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This article originally was published on June 25, 2019 for viewing on www.dmboxing.com

By David Martinez  / Boxing Historian / dmboxing.com

Arguably, the most important piece of boxing writing was by John Graham Chambers in 1865, a member of the Amateur Athletic Club in London, England .

Chambers wrote twelve rules to govern the conduct of boxing matches which would end the governed structure of bare-knuckle fighting.

John Sholto Douglas, eighth Marquis of Queensberry, was responsible for putting these rules into effect and gained fame with his sponsorship and by lending his name to the title . The new rules thus would supersede the Revised London Prize Ring Rules, which were written by Jack Broughton in 1743.

The first fight that applied Queensberry Rules was the heavyweight championship when Jim Corbett knocked out John L . Sullivan in twenty-one rounds to win the title at the Olympic Club in New Orleans on September 7, 1892.

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This article was originally published May 18, 2012 on www.dmboxing.com – AND … now reposting it this month for remembrance on this 50th year anniversary month of their fight.

By David Martinez / Boxing Historian / dmboxing.com

The date was May 24, 1974 when Bobby “Schoolboy”  Chacon and Danny “Little Red” Lopez met in the ring for a long awaited and most anticipated bout between two Southern California rising stars. I was there that night ringside and sitting next to me was HBO Real Sports host Bryant Gumbel – who at that time was a sportscaster for KNBC channel 4 in Los Angeles. The mega match was promoted by “the first lady of boxing” Aileen Eaton and was held at the LA Sports Arena with a crowd of over 16,000 in attendance . Chacon was 23-1 entering the fight and Lopez was a perfect 23-0 with 21 of those bouts ending by knockout.

The two fighters lived up to all the hype and staged an action packed fight up to the ninth round, where Chacon scored a spectacular knockout stopping the previously undefeated Lopez in 48 seconds of that round . Both would go on to win world championships, Chacon the WBC Featherweight (1974-75) and the WBC Super Featherweight (1982-84) titles and Lopez the WBC Featherweight (1976-80) title.

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This article was originally published on www.dmboxing.com on June 16, 2020

By David Martinez / Boxing Historian / dmboxing.com

There have been many handicaps to boxers in the ring – one eye, broken nose, severe cuts, ankle sprain, etc, but I must say the most debilitating handicaps has to be a deaf mute .

Mario D’Agata, an Italian professional boxer, was the first and only world champion to be just that.

D’Agata was born on May 29, 1926 in Arezzo, Italy . As a child he grew up with his disability, and was a prime target for teasing and taunting.  He would resort to prove himself by turning to street fighting to demonstrate his equality .

At a young age his parents moved him from Tuscany to Rome seeking help from doctors for a cure. It was there that he saw a boxing poster hanging outside a gym . He peeked into the gym and was drawn to amazement of the boxers at that moment watching them train with such grace and perfection.

At the age of 20 years old he began to fight in amateur bouts, and recorded 90 wins in his 110 bouts .

D’Agata turned pro on October 14, 1950. After assembling a ring record of 22 wins, 3 losses, 2 draws, on September 26, 1953 he would win the Italian Bantamweight title over Gianni Zuddas.

FLASHBACK – This article was originally published on August 15, 2017 for viewing on www.dmboxing.com

By David Martinez / Boxing Historian / dmboxing.com

There is a boxer that nobody ever talks about these days. A boxer who seems to have been lost in the fog of time, but whom I rate as one of the finest to ever come out of Chicago! His name is Jimmy Barry. He was known as “Little Tiger” and this 5-feet-2 Irish kid was as good as they come .

Born on March 7, 1870 he started his professional boxing career in 1891, winning 27 straight without a loss, with 18 of those wins coming by knockout.  On December 5, 1893 he knocked out Jack Levy in 17 rounds to win the “100 pound Championship of America”.