On May 10th in 1870, in Kennerville, Louisiana, a thirty-nine-year-old British man named Jem Mace became the first heavyweight world champion of boxing. He was the reigning British champion and he defeated Tom Allen who was the reigning American champion. Jem Mace was ten years older and more than ten pounds lighter than Tom Allen. Mace became the first of many men to hold the mantle of heavyweight world champion, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Mike Tyson, etc. Jem Mace fought in a time when there were basically no rules in boxing. This was still the era of bare- knuckle boxing; no gloves and broken and battered hands and faces. Prize fighters fought at exhibitions, fairs and circuses and often took on challengers from the crowd. Bare-knuckle fighting had become illegal in England, so many of the successful boxers left to compete in the United States. Jem Mace and Tom Allen had their fight in Kennerville, which is outside the limits of New Orleans where there was a strong possibility they would have been arrested for bare-knuckle fighting. If you are interested, there is a statue in Kennerville today commemorating the match. The match was brutal as was the norm with bare-knuckle boxing. The London Prize Ring Rules, a predecessor to the Queensbury rules for boxing, would have been the standards being used for this fight. According to the London Prize Ring Rules, a boxer may use spiked shoes in a limited capacity, he may hold and/or throw his opponent, but may not scratch or gouge his opponent’s eyes. I think you get the picture of the level of violence. Jem Mace beat Tom Allen despite having a broken shoulder from being thrown by Allen in the sixth round. It was reported his face looked “untouched” and Tom Allen’s face had injuries to his eyes and mouth. Jem Mace continued to fight for the heavyweight title until he was defeated by Charlie Mitchell when he was fifty-eight years old. Later in his life, Jem fought many exhibition boxing matches until his last one in 1909 when he was seventy-eight years old! I wonder if Mike Tyson is trying to match this by returning to boxing at the age of fifty-four. Jem Mace died at the age of seventy-nine while living in poverty. He had lost most of his fortune after the death of his wife and relied on the kindness of friends and the English Old Age Pension. He was buried in an unmarked grave until 2002 when a local boxing organization paid for a headstone. Why is Jem Mace so important to the sport of boxing? Jem was one of the first high profile fighters to use gloves after the Queensbury Rules were put into practice. He worked with the Marquis of Queensbury in promoting the use of boxing gloves. It is almost inconceivable today to consider boxing without the use of gloves. For one thing, a losing fighter would not last long as the damage would be too much. The winner might not be in good shape either after going twelve rounds being hit with bare knuckles to his face. Jem Mace also worked to spread boxing around the world, by traveling to the United States and Australia to promote the sport. He taught hundreds of men the proper and safer way to box. I believe Nat Fleischer, the founder of The Ring magazine, summed up Jem Mace’s contribution to the sport of boxing the best:
“Great as Mace was when fighting under London Rules, it was as a glove artist that he appeared at his best. He discouraged bare fist fighting and brought public attention to the use of the mitts. He did more to foster the pure science of boxing than any other man of his era and was one of the greatest ring men with the gloves that boxing has produced”.
Time Out With Jenn & Lisa 