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Cribb vs Molineaux 1811
[George Cruickshank] 
England’s super sub praises England boss Sarina Wiegman for giving her hope ‘when she didn’t have any’
THE first world title fight in boxing — as acknowledged by most boxing historians — took place at Capthall Common in Sussex on December 18 1810.
It was fought between Tom Molineaux, a former slave from Virginia who began boxing when he arrived in New York as a freeman at the age of 20, and English champion Tom Cribb.
The occasion was preserved for posterity in the writing of the most popular English sportswriter of the period, Pierce Egan: “The pugilistic honour of the country was at stake,” Egan wrote, “the national laurels to be borne away by a foreigner — the mere idea to an English breast was afflicting, and the reality could not be endured — that is should seem, the spectators were ready to exclaim…”
Mary Kom’s fists made history in the boxing world. Malak Mesleh’s never got the chance. One story ends in glory, the other in grief — but both highlight the defiance of women who dare to fight, writes JOHN WIGHT
The Khelif gender row shows no sign of being resolved to the satisfaction of anyone involved anytime soon, says boxing writer JOHN WIGHT
When Patterson and Liston met in the ring in 1962, it was more than a title bout — it was a collision of two black archetypes shaped by white America’s fears and fantasies, writes JOHN WIGHT
In the land of white supremacy, colonialism and the foul legacy of the KKK, JOHN WIGHT knows that to resist the fascism unleashed by Trump is to do God’s work
