Before Muhammad Ali,"The Greatest of All Time", there was another famous African American boxer . In 1805, he was the first black to become a prominent boxer in England. He was also the first black to pursue boxing as a career and the first American boxer to become highly successful at it.
Born a slave in Cuckhold, Staten Island, NY, this boxer became one of boxing's most accomplished and respected fighters of the late-18th and early 19th centuries. While in his early teens, he came to the attention of British general Earl Percy, who was then the commanding general of British forces in New York during America's War of Independence.
Can you guess who this boxer is?
This boxer's name is Bill Richmond.
Percy took Richmond in after the lad, weighing less than 160 pounds, had acquitted himself nicely in a tavern brawl with several Redcoats. Richmond's success continued in contests, arranged by Percy as entertainment for his guests, against New York-based British soldiers.
He entered the service of the future Duke of Northumberland and in 1777, Percy sent Richmond to England to apprentice as a carpenter. It was in England that Richmond earned his ring laurels and developed a reputation for beating much larger men.. He created and honed a style of side stepping and/or dodging the bull rushes of opponents. Three of his more noteworthy wins during the late-1700s were against George Moore, Paddy Green, and Frank Mayers.
Although weighing less than 11 stones, Richmond took up boxing. Richmond became a prize fighter and scored a notable victory when he defeated Jack Holmes over 26 rounds at Kilburn. However, at the age of 42, he lost to the great Tom Cribb after a long fight at Hailsham in Sussex. In his next contest he beat Jack Carter at Epsom Downs. In 1809 he won 100 guineas after beating George Maddox after a hard fought 52 rounds. Richmond fought for several years up until the age of 55.Richmond retired from the ring after marrying a rich woman who helped him to buy a fashionable public house, the Horse and Dolphin, near Leicester Square. He also ran a boxing academy where he taught young men how to fight. One of his pupils was the writer William Hazlitt.
Bill Richmond died at his home in London on 28th December, 1829 at age 66.
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Want More? Read Joe Louis: The Great Black Hope |
