8 Jan 1871
Mr. Charles D. E. O’Roarke
The Ruptured Drum tavern and sporting house
128½ Pearl St.
Charleston, Massachusetts
Dear Charlie,
I have not forgotten your request for a thorough report on the state of boxing in England and my progress therein. You would be disappointed in the sorry state of boxing in this country. I have found out why I faced so many great English boxers in America. They all left here. Just for starters, the great tradition here was killed by some rubbish called the prize fight act.1
If that were not enough, some blood-thirsty noble out here has been sponsoring some amateur tournaments with wrapped hands. 2 How long will it be before they have fighters with cestuses, tied to rocks and fighting to the death? I am not at all surprised to here that these rules are gaining support here.
I thought that I would have more time to fully explorate the sport here during my offtime from my employer, this has not been the case, but that has been recently concluded and I am waisting no time in my efforts to get back into the thick of it. While I have been mucking about here, I have learned that Mace3 came and picked up the vacant American title and now claims to be the World’s Champion also. We both bloody well know that that title wouldn’t be vacant if it weren’t for that dirty cheat Elliot,4 may he continue to rot in that prison cell he so richly deserves. He should have had to go through me for it
Well, I am sad to say that my own progress has not fared better, but I am now a bit wiser and this may be some good scouting information for you. Some of the lushingtons had tipped me to a pikey fighter named “One-Punch” O’Niell. Never one to miss a challenge, I set about to locate this fighter, plus I thought that by taking on the pikey, I might better prepare myself for “The Gypsy”, not that he’d answering any of my challenges. Maybe I should try to shame him into a street fight like he did with King.5
At any rate, I found this fellow. Could barely understand a word he muttered. Even though they say their talk is just English and Gaelic, I couldn’t make out a bit of it despite my oblivious command of both languages. He was not a big man, wiry but solid. His entire strategy that I was told, and indeed it was the case, was that he could throw just one punch on anyone and end the fight. Again, what a sorry state of affairs for boxing in this country. I would demand my money back witnessing any fight that lasted less than seventy rounds! Even that fighter who rode in the freight cars that you arranged to fight me back in ‘68 I let dance around for twenty before putting his shame to an end. 6
Apparently, there is no consequense to rules in this country either, no one had any concept of what a referee or a timekeeper is there for. I couldn’t quite make it out, but I got the distinct impression that I was being ridiculed just for asking about the subject. At any rate, if it was going to be a street fight, I knew that I had to get inside O’Niell’s head. Usually any man who gets angry in the ring makes mistakes, and I usually don’t need much to fully capitulize on them. Well, I did indeed make him angry, and he did make a mistake. He moved in a way that I had never seen in the boxing ring before. So I landed a punch on him that would have dropped a bull moose. He took another swing, and that’s the last I remember.
So I suppose I should say, if he’s ever in your neck of the woods: he can beat your best, but it will be too short for any real fan to care to see.
Even though I don’t particularly approve of this method for the sport, I have to admit that I got licked fair and square in the ring. While I haven’t seen that movement in the ring before, I do know an impressive fellow from the orient who I’ve seen do this before. I’d asked before about learning this, and I thought he changed the subject, but I think he may teach me this technique. I asked him about any means of countering this, and he could not give me an answer.
You know as well as I that there isn’t any technique in the ring that can’t be reversed upon the other guy, but it seems the only way I’ll be able to discover this is to first learn the technique inside and out. It involves certain bits of eastern meditation, I don’t think my new teacher is aware of the mental preparation that this sport requires. I think that they may prove similar.
Anyway that is my report, I hope it is not as big a waste of your time as it is training that Sullivan kid (ha ha)7
Sincerely,
Seamus
Curator's Notes:
1. The Prize Fight Act of 1861 effectively outlawed professional boxing in England. Mr. O’Flaherty and Mr. O’Roarke were possibly the only two people so actively involved in the sport not fully aware of this. It was the model for other statutes in other countries, including broad limitations in America.
2. Mr. O’Flaherty confuses the ninth Marquess of Queensbury’s then developing rules with greek boxing, which hand wrappings went from soft to hard leather and sported cutting edges. When the Romans conquered the Greeks, the wrappings further evolved into spiked cestuses and matches were fought to the death.
3. Jem Mace “The Gypsy” defeated Tom Allen in May 1870 in Loisiana to claim the vacated American title.
4. Jim Elliot was arrested in Jan 1870 for armed robbery and stripped of his claim to the American Championship. Mr O’Flaherty is credited with a highly disputed loss to Mr. Elliot in 1867.
5. Tom King defeated Mace in 1863 to reclaim his portion of the World Championship. He later refused to re-fight Mace.
6. Robert "Texas Boxcar" Cobb 5-132-1.
7. While Mr. O’Roarke was familiar with many boxing Sullivans,
there are several apocryphal stories of Mr. O’Flaherty not
recognizing or disparaging the young man who would eventually
become John L. Sullivan “The Boston Strong Boy”, the
last bare knuckle Champion and the first World Champion under
the Marquess of Queensbury rules.
Proceed to Sudden Departure
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