Daniel Mendoza

Daniel Mendoza (born July 5, 1764 in London , † September 3, 1836 ibid) was an English boxer of the bare knuckle era. He was the first Jewish (Portuguese- Sephardic origin) "English Master", and thus also the unofficial world champion at that time. He is an ancestor of Peter Sellers .

Mendoza, who weighs only 72 kilograms, wrote the book The Art of Boxing in 1789 and is considered to be one of the revolutionaries in sport because of the innovative art of boxing.

At the beginning of his career he defeated Harry the Coal-heaver and in 1787 Sam Martin ("The Bath Butcher"). In 1788 he won two of three of his fights against his mentor Richard Humphries, which almost had championship status and, as is often the case today, were exaggerated by the press into a hate duel. He fought the first fight with an injury to his leg.

After the resignation of Ben Brain, Mendoza declared itself the new title holder. He underlined this claim by defeating Bill Warr in 1794. As a champion, he went on a show tour through England, Scotland and Ireland, and also beat Squire Fitzgerald in Ireland.

In 1795 Mendoza boxed against the 90 kilogram challenger "Gentleman" John Jackson . Jackson grabbed his long hair and knocked him out, which was legal at the time.

He could not recover from this defeat and afterwards worked mainly as a boxing teacher.

Henry Isaacs , Lord Mayor of London in 1889 , was Mendoza's great-nephew.

In 1990 Mendoza was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame .

literature

Fritz Heymann , The Chevalier von Geldern: Stories of Jewish Adventurers , Königstein / Ts. : Jew. Published by Athenaeum, 1985 (first Querido 1937). therein: The boxer Danny Mendoza , pp. 447–474

Web links

Commons : Daniel Mendoza - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Entry in the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (English)
Entry in the International Boxing Hall of Fame (English)
Excerpts from his textbook (English)
Drawings of his fights (click to enlarge)

Individual evidence

↑ John F. Oppenheimer (Red.) And a .: Lexicon of Judaism. 2nd Edition. Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag, Gütersloh u. a. 1971, ISBN 3-570-05964-2 , col. 498.

personal data
SURNAME	Mendoza, Daniel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Mendoza, Dan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	English boxer
DATE OF BIRTH	July 5, 1764
PLACE OF BIRTH	London
DATE OF DEATH	September 3, 1836
Place of death	London

[1] John F. Oppenheimer (Red.) And a .: Lexicon of Judaism. 2nd Edition. Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag, Gütersloh u. a. 1971, ISBN 3-570-05964-2 , col. 498.