ward won the bout against Burke when his gang of supporters forced the referee to disqualify Burke for an alleged foul. This winning pattern was repeated when in February 1841 Ward became heavyweight champion. He beat Ben Caunt, the reigning champion, when Caunt was disqualified, after the referee succumbed to pressure from the crowd claiming Caunt hit Ward while he was down. In May of the same year Caunt legitimately beat Ward and regained his title. At this time boxing was governed by the less than arduous London Prize Ring rules. The more strict and fair Queensbury rules were not implemented until much later in the century.
Tom Spring was an English bare-knuckle fighter. He was champion of England from 1822 until his retirement in 1824. After his retirement he became landlord of the Castle Inn at Holborn in London, where he arranged the patronage and contracts of many of the major boxing events of the period while overseeing fair play in the ring.
Joseph Goss (1837-1885) was an English bare knuckle boxer. He emigranted to the United States of America in 1867. After defeating Tom Allen in Boone County, Kentucky, he held the American and what many boxing historians now consider the World Heavyweight boxing championship from 7 September 1876 to 30 May 1880. Although he rarely scaled more than 160 pounds, the clever and aggressive Goss routinely fought men both bigger and heavier than himself.
Joe Coburn was an Irish-American boxer. In 1862 he claimed the Heavyweight Championship from John Carmel Heenan when Heenan refused to fight him.
Young Barney Aaron was a bare-knuckle boxer.
Tom Allen was a British bare-knuckle boxer who claimed the Heavyweight Championship from 1873, when he defeated Mike McCoole, until 1876, when he lost to Joe Goss. For much of his earlier career he fought just above the middleweight range, around 165-75, making him smaller than most of the heavyweights he met, he became an American citizen later in life.
Paddington Jones was a British bare-knuckle boxer from 1785 to 1805 who also worked extensively as a second.
Isaac Haim Bitton, sometimes Bittoon, was a Dutch Jewish bare-knuckle boxer who is most notable for a fight with George Maddox that lasted 74 rounds.
James Belcher, also known as Jem Belcher, was an English bare-knuckle prize-fighter and Champion of All England 1800–1805.
Josh Burns is an American professional bare-knuckle boxer and former mixed martial artist. Since 2022, he has competed for BYB Extreme. Burns currently competes for Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC).
The Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) is an American bare-knuckle boxing promotion based in Philadelphia. The promotion was founded in April 2018, and is presided over by David Feldman, Bobby Gun, and Danny Provenzano.
Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship United Kingdom (BKFC UK) is the British branch of the American bare-knuckle boxing promotion Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC). In September 2022, it was announced that Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship had formed Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship UK (BKFC UK) by acquiring the UK-based Bare Fist Boxing Association (BFBA). As of August 2024, BKFC UK has held 8 events, all of which have taken place in England.
