1803 Gallery of the Gallant Ballot

[Lord Cornelius Acton]

Attention: Voting membership of the Royal Explorers Club


Balloting for the 1803 Gallery of the Gallant is now open and will remain so for two days.

You may cast a ballot for any, all or none of the following retired pugilists:


Bob Watson (MW) 1788 - 1798
W17(2) / L7(0) / D4

Watson was a fine middleweight who assembled a 17-2-4 record before meeting Paddington Tom Jones for the World title in 1796. He lost that fight and four more before calling it a career. This is Watson's fifth and time on the ballot.

Full Record


Beef A-La-Mode (MW) 1786 - 1798
W4(2) / L18(2) / D3

Frenchman Beef A-La-Mode fought once for the English MW title and three times for the French HW honors. He had about as much success as you would expect a man named A-La-Mode to have in the ring. This is Beef's fifth and final time on the ballot.

Full Record



Paddington Tom Jones (MW) 1786 - 1799
W15(3) / L11(3) / D1 - World Middleweight Champion

Jones was the first World Middleweight champion to be crowned by the Royal Explorers Club. He lost the belt on his first defense to Tinman Hooper who beat him a total of six times over the years. This is Jones' fourth time on the ballot

Full Record


Gentleman John Jackson (HW) 1788 - 1800
W17(12) / L6(3) / D4 - World & English Heavyweight Champion

Jackson took the English title from Ben Bryan in 1793. He laid down that belt prior to meeting Bryan in 1796 for the first REC World title. Jackson won but later lost the honors to Bryan subsequently drawing three times in attempts to win it back. This is Jackson's third time on the ballot.

Full record


Dick Goodison (HW) 1791 - 1802
W10(3) / L20(6) / D0

Goodison defeated an over-the-hill Gentleman John Jackson but lost more than he won.

Full record


Bill Wood (MW) 1788 - 1802
W15(5) / L13(2) / D5 - English Middleweight Champion

Wood's biggest accomplishment was taking the English Middleweight title from Jack Holmes and defending it twice including a draw with Jem Belcher. Belcher dominated Wood when they met for the World title in 1802.

Full record


Tom Johnson (HW) 1783 - 1802
W20(8) / L11(5) / D2 - Two-time World Heavyweight Champion & English Heavyweight Champion

Johnson held the English title briefly in 1783 when he defeated the great Mendoza. In 1795, when he was generally considered past his prime, Johnson pushed eventual World champion John Jackson to a second day of fighting in the REC elimination tournament. With a flagging career, Johnson had a seven fight string beginning in 1798 that led to a World title shot in 1800 at the age of fifty. Johnson shocked the fancy with an upset over Big Ben Bryan. He lost the belt to Thomas Owen in 1801 but miraculously won it back in 1802 and defended once before retiring from the ring.

Full record






Sincerely,
Lord Cornelius Acton
President, Royal Explorers Club of Glasgow.

Visit the Gallery of the Gallant

[Romdawg88]

We almost got Watson in last time and seeing this is his last shot I'm asking if everyone who votes can please throw a vote his way. Vote for your A-La-Modes if you want I don't care but please give Watson your vote the man deserves to be in.

[bigMatt]

Originally Posted by Romdawg88

We almost got Watson in last time and seeing this is his last shot I'm asking if everyone who votes can please throw a vote his way. Vote for your A-La-Modes if you want I don't care but please give Watson your vote the man deserves to be in.

Hear Hear! Pay heed to the Viscount of Alvarez!

[Ric915]

I've voted for Watson the last three times out. C'mon Watson

[CONN CHRIS]

Let's not forget the most Gallant of them all!

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GLASGOW PICAYUNE

Sporting Edition | Volume II, Issue II | 30 August, 1795

THE GHOST OF JOHNSON PAST

Dartford, England: It was not the aging pugilist expected by the fancy that appeared before Gentleman John Jackson but instead the hardtack warrior not seen since his days of glory a decade past. Tom Johnson came to fight and fight he did.

Jackson and his backers arrived late to an adoring crowd gathered to hurrah the English champ. Johnson looked determined and fitter than he has been seen for many a year. The assemblage gasped as Johnson stung the champ with three successive blows to the head a mere minute after coming to scratch. Jackson took a knee and rose at four understanding for perhaps the first time that there would be a fight that day.

