The Bare-Knuckle Breed.

8vo, cloth, dust jacket, illustrated, 231 pp. Dust jacket has some chips and tears, mostly around spine and lower portion of the book, slightly bowed, normal aging; otherwise very good. Golding tells the story of an emerging sport that had faded from history after the fall of the Roman Empire. He writes about the "old Time" fighters who helped develop the prize ring in England during the 18th century. He describes in detail some of those early bare knuckle fights including Mendoza vs. Humphreys, George Stevenson vs. Jack Broughton, and the classic battle of Tom Sayers Vs. John Heenan. He also talks about the fights between Tom Cribb and Tom Molyneux. Molyneux a former slave would fight for the championship of England, almost a 100 years before Jack Johnson would become the first black heavyweight champion. While many find bare-knuckle fighting as barbaric, some would argue that the invention of the boxing glove might have done more harm to fighters than bare knuckles. An eight once boxing glove does more to protect the hand than the head. Hartley 818.