William Thompson (boxer)

William Abednego Thompson (11 October 1811 – 23 August 1880), also known as Bendigo Thompson and mononymously as Bendigo, was an English bare-knuckle boxer who won the heavyweight championship of England from James Burke on 12 February 1839. He was inducted into The Ring magazine Hall of Fame in 1955, the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Bare Knuckle Boxing Hall of Fame in 2011. His nickname of "Bendigo" lives on in the name of a city and creek in Australia.

Born in New Yard, now Trinity Walk, Nottingham on 11 October 1811, Thompson claimed to be one of a set of triplets named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, after the young men in the Book of Daniel who are thrown into the fiery furnace of Babylon. However, he was baptised at St Mary's Church, Nottingham on 16 October 1811 with his twin brother Richard. Richard died and was buried at the same church on 25 October 1811. If he was one of triplets, then the third must have died at, or soon after, birth.

It has often been claimed that Thompson was the youngest of a struggling family of twenty-one children born to Benjamin Thompson, a mechanic in the lace industry, and his wife Mary, in the slums of Nottingham. However, that is a myth.^{[citation needed]} William was one of six children (possibly seven) and had a younger sister, Mary, who died at the age of four. The eldest child in the family, Rebecca, born 1805, remains a mystery, because further details of her life cannot be found, and William grew up with just two surviving brothers, Thomas and John. William Thompson was strong and well developed as a young man and performed, demonstrating natural ability in various sports. His father died when he was only fifteen and, accompanied by his mother, he was sent to the Nottingham Workhouse. After leaving the Workhouse, Thompson sold oysters on the streets of Nottingham before landing a position as an iron turner, a job that enhanced his muscular build.

By the age of 18, Thompson began fighting to provide for his family. He defeated his first eight opponents, including the champion of the nearby town of Bingham. By the age of 21, he became a professional prize fighter and the details of his contests began to be recorded. Thompson was a southpaw and once, on a bet, he is said to have thrown half a house brick over the River Trent with his left hand. Although being barely 177 cm (5 ft 10 in) tall, he compensated for his lack of height with an incredible ability to punch hard and fast, and was said to be devoid of fear. He was also very agile, earning the name "Bendy" because of his constant bobbing and weaving around the ring. His nickname evolved and "Bendy", in combination with his name Abednego, became "Bendigo".

Though it was his speed and agility that won him his fights, it was Thompson's personality and sense of humour which endeared him to the crowd. He would make up rhymes about his opponents during the fights, and distract them with insults and tall tales of their wives and mothers while making funny faces at them. It wasn't long before Thompson was drawing crowds as large as 10,000 to his illicit fights, held secretly out of town in barns or fields.

Thompson's career was punctuated by his fierce rivalry with the Hucknall-born boxer Ben Caunt. On 21 July 1835, the two first met to split a purse of £25. This fight lasted 35 minutes, with 22 rounds, each round being called when either boxer's knee touched the ground. Thompson, who was 19 kg (42 lb; 3.0 st) lighter and 11 cm (4 in) shorter, got into difficulties during the fight and started to stumble frequently. That, and his continuous laughter and insults, frustrated Caunt who, in the last round, struck Thompson while he was sitting on his second's knee in his corner, costing Caunt the match on a foul. A reporter present at the bout, wrote of Caunt that he was "full of trickery and treachery — he has no ethics" and Thompson "as deadly and as poisonous as a rattlesnake with about the same ethics."

Over the next two years, Thompson fought three bouts, first dispatching the renowned John Leachman of Bradford in a 52-round contest, before moving to Newcastle the following year to defeat Charley Langham in 51 rounds.

A few months later, Thompson responded to a letter in a newspaper from Liverpudlian William Looney, challenging "... any man in the world for £200 stake and £200 a-side". The two met on 13 June 1838, on a hill known as Chapel-en-le-Frith, the halfway point between their home towns. The fight lasted for 92 rounds, but will probably be remembered for Thompson's reaction to Looney contemplating a haymaker in the fifteenth round, falling to the floor "on his nether end throwing up his legs and laughing". Thompson took control of the fight shortly after and started somersaulting in the ring, endearing him to the crowds. However, despite receiving a continuous barrage of punches, Looney fought bravely on, nearly winning the fight with a massive right hand counterpunch. Eventually Thompson's athleticism shone through and he was declared the winner after dominating over an hour of fighting.