As the frames wore on, Johnson gave not an inch continually tying the Champ up and displaying surprising agility in getting away. Despite his Herculean effort, the younger Jackson turned matters round on Johnson by the late rounds and had him on the run. A crushing blow to the midribs sent Johnson to the floor gasping in the thirteenth. He rose unsteadily and managed to stay erect clear through the fifteenth but appeared done for. Much to the surprise of the fancy who favored a Jackson victory, the referee declared the match a draw and instructed the men to re-assemble around eleven the following day at Wilsden Green.

The second go round lacked the drama of the first. Johnson was a spent man but still full of heart as he tussled in vain for twelve rounds. Jackson's blows often found home sending Johnson to the ground five times in ten rounds. A blow to the temple in the twelfth left Johnson bewildered and unable to stand when the official reached his full count of ten. Jackson will fight for the World's title next year but Johnson gave his all and won the respect of many.

.

GLASGOW PICAYUNE

Sporting Edition | Volume VII, Issue II | 01 December, 1800

RETURN FROM THE GRAVE

Banstead Downs: Having dispatched the upstart Jack Bartholomew, heavyweight lord Big Ben Bryan gave little thought to his second bout of 1800. He could scarcely be blamed for his noncelance; aged Tom Johnson was seventeen years removed from his brief reign as English champ and five winters had come and gone since his battle with John Jackson where he pushed the eventual champion to a second day of battle in their REC elimination round before succumbing to a right hand. Tom Johnson was a used up and old pugilist but what little he had left was leveraged at Banstead Downs to produce a miracle.

[font=Arial][size=2]Johnson stunned the confident Bryan a mere minute into the fight as his head was snapped back by a right hand stab that drew blood from above the left eye. The old man took the round handily but gave ground back in the second frame. Summoning what energy he had, Johnson worked furiously in the third and tore Bryan's cut wider and deeper in the fourth and fifth. Bryan's trouble expanded in the sixth when a gash under his right eye was opened by an inadvertent head but. With claret all about, Bryan began to take matters seriously as he drew blood from Johnson and knocked him down twice between the seventh and tenth stanzas. The two came to scratch for the eleventh in a dead draw at five rounds apiece but Johnson looked weak and ready to be plucked. A wild throw from the bloody and swollen Bryan left the champ wide open to a Johnson wallop. The sudden blow stunned Bryan and gave Johnson momentary new life. A lightning quick combination put the wobbly champ down and out cold. Bryan made a feeble attempt to rise at the count of nine but rolled over and remained on his back until his seconds could lift him some minutes later.
The suddenness of the event took the gathered crowd by surprise but the result finally sunk in. Fifty-year-old Tom Johnson had claimed the Royal Explorers Club prize and was the new World Heavyweight Champion!

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GLASGOW PICAYUNE

Sporting Edition | Volume IX, Issue II | 01 April, 1802

The Ageless Tom Johnson

Temple Mills, England: At age fifty-two, Tom Johnson was given his last chance at glory in the prize ring and seized it to full advantage. When Johnson and Thomas Owen met November last, Owen worked from well outside frustrating and tiring the old man but Johnson was ready this go-round looking trimmer than ever and ready for a race if that's what the champ wanted.

Johnson cut Owen off quickly in the opening round and leveled a few good blows in the corner. The old man nimbly sidestepped the champ's few advances and countered beautifully as he took the frame with ease. Owen adjusted nicely giving few opportunities to counter and won the next three rounds giving every indication that this would be a repeat performance of the bout that placed the belt around his waist. Johnson, determined to not allow his slide to continue pressed and struck home with a number of wallops that tallied the next two in his column leaving the men dead even through six.
The middle rounds sea-sawed but Johnson claimed three of five and had Owen's left eye nearly closed when the bell sounded the end of round eleven. Johnson, chest heaving, struggled through the twelfth but regained enough strength to take hold of the bout in the thirteenth. With Owen's legs beginning to fail, he was unable to dodge several haymakers from Johnson and dropped to a knee taking a six count. He rose and became a statue for the balance of the round feebly trying to fend off the sluggish but potent thumps from the old man's fists. The final two frames saw two men scarcely able to breath try in vain to deliver a fatal blow but neither could.

The decision was razor thin but went to Johnson eight rounds to seven largely on the strength of his late surge becoming the first man to regain a world title once lost. Afterward, Johnson stated his desire to fight only once more and to then retire to the country win, lose or draw.

