I must admit that the pioneers, old timers, from the bare knuckle days have never been my strong suit.....however, I've just become really intrigued about Jem Mace. From what I've read of him, he was amazing...would you say that he was the Father of Modern Boxing? Please educate, or "school" me on this great.
Mace is undoubtedly one of the most important figures in the development of modern boxing. It is very much the case that he started what John L Sullivan finished, in terms of the transition to Queensbury rules. He also created the world heavyweight tile, by unifying the British and American titles. He was also a great pound for pound fighter, since he was never really much more than a middleweight, and sometimes fought men the size of modern super heavyweights. In terms of his style, he sounds a bit like a miniature Larry Holmes from contemporary accounts. He usually ended fights with a blow to the nerve bundle at the base of the ear.
I think I read in Bob Mee's book Bare Fists that he was one of the best and last bare knuckle heavyweight champs. If I remember correctly, he didn't come over to America right away after Britain started closing things down. (My mistake. He went to America for a time before Australia.) He went to Australia and trained a guy named Foley and some other big name boxers from that time. Might have had something to do with Peter Jackson. By the time he comes to America he's too old to really do anything but manage other fighters, and I think I read an article from a Police Gazette or something of that era that he was trying to hype up one of his fighters and get them a match with Sullivan. It's nice that there's a bunch of stuff out there for people interested in tracing the lineage of the heavyweight title, but I just wish there were more on the lower weight classes from before the Lonsdale belts. I'd like to read a book about the great lightweight bare knuckle boxers or who was a top ten p4p fighter in the 1850s-1870s. I've tried looking into books like Pugilistica or Boxiana and I just can't find what I'm looking for.
One thing that has to be said, is that he was a strong supporter of black fighters. He met all worthy black challengers himself, and he despised the colour bar. He was a strong supporter of Sam Langfords efforts to get a title shot.
