Volume 50, Number 3 · February 27, 2003
The Romantic Pugilist
By Richard Holmes
Jem Belcher was one of the most elegant and widely admired bare-knuckle prizefighters of the early Regency. He was renowned for his handsome looks, his extraordinary pluck, his eccentric boxing style, and his unshakable good manners both inside and outside the ring. He was also famous for his unnerving habit of telling jokes to his opponents at the bloodiest mo-ments of combat. 'Belcher's style was original,' wrote Pierce Egan in Boxiana (1812). '...His antagonists were terrified by his gaiety and decision...and fightingmen in general were confounded with his sangfroid and intrepidity.'
Feature, 424 words
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