I’ve been curious about the evolution of the boxing ring and gloves and wondered if any of the educated fans in this forum could speak to either? I’m curious to see the oldest photographs that exist as well.
[img id="yui_3_10_0_1_1517432010246_632" alt="The History Blog » Blog Archive » The Charles Mitchell ..." src="http://www.thehistoryblog.com/wp-co...ilrain-boxing-match-at-Richburg-Miss-1889.jpg">
Great photo. Kilrain and Sullivan right? It made me look up some more. I believe these are some of the only photos of a bare knuckle match from that era, so it is interesting to see the ring. Wood posts and rope. I believe they fought in dirt. And I’ve heard that to avoid slipping on dirt, many boxers wore cleats. As a result, they couldn’t rotate their hips when punching, this reducing the power of the punches and one of the reasons these guys could fight for 75 rds.
I found a pair of 19th century gloves, but this forum won’t even let me paste its link because it’s “Spam like.” What did you people do to lose picture pasting privileges? I can only assume too many porn pics. Well, let me paint you a picture: They were made of brown suede leather. The cuffs on the wrist are short and had no padding. The padding in the gloves is horsehair.