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GLASGOW PICAYUNE

Sporting Edition | Volume IX, Issue III | 15 July, 1802

COURAGE FOR THE AGES

Moulsey Hurst, England: Although Ben Bryan was set to receive a chance at reclaiming the World title, the REC allowed Tom Johnson to select his stated final opponent provided that he set to with a man in the current rankings. Johnson issued a call to Solly Sodicky who was number seven at the end of 1801 and possessed a 16/9/2 record. Sodicky accepted without hesitation.

[size=2][font=Arial]The name of Johnson was on every man's lips throughout the spring and early summer as he prepared for the bout. While he had been considered a top man throughout his nineteen years in the ring, nothing could compare to the fame he had accumulated after turning fifty. While his legacy was already set as a two-time World Champion, one final win would surely place him with the immortals.

The crowd that gathered on July second for the match was the largest ever seen and defied all attempts to count or estimate. The groans could be heard for miles as the ageless wonder took a beating in round one. With thousands of voices raised in encouragement, Johnson squared his jaw and set to work in the second. Cutting off the ring and catching the plodding Sodicky was not too difficult but Johnson was unable to avoid being hit frequently. With few options provided by his aging frame, Johnson sought to trade blows hoping to land the harder. Over the next six rounds he did just that and though both eyes were badly swollen, Johnson stood at the end of seven with a massive six rounds to one lead.

Johnson's legs and lungs both failed him in the eighth as he was sent to the floor by a Sodicky hook. The Champ struggled to his feet to cheers that buoyed him to the bell. Sodicky laid him low once more in the ninth but Johnson somehow stood at a count of nine and survived the bell once again. The final five rounds were a test of courage to the extreme as Johnson forced himself to keep moving forward with a body that wanted no more. Each bell left all in attendance wondering if he would be able to rise for another stanza but rise he did, again and again.

Johnson collapsed into his second's arms at the final bell exhausted and badly marred about the face. The decision brought shouts of rapture; nine rounds for Johnson, five for Sodicky and one even. Though he hadn't beaten the best in the land, Johnson most certainly gave the finest and most gallant performance ever witnessed in England. True to his word, the Champion relinquished his belt and announced his retirement immediately.

[mikehoudini]

Originally Posted by Romdawg88

We almost got Watson in last time and seeing this is his last shot I'm asking if everyone who votes can please throw a vote his way. Vote for your A-La-Modes if you want I don't care but please give Watson your vote the man deserves to be in.

I voted for him again, along with Tom Johnson and my sentimental favorite, Soup de Jour's cousin, Beef. I hope he makes it this time!

[Romdawg88]

Originally Posted by CONN CHRIS

Let's not forget the most Gallant of them all!

No worries Chris I haven't forgotten Johnson. If he doesn't make it this round then I'm planning on giving him the Watson treatment.

[Syd Thrift]

Forget this Watson garbage. My fellow Americans, this is your last chance to get Beef a la Mode in the Hall of Fame. I exhort you to vote early and vote often but only if you vote Beef! Beef: it's what's for the Hall of Fame.

[bigMatt]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

Forget this Watson garbage. My fellow Americans, this is your last chance to get Beef a la Mode in the Hall of Fame. I exhort you to vote early and vote often but only if you vote Beef! Beef: it's what's for the Hall of Fame.

Roux the day that a man could gain acclaim simply by adopting the name of a morsel of food for his personal nomenclature!

[mikehoudini]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

Forget this Watson garbage. My fellow Americans, this is your last chance to get Beef a la Mode in the Hall of Fame. I exhort you to vote early and vote often but only if you vote Beef! Beef: it's what's for the Hall of Fame.

As Clara Peller would have said, "Where's the Beef?" Alas, unlike the Daley era in Shy-town, you can only vote once! Maybe we can stage a write-in campaign to have him added if by some chance he doesn't make it this go-around!

[mikehoudini]

Originally Posted by bigMatt

Roux the day that a man could gain acclaim simply by adopting the name of a morsel of food for his personal nomenclature!

Nice play on words! But the Man, whose descendants may well include Mel de la Turnbow, may well be worthy of entry, as many (several) of our august body believe!

[Lord Cornelius Acton]

Roughly six hours of balloting remain with Watson close but not quite at enshrinement level. Jackson and Johnson have strong support but lag well behind.

L.C.A.