Knuckled Under: The Short, Tragic Life of Simon Byrne (Great Athletes)

By Thomas G. Clark

Knuckled Under details the life of Simon Byrne, the great Irish boxer who fought for Great Britain's boxing championship in 1833. The bare-fisted contest was remarkable on many levels, particularly for the fact it lasted 99 rounds over three hours and six minutes, making it the longest championship prizefight in boxing history. Simon lost the fight and died from the wounds he received, making him noteworthy in the sport as one of only six fighters who have killed and been killed in the ring. He lost to an English mute named James "Deaf'un" Burke, a young man who was given little chance of escaping poverty through his work along the river Thames.But Simon did not die immediately. For two days he nursed his wounds and felt depressed at having let Ireland down - and losing to an Englishman, no less. Utterly ashamed of his defeat, he stated he would die from "mortification". His death in May 1833 struck Ireland to its core. Tens of thousands of mourners assembled in the streets and honored the late warrior with great tributes. Lavish poems and elegies were written throughout Great Britain to mark his loss. Knuckled Under details the life of this long-forgotten boxing hero, from round-by-round accounts of his earliest fights to his rise to the Irish championship. But Knuckled Under does much more than chronicle the details of Simon's life. It describes the rise of bare-fisted fighting and how rules were ultimately formalized and followed. Although the British aristocracy and tens of thousands of commoners attended the fights, the sport was illegal, yet covered widely in the press. Maiming and death in the ring were common, which prompted even greater interest in the sport and tighter policing by the magistrates. Then there were the colorful participants themselves: bruisers such as East End Chicken, Beef-a-la-Mode, Three-Fingered Jack and the Phenomenon. But an earlier champion, Jem "Black Diamond" Ward, was perhaps the most controversial of all. Accused of throwing an earlier fight and banned from the sport, he would re-enter under a different identity and ultimately win the championship for England.This is the only biography ever written about Simon Byrne. His story reflects not only his life's tragic journey in and out of the ring, but provides great insight into a brutal sport and the Irish soul in the first half of the 19th century.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1521453365
• ISBN13: 9781521453360
• Release Date: June 2017
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 306 Pages
• Weight: 1.16 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.8" x 6.0"