JEM MACE For My Mate GJC

[McGoorty]

The Supreme Boxer-Puncher
Purfleet, Essex. 1866
For his third fight with Goss, Mace dictates that a 16 foot ring will be used and that seconds must get out while a round is in progress. Deploying the full range of shots open to a bare knuckle fighter but ducking and weaving like a future glove boxer, Mace crushes Goss. His display is hailed as "the grandest bit of fighting ever seen".
But, as the enthralled spectators disperse, none can know that forces are already in motion which will threaten the very existence of the outlaw sport.
Arrested in a Bedroom
London, Herne Hill. 1867
Inspector Silverton of Scotland Yard, fanatical opponent of the London Prize Ring, leads a midnight raid on Mace's secret hideout. Mace, on the eve of his title clash with Ned O'Baldwin, the 'Irish Giant', violently resists arrest and is outnumbered by a squad of police.
The outcome of Mace's court appearance next day will be a decisive turning point in his career.
The Last and First of the Champions
Kennerville, Louisiana. 1870
Just outside New Orleans city limits, Mace, the last Champion of England, faces Tom Allen, Champion of America.
Using his switchblade left jab, blocking, feinting, changing pace and feet, Mace throws unprecedented combination punches. Cutting off the ring like a fistic jailer, he outclasses Allen and is hailed as the first World Champion. He will stand at the head of the lineage which will later include Jeffries, Dempsey, Louis, Ali and Tyson.

Targeted for Murder
Bay.St. Louis, Mississippi. 1871
Irish-American Joe Coburn, challenges Mace for the world title. Despite an injured wrist and a referee who never calls Coburn's numerous fouls, Mace secures a draw and retains his crown.
Afterwards, he narrowly escapes with his life as bullets fly. With contract killers on his trail, he cannot remain in America.
'Advance Australia!'
Murrumbidgee Reef, New South Wales. 1879
Outlaw Ned Kelly postpones his confrontation with Mace as police converge in a vain attempt to stop Mace's protege, Larry Foley, from challenging for the Australian title. The fight goes ahead, Foley wins, and on his victorious train ride to Melbourne, is acclaimed by patriotic crowds chanting an anti-colonial slogan -- but lustily adding "Three cheers for Jem Mace!".
The Knives are Out
Maison Laffitte, France. 1886
Prizefight buffs attempt to revive the bare knuckle ring in France where the police will not intervene. Mace agrees to referee a fight for the 'championship' near a centuries- old chateau outside Paris. But English thugs invade the ring and, threatening him with knives, compel him to declare the result they've wagered on. Once he regains his freedom, Mace takes a decision which heralds the end of a sporting era.

Man oh man, how about that, Jem mace was going to fight the "Baddest Man on the planet", and legendary Bushranger, Ned Kelly. Just imagine fi Jem had TKO'd Kelly and Ned's gang got angry,.......... Poor Jem would have ended up with more bullet holes in him than Bonnie and Clyde's death car (a Model T. Ford). ----------------------------------------------------------------------- And very cool to read of Larry Foley,.... guess which two fighters he trained ??

[McGoorty]

Mace was the first hell-raiser international super sports star, before, Ricky Hatton, Mohammad Ali, Jake La Motta, Roberto Duran and Mike Tyson......

So many fighters, ancient and modern, have attempted to prove nothing succeeds like excess. And many have had their lurid lives portrayed for posterity in a variety of books, plays and movies.

We are aware of the outrageous behaviour of notoriously-flawed individuals like Raging Bull Jake La Motta, Roberto Duran and Mike Tyson. Every era has someone whose outside-the-ring antics have caused jaw-dropping disbelief.

But how many fans can identify this character whose scandalous personal lifestyle outraged Britain?

Married three times, twice bigamously; he also kept two teenage mistresses. A seducer of dozens of women, he fathered 14 children by five different mothers.

We are talking about Jem Mace, a blacksmith’s son from Norfolk. He was born 177 years ago and was universally recognised as the bare-knuckle world heavyweight champion.

Mace’s riveting story is brought to life by Graham Gordon, a specialist in 19th-century history, and I highly recommend his book, Master of the Ring.

It is no exaggeration to say Mace was the Muhammad Ali of his age, the first global sporting superstar.

Even within the constraints of 19th-century transport and communications Jem’s fame and notoriety went before him as he fought in America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Mace began fighting at 14 in 1845, taking on lads from surrounding villages.

An accomplished violinist Mace decided to earn his living as a prize-fighter though the sport was illegal.

He joined a boxing booth and, for £2 a week, took on all-comers, developing skills not seen before.

The prize ring was brutal in the extreme. Men smashed each other’s faces to a pulp with bare fists pickled to make them iron-hard.

Jem pioneered the left jab and worked on the art of feinting and slipping punches. He was a defensive master but could also knock men cold with a single blow.

Known as the father of boxing, Mace was loved equally by the working classes and the aristocracy — he was on first name terms with the, Lord Lonsdale, Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII.

Because he was hounded by police, Mace sailed for the United States where he was just as popular and beat Tom Allen in 1870 to win the world title.

Mace’s brilliant ring-craft ensured he was in demand as a coach and was constantly taking part in exhibition bouts, even into his late seventies.

He was an astute businessman who owned goldmines, circuses, hotels and pubs among other ventures around the world.

It’s estimated he earned £750,000 in his lifetime, today’s equivalent of £20million.

Unfortunately Mace was a prolific gambler. When he died at 79 he was penniless and was buried in an unmarked grave.

Yet Jem was one of the greatest Victorians, revered by the public alongside Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens and Benjamin Disraeli.

In his later years Mace gave after-dinner speeches always bemoaning the lack of good English heavyweights. Now where have I heard that lament before?

[McGoorty]

A Fact about Mace I just discovered......... He fought a minimum 15 fights with Herbert Maori Slade....... He had at least 7 fights with his ex-pupil, Larry Foley and George Belcher 4 times.. some were in Australia and others in America....... A busy boy our Jem.