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Joe Coburn
Joe Coburn (July 29, 1835, in Middletown, County Armagh, Ireland – December 6, 1890, in New York City, New York) was an Irish-American boxer. In 1862 he claimed the Heavyweight Championship from John Carmel Heenan when Heenan refused to fight him.
Coburn was born on July 29, 1835, in Middletown, County Armagh, Ireland to Irish native parents Michael and Mary Trainor. Coburn's family emigrated to America during the Great Irish famine in 1850, when he was around fifteen years of age. His father Michael was a master of manual trade, and Joe grew up to be a bricklayer in New York's Sixteenth Ward. By the age of 21, he was active in the 16th's Volunteer Fire Department, and one of his earliest Brooklyn fights, which he won in four rounds, was arranged by his co-workers. In time, Coburn acquired and operated his own tavern, known as "The White House" in lower Manhattan. As a young boxer, as well as in his prime, Coburn was known for quickness, but not great physical strength.
Around 1856, after Coburn traveled to Boston to meet Ned Price, an English criminal lawyer, the pair met at Spot Pond. After 100 rounds and three and a half hours of desperate combat, no winner was determined as the referee had called a draw due to darkness. The brutal match took both men months to recover. They began their recovery with two weeks confined to their rooms, barely able to rise from bed. Coburn then defeated Patsy Flynn on August 7, 1857, in New York, in an indoor room, in four rounds."Mystery surrounds granite marker on island in the middle of Stoneham pond." *The Boston Globe*, 20 June 2016, https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/06/20/mystery-surrounds-granite-marker-island-middle-stoneham-pond/MnNVBjq3ubY6d0RyVjCP4I/story.html.
Coburn defeated Harry Gribbin, for a $1,000 a side, in twenty-one rounds on November 19, 1857, in Bertie County Canada, and then defeated Western boxer Ben Winkles for another $1,000 stake in only eighteen minutes. The following month, Coburn completed an exhibition with John C. Heenan in New York.
Under the English Broughton rules, if a boxer went down and could not continue after 30 seconds, the fight ended. Hitting a downed fighter and grasping or hitting below the waist were prohibited. Broughton invented and encouraged the use of "mufflers", a form of padded gloves, which were used in training and exhibitions, but rarely in prize fights. The advent of the Broughton rules around 1743 did allow fighters an advantage not enjoyed by modern boxers; a boxer could drop to one knee to start a 30-second count at any point in the match, but overuse of this privilege was frowned upon and sometimes disallowed by the judges.
By 1866, when Coburn began boxing in earnest, the Broughton Rules had evolved into the slightly more civilized London Prize Ring Rules promulgated in 1843. Fine scientific boxing with a calculated defense involving feints with the arms and forward foot were rarely a feature of bare-knuckle boxing in the 1860s, nor necessary with the undisciplined nature of London Prize Ring Rules. The rules did not permit head butting, holding the ropes, strangling, using resin, or stones or hard objects in the hands, and biting. Other than gouging, hitting a man when he was down, kicking, or hitting or grabbing below the waist, most moves were permitted, including throwing a man down or holding him to inflict blows.
Coburn first claimed the heavyweight championship in 1862 when John C. Heenan, the "Benicia Boy", failed to meet him in a fight. Heenan had first attempted the championship unsuccessfully in 1858 against John Morrissey, and had also unsuccessfully attempted the championship of England against Tom King in Wadhurst, England on December 10, 1863. Coburn would only have two American heavyweight championship fights in his career that were not cancelled or ended by police. In the first, on May 5, 1863, using London Prize Ring Rules and bare knuckles, Coburn defended the American title against Mike McCoole, winning a lengthy one hour and eight minute battle requiring 67 rounds in Charlestown, Maryland. The stakes ended at $2500 a side. Coburn had recently completed a prison term for a violent offense. McCoole had as much as a 20 pound weight advantage, but Coburn was the favorite in the early betting. Coburn appeared to have the edge from the start. He was thrown heavily to the ground several times, but in nearly every round "delivered his blows fairly and with tremendous effect against the face of his antagonist without his ever having received a blow in his face". In the 63rd round of the brutal affair, Coburn appeared visibly exhausted. By the 67th, McCoole, who appeared "lifeless", was taken away in a wagon. He had had his bruises and cuts first attended to by ringside attendants. The fight was illegal in Maryland, and authorities noted that an attempt to make arrests at the fight itself would have caused violence against the inhabitants of Charlestown. Nonetheless, when they tried to meet the following year near Indianapolis, they were both arrested and served forty days in Jail.
In late 1865, Coburn challenged Tom King, the reigning English heavyweight, considered by most to be a world champion, but King said he was retiring from pugilism and declined. King would precede Coburn as the world heavyweight champion.
