46 Facts About Jem Mace

James "Jem" Mace was an English boxing champion, primarily during the bare-knuckle era.

Jem Mace would continue to supplement his income by performing exhibitions and giving sparring and training sessions for Langham's boxing club in London's Westminster through the early 1860s.

In one of his early bouts, at the age of 24, Jem Mace defeated Bob Slack decisively on 2 October 1855 in Mildenhall, northeast of Cambridge, winning in nine rounds and only 14 minutes.

On 17 February 1857, Jem Mace defeated Bill Thorpe, an opponent close to his own height and weight, near Canvey Island, North of Kent, off the Thames Estuary in Essex, although the original location was the North Kentish marshes.

Jem Mace dominated the fighting and in the 18th round delivered a stinging left and right to Thorpe's nose, with the right causing a knockdown.

Jem Mace was aged less than 27 in this early match, but his blows were hard and precise, and he showed his customary speed, which would serve him well in his later career.

Jem Mace met the black boxer Bob Travers on 21 February 1860.

Travers, like Jem Mace, was a friend of Nat Langham, and had boxed, and entertained, at his club at Westminster's Cambrian Stores.

Jem Mace was considered by many to be an awkward boxer and to lack speed due largely to his weight and size.

Hurst unwisely made another charge, and Jem Mace was forced to land another blow, after which Hurst's seconds threw up the sponge, ending the match after 50 minutes.

Jem Mace had studied King and taken careful notes on his style, but King outweighed him by as much as 20 pounds and had a height advantage as well.

About to administer a similar blow, Jem Mace's foot slipped slightly and King administered a strong right under his eye on the left side of his nose, sending him to the ground and nearly causing a knockout.

On 24 February 1863, Jem Mace was presented the Windham Gold Cup, a boxing trophy, by Sir William Frederick Windham at Criterion Hall, the precursor to the modern Criterion Theatre, in recognition of his winning the heavyweight boxing championship of England.

Jem Mace was first recognised as English Middleweight champion on 1 September 1863, following his 19-round victory over Joe Goss, first staged at Wooton.

Jem Mace regained the English heavyweight championship against Goss in a 21-round victory on 6 August 1866 between Purfleet, Essex, and Gravesend on the North bank of the Thames, 20 miles East of London.

Jem Mace was said to be suffering from a strained left foot or ankle.

Jem Mace deftly avoided Goss's strong rushes with a shift of his shoulders or a bob of his head, showing great flexibility and speed.

Jem Mace was said to have very few injuries, but Goss had been battered around the "head, face, neck, and chest", with loosened teeth and badly battered eyes.

In 1867, Jem Mace was arrested on the night before his scheduled title defence against Ned O'Baldwin in Woodford Essex, by the Metropolitan Police.

Jem Mace was held over in court not to fight again, and the incident influenced him to seek his fortune in America.

Jem Mace toured with the celebrated American boxer John C Heenan, giving exhibitions of glove boxing.

Allen had injuries to his eyes and mouth largely from lightning-fast left jabs, while Jem Mace's face looked nearly untouched.

On 6 April 1871, Jem Mace suffered a loss in New Orleans to Gentleman Jose Alonso.

Jem Mace defended the heavyweight title in one of his last significant fights against Joe Coburn on 30 November 1871 in a ten-round draw at Bay, St Louis, Mississippi, 40 miles from New Orleans.

The first scheduled title fight between the two, in 1864, did not go ahead as Jem Mace failed to show.

Coburn was furious that Jem Mace had prevented him from participating in the lucrative match, which would have drawn a large crowd.

Jem Mace toured extensively with Slade in exhibitions in the latter half of 1882 in New Zealand and in the first half of 1883, first in New York, and then back in England.

On 10 February 1883, Jem Mace returned to England after the death of his son Edward Albert from drowning in the Thames, and resumed his English exhibitions by April of that year with Herbert Slade.

Jem Mace continued to fight the occasional exhibition in England through 1895.

Jem Mace continued his career exclusively as an exhibition boxer and his last recorded entry into the ring was in 1909 when he was 78 years of age.

Jem Mace continued to fight exhibitions in 1897, and in 1898 opened a boxing academy in Cape Town, South Africa.

Jem Mace performed exhibitions with Jack Valentine in Cape Town in 1903 and 1904.

Jem Mace was a skillful violinist who originally aspired to a career in music and continued with the art through his career as a boxer.

In 1862 Jem Mace began his own circus, appearing throughout England including Canterbury, Brighton, Ipswich, and Norwich through December of the year.

In 1870, Jem Mace had a small role in the Shakespearean production of "As You Like It", on Broadway's Niblo Theatre in New York City and played several shows to crowded houses.

In 1866, Jem Mace became the proprietor of the Strawberry Gardens pleasure grounds at West Derby, Lancashire, near Liverpool a beautifully landscaped park which featured the sports of running, bowling, jumping, wrestling and boxing.

Jem Mace kept the Capitol Saloon in New York City for several years, on Twenty-Third Street in Manhattan.

Jem Mace later ran a hotel in Australia's Melbourne suburb of Flemington with boxer George Thompson as a partner.

In 1902, at the Coronation Tournament at London's Royal Albert Hall, Jem Mace sponsored or participated in a show honouring the coronation of King Edward VII that combined boxing with wrestling, fencing, running, cycling and gymnastics, as part of England's National Sporting Club.

Jem Mace married three times, twice bigamously, and fathered at least fourteen children by five women.

Jem Mace is believed by a few sources to have had an affair with famous American Louisiana-born actress Adah Isaacs Menken, who performed frequently in England.

Jem Mace ended his life as a penniless street musician in Jarrow, Durham, with his death assigned to natural causes, and was buried in an unmarked grave at Anfield Cemetery, Liverpool, England.

Jem Mace has a commemorative plaque on Swan Lane in the centre of Norwich, the site of the White Swan tavern which he ran.

Jem Mace was the 34th inductee to the organization in 1990.

Jem Mace was a 2014 inductee for the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame in the International category.

Jem Mace whipped the best of them, and he was not a large man, but he was among the first to apply science to the art of fist fighting.