I've finally come across a picture of Charles 'charley' Gallagher, who was in title contention in the late 1860's-early 1870's. I can't post pictures but the link is below, on page 23 https://books.google.com/books?id=OF5CAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22&dq=tom+allen+v+mike+mccoole&source=bl&ots=swUuw2kgNR&sig=_VxnjrBUfi5vKV3dBwUQ_4xyOhk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=16r4VJXLCJOxsATliYLwCA&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAzgK#v=onepage&q=tom%20allen%20v%20mike%20mccoole&f=false doesn't look very imposing, but was a solid contender for that era. the only guy I still haven't found a picture of is bill davis just thought it would be interesting for those into bareknuckle history edit, that's a ****ing awesome book! pictures of jim dunn on page 14, aaron jones on page 18 and ben Hogan on page 49
prize fighting for the heavyweights at least had shifted to the st Louis area around gallaghers' time. he was from Canada but came to prominence out of Cleveland. 6'1, 170 pounds. first major fight he dominated bill davis til he was caught. he was cheated by jimmy Elliott and in his finest performance managed to land a haymaker on tom allen and beat him quickly as a result. in a rematch allen was ahead until shenanigans ensued, as they often did in this era. evidently he was large for the time and tough. he caught allen a blow that ended their fight quickly a rarity for the time so there was punching power there. he is said to have died of consumption at a young age and could have made more of a mark if he hadn't. the late 60's, early 70's had some good activity in Gallagher, bill davis, mike mccoole, jimmy Elliott, tom allen, jem mace and joe Coburn. then they all retired, went to jail or died and the rest of the 1870's were a wasteland of heavyweight boxing until late in the decade when sparring exhibitions started up in Brooklyn and new York.
broad overview of the period. some of the dates, and even years are off. 1866 mike McCoole w 34 bill davis $2000 purse, a brute strength fight throughout with davis carried insensible from the ring. 1867 may 10 jimmy Elliott w9 bill davis Elliott punishes davis terribly aug 31 mike mccoole w 34 aaron jones a greatly improved mccoole avoided jones' attempts for his eyes and laid out in 26 minutes oct 5 bill davis w 45 charley Gallagher Gallagher was leading a desperate contest until davis' last ditch effort laid Gallagher out with a terrible blow on the neck 1868 may 27 mike mccoole nc1 joe Coburn $10,000 and the championship of America. a farce as Coburn arrested on his way to the ring. sep 1 ned o'baldwin d1 joe wormwald wormwald had the best of the fighting in the round until police stopped it. o'baldwin, 'the irish giant' was never able to secure another fight in America, fights with jem mace never came off and o'baldwin shot to death in 1875. nov 12 jimmy Elliott wf 23 charley gallagher 1869 jan 12 tom allen w 43 bill davis feb 23 charley Gallagher w 2 tom allen $2000 prize and the American championship. gallgher first blood, allen first knockdown. Gallagher catches allen a tremendous blow to the neck and allen does not answer the scratch to start the third round. jun 15 mike mccoole wf 9 tom allen allen dominates, swelling mccooles face to twice its normal size. mccooles group cut the ropes in the ninth and a brawl with clubs broke out. aug 17 tom allen d 11 charley Gallagher $2000 prize and championship of America. allen had the best of it and the sponge was thrown up in the 12th. when allen went to shake Gallagher's hand, Gallagher punched him, supposedly not seeing the sponge thrown in. referee declared the fight a draw. 1870 may 10 jem mace w 10 tom allen mace too much for allen, wins in 40 minutes. oct 8 tom allen w 16 charley Gallagher 1871 may 11 jem mace d 1 joe Coburn $2000 purse. neither man attempted a punch. nov 30 jem mace d 12 joe Coburn $2000 and championship of America. 3 hour battle ends in the rain. 1873 sep 23 tom allen w 7 mike mccoole allen makes short work of mccoole. nov 18 tom allen d3 ben Hogan $2000 and championship of America. allen winning until Hogan claimed foul in the 3rd. crowd drew knives and revolvers, fight declared a draw and stakes returned.
they were cracking down hard in England at this time. it's why tom allen, ned o'baldwin, joe goss and joe wormwald all came to America in the late 1860's, and joe Coburn and jem mace did by the early 1870's. they clamped down on it in the east as well, as they shifted the major contests to the Midwest. in the western us the best guy in bill davis had very mixed results in the period and wouldn't produce a quality guy until Corbett and choynski in the late 1880's. judging by the results, England still had the best talent in this period, but with the sport so clamped down on they had nothing new to offer after mace retired.
Interesting find. :good My knowledge of this period is a bit weak, although I have read up on Yankee Sullivan and John Morrissey (very interesting character!) who came just a few years before this lot. Of course, the Heenan-Sayers match is famous, but I do think between, say, the late 1830s up to 1870s, Jem Mace and the Queensberry rules, is kind of a "Dark Ages" on both sides of the Atlantic. And, yes, that must be something to do with the moral reformers of the age getting their way with the old bloodsports !
whenever someone says the heavyweight division of x time is the worst in history, I point to the early to late 1870's as being the absolute worst. mace was only doing exhibitions, the only championship match was between joe goss and tom allen, both a level below mace. the division only stirred in the late 1870's with johnny dwyer in Brooklyn kicking the **** out of people in exhibition gloved fights. other periods, the 1750's for instance simply did not have a great deal of documentation. the 1870's did, but nothing was going on. truly dreadful
Here are photos of Joe Goss and Tom Allen from an old Boxing book I have. http://postimg.org/image/m27xuqclx/full/
These old timers had such hideous forearms. It looked like they could crack coconuts on their forearms.
Joe Goss as a younger man. http://postimg.org/image/b56m5ypud/ Photo of a younger Jem Mace http://postimg.org/image/9rezanql1/ Photo of old Jem Mace http://postimg.org/image/kfiq9i0k5/ Image of Tom King, who knocked out Jem Mace in 1862 to win the heavyweight championship of England. http://postimg.org/image/iozp80j11/
mace was winning their match easily when king caught him coming in. it's described as one of the most devastating punches ever seen. it seemed to go right through mace and completely changed the fight.
