By Bill Calogero

It is said that you can’t compare eras in Professional Boxing. Most of us involved in the sport in one way or another agree. However, after watching Shannon Briggs win the WBO Heavyweight Title over Sergei Liakhovich in the snoozer of the year so far, I couldn’t help but think about how different it was during the Pioneer Days of Boxing. Or was it?

Briggs won the title gasping for air, sitting on his stool without the heart or energy to even muster up a fist pump in the air. Nothing. All he could do was gasp for air. This is a Heavyweight Champion? After twelve rounds of basically doing nothing, the guy was spent. Keep in mind; today we fight twelve three-minute rounds, with one minute of rest in between to determine Championships.

During the Pioneer Days Of Boxing, the rules were different. First off, there were no gloves used. One round was determined after someone went down. Then they had thirty seconds to get ready for the start of the next round. If they were not able to continue, the fight was over. Conceivably, a round could go several minutes before there was a knock down. The Corner Men were allowed IN the ring with their fighter. They actually helped him up during the thirty seconds before the start of the next round.

Tom Crib was considered the Champion Of England. He began his pro career on January 7, 1805 with a seventy-six round win over George Maddox. The fight lasted two hours and twelve minutes. This was his FIRST fight. I wonder what he would have done to Shannon Briggs? Most boxing fans can remember fights, or images of Ali vs. Frazer, or Mike Tyson knocking out Trevor Berbick, or Douglas sending Iron Mike to the canvas, etc. There are just too many great moments in Heavyweight Boxing History to list. Most of these same fans have never even heard of Tom Crib.

Tom Crib claimed the World Heavyweight Title in 1809 when the previous Champion, John Gully, retired. Crib’s most notable fight was against Tom Molineaux on December 10, 1810. This is truly one of the greatest bouts in Professional Boxing that most people don’t even know about. Molineaux was a freed slave from the United Sates. He weighed close to 200 lbs, which was big in those days. The fight took place on English soil and most people didn’t give Molineaux much of a chance. The fight lasted forty rounds and took just about an hour. Pierce Egan covered the fight.

He described the fight as one of the most brutal fights that ever took place. Consider this; during the 19th round Egan wrote that neither fighter was recognizable due to the disfigurement of their features as well as the fact that they were both covered in blood. Imagine how brutal the fight must have been. Crib was white, Molineaux was black and the spectators could not tell them apart. Blood is red no matter what color you are. The fight ended officially at the start of the 40th round when Molineaux could not continue. The two battled again a year later on September 28, 1811, with Crib again coming out with a win in eleven rounds. Tom Crib retired after the second fight.

We all know that Don King controls today’s Heavyweight Division. He seems to be able to promote any fight like it’s the “Greatest” fight out there. I give him credit for that. Who else could parade around a Giant who claims to be a boxer and get people to think he has even a little boxing skills. It’s almost as far fetched as a promoter being able to persuade a King to put up ten million dollars to host one of the greatest fights of all time in the middle of the jungle? Give Don King credit. He has the ability to come out on top no matter what obstacles he is faced with.

There were Promoters before Don King. As a matter of fact, they had more obstacles than he has. During the Pioneer Days Of Boxing, Boxing was illegal. Promoters of the time had to secretly promote fights using false dates and locations just to stay a head of the law. Don King has a knack for manipulating commissions and cable networks. The Promoters of yesteryear had to go further than that.

In a much-publicized fight of the time, Britain’s Tom Sayers fought American John Heenan. Today’s fighters have to overcome all kinds of adversity, including ex-wives or girl friends, the IRS and even Barbara Walters. The fighters in the Pioneer times were no different. Sayers was broke when they made the Heenan fight. John Heenan was broke too. He also was going through a very public divorce with his wife who happened to be an actress. Talk about front-page news. He got to leave town to England so he could train for the fight. Everyone in the United States and in England knew about the fight. It was in all of the newspapers. The Promoters job: Promote the fight and sell tickets but since it was not legal to hold a professional boxing match, he had to sell it without a date or even a location. Even Don King couldn’t do that.

The Promoter was able to con an entire train and it’s company to work with him. He was able to get thousands of people to buy tickets for a bout that had no date, time or location on the ticket. They had to wait for the secrete announcement of when they had to go to the Train Station and board the train. You see the ticket they purchased included transportation to the fight. Since the promoter “bought” the train, all he had to do was be able to have everyone board the train quickly and leave the station. The “law” would have to try and figure out where the train was going, and then by horse, try and get there in time to stop it. Brilliant thinking if you ask me.

The fight took place on April 17, 1860 and it too was a brutal contest. The fight ended in a 42-round Draw. No one was upset with the verdict. Both fighters gave it their all and both had to be physically helped onto the train for the return trip. They split the purse, which typically went to the winner. The loser; well normally, he would get what ever his corner could collect from the fans as they would pass around a hat. In this case since it was a draw the two combatants spilt the $40 purse. The Promoter and the gamblers made much more, just like today.

So when Shannon Sharp sends out a letter, basically bragging about his victory over Sergei Liakhovich, all I can say is, did he watch the tape? The picture that will be forever in my mind is Briggs sitting on his stool gasping for air. A far cry from images I have of Ali, Foreman, Frazier, Johnson, Marciano, Tyson, etc. The Title of World Heavyweight Champion has to be synonymous to being the best out there.