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Joe Coburn
Joe Coburn (July 29, 1835, in Middletown, County Armagh, Ireland – December 6, 1890, in New York City, New York) was an Irish-American boxer. In 1862 he claimed the Heavyweight Championship from John Carmel Heenan when Heenan refused to fight him.
Coburn was born on July 29, 1835, in Middletown, County Armagh, Ireland to Irish native parents Michael and Mary Trainor. Coburn's family emigrated to America during the Great Irish famine in 1850, when he was around fifteen years of age. His father Michael was a master of manual trade, and Joe grew up to be a bricklayer in New York's Sixteenth Ward. By the age of 21, he was active in the 16th's Volunteer Fire Department, and one of his earliest Brooklyn fights, which he won in four rounds, was arranged by his co-workers. In time, Coburn acquired and operated his own tavern, known as "The White House" in lower Manhattan. As a young boxer, as well as in his prime, Coburn was known for quickness, but not great physical strength.
Around 1856, after Coburn traveled to Boston to meet Ned Price, an English criminal lawyer, the pair met at Spot Pond. After 100 rounds and three and a half hours of desperate combat, no winner was determined as the referee had called a draw due to darkness. The brutal match took both men months to recover. They began their recovery with two weeks confined to their rooms, barely able to rise from bed. Coburn then defeated Patsy Flynn on August 7, 1857, in New York, in an indoor room, in four rounds."Mystery surrounds granite marker on island in the middle of Stoneham pond." *The Boston Globe*, 20 June 2016, https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/06/20/mystery-surrounds-granite-marker-island-middle-stoneham-pond/MnNVBjq3ubY6d0RyVjCP4I/story.html.
Coburn defeated Harry Gribbin, for a $1,000 a side, in twenty-one rounds on November 19, 1857, in Bertie County Canada, and then defeated Western boxer Ben Winkles for another $1,000 stake in only eighteen minutes. The following month, Coburn completed an exhibition with John C. Heenan in New York.
Under the English Broughton rules, if a boxer went down and could not continue after 30 seconds, the fight ended. Hitting a downed fighter and grasping or hitting below the waist were prohibited. Broughton invented and encouraged the use of "mufflers", a form of padded gloves, which were used in training and exhibitions, but rarely in prize fights. The advent of the Broughton rules around 1743 did allow fighters an advantage not enjoyed by modern boxers; a boxer could drop to one knee to start a 30-second count at any point in the match, but overuse of this privilege was frowned upon and sometimes disallowed by the judges.
By 1866, when Coburn began boxing in earnest, the Broughton Rules had evolved into the slightly more civilized London Prize Ring Rules promulgated in 1843. Fine scientific boxing with a calculated defense involving feints with the arms and forward foot were rarely a feature of bare-knuckle boxing in the 1860s, nor necessary with the undisciplined nature of London Prize Ring Rules. The rules did not permit head butting, holding the ropes, strangling, using resin, or stones or hard objects in the hands, and biting. Other than gouging, hitting a man when he was down, kicking, or hitting or grabbing below the waist, most moves were permitted, including throwing a man down or holding him to inflict blows.
Coburn first claimed the heavyweight championship in 1862 when John C. Heenan, the "Benicia Boy", failed to meet him in a fight. Heenan had first attempted the championship unsuccessfully in 1858 against John Morrissey, and had also unsuccessfully attempted the championship of England against Tom King in Wadhurst, England on December 10, 1863. Coburn would only have two American heavyweight championship fights in his career that were not cancelled or ended by police. In the first, on May 5, 1863, using London Prize Ring Rules and bare knuckles, Coburn defended the American title against Mike McCoole, winning a lengthy one hour and eight minute battle requiring 67 rounds in Charlestown, Maryland. The stakes ended at $2500 a side. Coburn had recently completed a prison term for a violent offense. McCoole had as much as a 20 pound weight advantage, but Coburn was the favorite in the early betting. Coburn appeared to have the edge from the start. He was thrown heavily to the ground several times, but in nearly every round "delivered his blows fairly and with tremendous effect against the face of his antagonist without his ever having received a blow in his face". In the 63rd round of the brutal affair, Coburn appeared visibly exhausted. By the 67th, McCoole, who appeared "lifeless", was taken away in a wagon. He had had his bruises and cuts first attended to by ringside attendants. The fight was illegal in Maryland, and authorities noted that an attempt to make arrests at the fight itself would have caused violence against the inhabitants of Charlestown. Nonetheless, when they tried to meet the following year near Indianapolis, they were both arrested and served forty days in Jail.
In late 1865, Coburn challenged Tom King, the reigning English heavyweight, considered by most to be a world champion, but King said he was retiring from pugilism and declined. King would precede Coburn as the world heavyweight champion.