ON SATURDAY July 26, 1890, a challenge appeared in the pages of a book Sports Life in the following words, “Harry Peter of Islington says he is surprised Joe Caly challenges him for the third time, he has already beaten him twice, and raw-‘uns and two-ounce gloves. Peter, however, will be more than happy to meet Caly at the Crooked Billet, Ponders End, to sign the game’s autographs”.
This not only shows how games were played in those days, challenges were issued daily in sports newspapers and matches were agreed upon in public houses, but it also shows that professional boxers were fighting at the same time in empty fights, under the elders. rules, and gloves, under the rules of the Marquis of Queensberry.
Modern students will marvel at the use of two ounce gloves. During this time, it was common for boxers to agree to fight each other with “small gloves”, two ounces or “regular gloves”, usually four ounces. During the next 20 years, until the beginning of the first world war, gloves that were used four times were widely used.
The gloves were filled with horsehair, and were dangerous if they covered the hands of a great puncher. Even for younger men who didn’t hit that hard, the cumulative effect of hundreds of blows over the course of 15, and often 20-round bouts, was devastating and contributed to many cases of heavy boxing intoxication. the boxers of this time became their victims.
Before the advent of the Board, with its rules and regulations, discussions about the size of the gloves to be used fell to the boxers and their fields. I recently wrote about the great contest between Freddie Welsh and Jim Driscoll, which took place in Cardiff in 1910.
The articles of agreement for the match stated that the match would be fought at 9st 6lbs, the boxers compromised when Welsh chose 9st 7lbs and Driscoll, 9st 5lbs. The competition for gloves was very intense, the two finally agreed on five ounces after Wales wanted four times the gloves, and Driscoll who preferred a six-ounce ounce, they ended up backing down again.
In 1929, when the Board published its first rulebook, regulation 30 stated that the tournament would use the old National Sporting Club rules and that boxers should wear gloves “of six ounces each”. Therefore, it is acceptable for boxers to agree to wear a heavy pair, it seems, there is no limit, but four ounce gloves were prohibited.
During the inquest of Louis Hood, who died in a bout with future British featherweight champion Charlie Hardcastle in 1916, Peggy Bettinson, general manager of the National Sporting Club, said the gloves used in the fatal bout were six ounces. the usual weight for competitions of all kinds unless the men are very small, in which case they may be lighter”.
It was very common in 1916 for professional boxers to work at the age of 13 or 14 and it may have been these boys who were allowed to use smaller gloves. It appears that some flyweight tournaments still allow the use of four ounce gloves at this time.
In 1952 BN Titled, 1930s war veteran Frank Moody recalled that when he fought Larry Gains in 1923 the two men agreed to wear eight-ounce gloves because Larry’s hands would not fit in the small pair. Despite this, all of Larry’s important tournaments during the 1930s were fought with six-ounce gloves.
Eight-ounce gloves became the standard for all men at welterweight and above in the late 1970s. I’ve talked to several veterans in the 1960s and 1970s who remember using horsehair, six-ounce gloves. Today, eight-ounce gloves are used in all competitions below welterweight, and 10 ounces in those above. One hopes that the game is safer, and less harmful, as a result.
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