Australian Boxing - The Early DaysBroughton's Rules - London Prize Ring Rules - James Kelly - Young Kable - Ned Chalker - Young Bailey - George Hough -
Until 1884 all fights in Australia were contested with bare knuckles. They were conducted first under Broughton's Rules of 1743, and later under the London Prize Ring Rules of 1838 (revised in 1853). Under these rules, rounds ended when one of the contestants was knocked or thrown to the ground; and as fights were fought to a finish - unless interrupted by police or by thugs - they lasted up to, and even beyond, 100 rounds. The longest bare-knuckles fight in history took place in Australia - at Fiery Creek, near Daylesford, Vic. - on 3 December 1855, when Irishman James Kelly defeated English soldier Jonathan Smith for a purse of £400 in a 17-round bout which lasted 6 hours 15 minutes.
The first recorded fight in Australia may have involved a fighter named Charles Lifton and if son then it would have taken place at Sydney Racecourse (which later became Hyde Park) on 7 January 1814.
The first Australian-born pugilist to make a name for himself was Young Kable of Windsor, NSW, who knocked out Englishman Sam Clark in 1824. In the 1830s Parramatta and Windsor were favoured New South Wales ring sites, but important fights were also decided at Surry Hills and Como. The main fighters of the period were Kable, Ned Chalker, Young Bailey, and George Hough. Bill and Tom Sparkes, the latter known as Sprig of Myrtle, and lzaac Gorrick (alias "Bungaree") were among the leading fighters of the 1840s. Gorrick became the first Australian to box in England in 1842. In 1847 Bill Sparkes also went to England, where on 4 May 1847 he met the unbeaten Nat Langham. Sparkes acquitted himself well, but broke his right arm in the sixty-second round - his chief second surrendered on his behalf in the sixty-seventh. |
