James Figg

Accepted that Slack's recognized record probably does not show all his fights, like many fighters of the bareknuckle era because of the lack of coverage compared with now, however I think they were just as cunning then as now at avoiding certain fighters or challenges using injury, not enough purse money or weight differences as excuses once they were generally recognized as champion or top contenders. You only have to look generally at the size of some of the purse's offered i.e., £5-£20 to see they were probably not recognized championship fights compared to what were were generally accepted as title fights when purse money was often reputed to be £50-£400 or more, not that you can always judge title fights this way. Some of them also earned extra money by taking part in exhibitions and touring with other fighters to all the well known fairs at the time. I still think in Slack's case like many others the number of title fights they were involved in was exagerrated, probably by their supporters and backers.

 

By that time I don't think there was such thing yet as a recognized champion or a top contender. No purses either, they either backed themselves with their own money or had backers. No exhibitions or tours from what I know, that practice appeared much later, when Mendoza and others appeared on the stage.