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One concerned Bill Richmond, the ex-slave brought from America by Lord Percy at the end of the 18th century. After teaching himself to read and being trained in the respectable craft of cabinet-making, he threw it all away to became a bare-knuckle boxer.
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Bare-knuckle boxing was very fashionable, and being black gave Richmond extra social cachet. But it was a dangerous life. The sport, which had almost no rules, often resulted in horrific injuries. The men who survived in it and made reputations for themselves gave themselves names like 'Gravedigger' and 'Jawbreaker'. Richmond himself was known as the 'Black Terror' when he fought (and narrowly lost to) the English champion Tom Cribb on 8 October 1805.
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Top fights attracted huge crowds. What attracted the boxers were the chances boxing provided to move up in the world and the big money to be made. When Bill Richmond started a boxing academy – on the site where London's Trafalgar Square is now – it was frequented by the aristocracy, and Richmond worked hard to acquire the airs and manners of the upper class. He found his place in aristocratic circles, but he never quite became one of them.
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