William Thompson (boxer)

William Abednego Thompson (born October 11, 1811 in Nottingham , † August 23, 1880 in Beeston ) was a British " bare-knuckle " boxer.

Thompson came from an impoverished family of 21 children in the slums of Nottingham. At the age of 18, Thompson fought for money under the nickname "Bendigo". Despite his relatively small size of 1.75 m, he was usually superior to his opponents through speed, agility and punching power.

Through his entertaining fights, in which he often tried to distract his opponents with insulting rhymes and grimacing, he became a crowd favorite. Up to 15,000 spectators wanted to see his fights.

career

His most famous fights are against his local rival Ben Caunt . They met for the first time in 1835. At this point in time there was no fixed lap length, a lap was only ended by a rainfall. The fight lasted 22 rounds and was won by Thompson because Caunt allowed himself to be carried away to an illegal blow against the kneeling Thompson after the constant provocations Thompson and was then disqualified.

In the next two years Thompson fought three times: he won after 52 rounds against Bill Brassey, after 32 rounds against Charles Langan and after 99 rounds against William Looney.

In 1838 there was a rematch with Caunt. Thompson had prepared long and hard for this fight, but Caunt came into the ring in bad shape. Accordingly, Thompson dominated the fight at the beginning. In the fifth round, however, Caunt was able to put him on the ring ropes and almost strangled him. Thompson was able to free himself and reciprocated with body hits and other insults. After Caunt threatened to strangle him again in the thirteenth round, the ring was stormed by Thompson's supporters and the fight halted. After order was restored, the fight was finally continued a little later. A complaint by Caunt about Thompson's irregular kicks in the fiftieth round was not recognized by the referee. The bout ultimately ended in the 75th round when Thompson was disqualified after falling to the ground without being hit, an illegal tactic by the rules. Thompson claimed after the fight that he just slipped.

In 1839 he fought against James Burke for the English heavyweight championship. Thompson dominated Burke and won the title after he was disqualified in the tenth round after an intentional headbutt. However, while celebrating his success, he injured his knee in a somersault and remained inactive for the next two years.

On his return to the ring, he defeated nineteen opponents in a row and met Caunt for the third and last time in 1845. The fight, once again extremely unfairly fought by both sides, lasted more than two hours. Another disqualification ended the confrontation: This time, however, it was the exhausted Caunt who went down without being hit.

Thompson then resigned from professional boxing. In 1850, at the age of 39, he accepted the challenge of the much younger Tom Paddock again. Thompson was clearly inferior in the course of the fight and quickly went to the ground. After another knockdown in the 49th round, the angry paddock kicked him and was disqualified by the referee. Then Thompson finally ended his career without having lost his title in the ring.

After the career

After his resignation he worked as a boxing trainer at Oxford University and got alcohol problems. After a stay in a rehab clinic, he became a preacher. He died in 1880 at the age of 69 after breaking his ribs in a fall, fatally injuring his lungs .

In 1991, Thompson was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame .

Others

The author Arthur Conan Doyle was one of his followers, and he wrote a poem in his honor with the title: "Bendigo's Sermon". The Australian city of Bendigo in Victoria is also named after him.

swell

1. ↑ Bendigo's Sermon ( Memento from October 1, 2006 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

• Struggles
• Hall of Fame entry