Heavyweight Boxer Jem Mace
The English Bareknuckle Fighter who Taught the World to Box
Jem Mace boxed in both the bareknuckle era and under Queensbury rules. He was the first world heavyweight champion and was still fighting at the age of fifty nine
The first world heavyweight champion.
Jem Mace was the first holder of a world boxing title. On 10th May 1870 at Kennerville Louisiana, he defeated the American champion, Tom Allen to become the heavyweight king.
Early days and the prize ring
Mace was born in Norfolk, England in 1831. Although he started work as a cabinet maker he was a natural fighter and soon made his mark in fairground booths. His first recognized fight was against Sydney Smith in 1849. The record shows that he won in two hours.
The English Title
Mace was not a big man. He stood a little under 5ft 10 inches and initially fought at around ten stone. However, his speed, agility and accuracy of hitting gave him victories over larger opponents. In September 1860 he fought Bob Brettle twice on consecutive days. The first match was drawn but Mace won the second fight in just over five hours, thus securing the English Middleweight title. He was now growing heavier and in June 1861 he beat Sam Hurst to become the English Heavyweight champion. He later lost the title to Tom King but regained it in 1866 by stopping Joe Goss in 21 rounds.
Taking the fight game abroad
By the 1860s prize-fighting in England was becoming corrupted by crooked hangers-on and public interest declined. Mace had run out of worthy opponents and travelled to New Zealand and Australia where he established boxing schools. He earned money by giving exhibition bouts and organizing competitions for young hopefuls. While in New Zealand he passed on his skills to the English born Bob Fitzimmons who would himself later become world heavyweight champion.Mace then went to America where, at the top of his form, he beat Tom Allen for the title in 1870.
Changing the rules
The London Prize Ring rules under which Mace entered the game, had been agreed in 1838. These required that the ring should be made on turf with stakes and ropes. Thirty seconds were allowed between rounds. If the bout was curtailed due to the intervention of Magistrates or the Police, the organisers were required to arrange for its resumption at another location, if possible on the same day. There was often great disparity between the weights of the fighters. (When Mace defeated Sam Hurst, his opponent is reckoned to have weighed almost eighteen stone.) A fight lasted until there was a clear winner or a draw was agreed and sometimes continued for several hours. When Mace beat Tom King, a sailor, the fight lasted for 42 rounds and both men suffered considerable injury. These bare fisted contests were mostly brutal affairs and with public interest declining and expressions of disgust coming from the Church, the time came for change.
The Queesbury Rules of 1867
The code devised by the Marquess of Queensbury modified the London rules in three important respects. Gloves were to be worn by the boxers and were required to be new and of the best quality available. The rounds were to be of three minutes duration with one minute time between each round and if one man should fall, through weakness or otherwise, he must get up unassisted within ten seconds. Failure would allow the referee to award the contest to the other man. Mace's career spanned the advent of these changes and those who saw him box in both eras described him as amazingly skillful and hard hitting. Some rated him as probably the ablest fighter to have stepped into a ring.
A modest and durable man
Mace kept himself fit throughout his life and avoided the fall into decadence and disrepute that ruined some of his contemporaries. At one stage he was employed as a tutor to the young Lord Lonsdale, himself a great patron of sport, and between times he became a publican. Astonishingly, he made a comeback in 1890 when he challenged the reigning English champion, Charlie Mitchell, for the crown that he had earlier held himself. Although Mace lost in three rounds, the fact that he was, at the age of 59, able to mount a credible challenge at all, says much for his durability. With the passing years, Mace faded into obscurity although he never lost his love of the "Noble Art". He died in Liverpool in1910 in his 80th year and an obituary in the London Times noted that "It is a pity that he was allowed to sink into poverty in his white old age. The best by far of England's champions at any weight, he should have been cherished as a living antique."SourcesThe London Times - 1st December 1910
Pugilistica - Period 1846 - 1863
Illustrated Sporting Life - 15th March 1862
