Journal of Combative Sport, Nov 2007

Death under the Spotlight: The Manuel Velasquez Boxing Fatality Collection
The Data

Death under the Spotlight: The Data

By Joseph R. Svinth
Copyright © EJMAS 2000-2007. All rights reserved.
First posted: July 2000. Latest update: November 2007

Introduction

This series of tabulations supports my article, “Death under the Spotlight: The Manuel Velazquez Boxing Fatality Collection.” If your search engine brought you here directly, please refer to the main article itself, located at http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_svinth_a_0700.htm, for background and statistical analysis.

You are welcome to print these tables for private use, but please be aware that a printed version of the complete document may run more than a hundred pages in length. Check formatting, too – you will want landscape rather than portrait.

Reporting Errors and Providing Additional Information

Names may be misspelled, or the date may reflect the date of death rather than the date of the fatal event. If you find errors, have photographs or additional information to share, or simply want a copy of the most current Excel spreadsheet, please contact me at jsvinth@ejmas.com.

Key

Deaths are sorted by type (professional, amateur, Toughman, training, or before 1890), and then by year. To search alphabetically, use the CTRL-F search function of your browser.

SURVIVOR: When known, birth names appear first, followed by ring name in parentheses (like this).

DAY/MO/YEAR: These fields show the date of the fatal event.

RES: The result of the fight. Although the default is knockout (KO), the actual outcome may have been different unless a round (RD) is also listed.

DECEASED: When known, birth names appear first, followed by ring name in parentheses (like this).

AGE: This refers to the age of the deceased.

COUNTY/STATE: This column lists English counties, US and Australian states, and Canadian provinces.

SOURCES/REMARKS: Most of the newspaper citations listed here can be viewed online, generally on a pay-per-view basis. Some newspapers can be searched directly; see, for example, Brooklyn Daily Eagle and The New York Times. Others (mostly American) can be found online at NewspaperArchive.com. Many out-of-copyright texts listed here can be viewed online using Google Book Search or Microsoft Live Search. For access to back issues of boxing magazines, consider visiting the Winkler Collection at Notre Dame University. To find career summaries of professional boxers listed here, try Boxrec.com. For photos of professional boxers, sources include http://www.antekprizering.com/photoarchive.html, Corbis, and http://www.picturehistory.com.

Table 1: Ring deaths before 1890

Survivor	Day/Mo	Year	Res	Rd	Deceased	Age	Town	County/State	Country	Weight	Sources/Remarks
William Emerson	ND	1732	KO		Andrew Reed		Great Yarmouth	Norfolk	England	ND	Charles John Palmer, The Perlustration of Great Yarmouth,with Goreston and Southtown, (Great Yarmouth: George Nall, 1872), 89. This probably is not the first boxing death in England. For example, a John Smith reportedly died of blows in 1730 and in July 1736, the Northampton Mercury reported two anonymous deaths due to blows. In those days, the English associated boxing with butchers' guilds and Maisters of Defence, and contests often took place at fairs.
John "Jack" Broughton	24-Apr	1741	KO	3	George Stevenson		London	London	England	Heavy	Henry Downes Miles, Pugilistica: The History of British Boxing..., (London: J. Grant, 1906), 23; Bob Mee, Bare Fists: The History of Bare-Knuckle Prize Fighting (Woodstock, New York: Overlook Press, 2001), 13-17. The fight probably took place at Broughton's booth in Hanway Street. The bout lasted about 35-40 minutes, and it ended with Broughton pinning Stevenson against a ring stake and then hitting him hard above the heart. The blows broke several ribs, and Stevenson died of injuries the following month. The death is commemorated in Paul Whitehead's mock-heroic poem entitled The Gymnasiad, or Boxing Match. "Down dropp'd the Hero [Stevenson], welt'ring in his Gore," said Whitehead, "And his stretch'd Limbs lay quiv'ring on the Floor." Stevenson's death also directly contributed to the introduction of Broughton's Rules in 1743, which became one of the fundamental bases of modern international boxing. Summarized, Broughton's Rules prohibited hitting below the waist or after the opponent was down, introduced rounds and rest periods, and designated the starting mark as "a square of a yard chalked in the middle of a stage." Broughton also introduced "mufflers," meaning leather gloves padded with several ounces of horsehair or lamb's wool, to pugilism. Here, the motivation was Broughton's establishment of a boxing school for wealthy amateurs. (An advertisement in the Daily Advertiser for February 1, 1747 claimed that gloves would "effectually secure [students] from the inconveniency of black eyes, broken jaws, and bloody noses.") Weight classes also developed during this period. This innovation came from cockfighting and horseracing, and was intended to simplify the problems of setting odds for fights between men of mismatched size and weight.
Thomas Faulkner	5-Aug	1758	KO		George Taylor		St. Albans	Hertfordshire	England	Heavy	Bob Mee, Bare Fists: The History of Bare-Knuckle Prize Fighting (Woodstock, New York: Overlook Press, 2001), 20; H.B. Wheatley, Hogarth's London, Pictures of the Manners of the Eighteenth Century (London: Constable and Company Ltd., 1909), 149. Taylor, who was blind in one eye prior to the fight, lost sight in his good eye during the fight, and he died of injuries in December 1758.
John "Jack" Warren	9-Apr	1765	KO		Phillip Juchau		Moorfields	London	England	Heavy	Pierce Egan, Boxiana, London, 1812, 79; Pancratia, or a History of Pugilism, London, Hildyard, 1812, 56; Editors of Bell's Life, Fistiana: Or, The Oracle of the Ring, London, 1841, 265; Mee, 2001, 24; London Encyclopaedia, edited by Ben Weinreb and Christopher Hibbert (Bethesda, Maryland: Adler & Adler, 1986), 526. Juchau was thrown by a cross-buttock. He struck his head on a paving stone, and he died.
William Tower	22-Nov	1784	KO		Bill Day		Barnet	London	England	ND	Pierce Egan, Boxiana, London, 1812, 488-489; Pancratia, or a History of Pugilism, London, Hildyard, 1812, 68-69. Day was dancing about, said Egan, "till at length TOWERS caught him in one corner of the stage, and held him fast by one hand, while with the other he nearly annihilated DAY." The bout lasted 33 minutes, and Day died shortly afterward of his injuries.
Thomas Tyne	6-Aug	1788	KO		George Earl		Brighton	East Sussex	England	Heavy	Pancratia, or a History of Pugilism, London, Hildyard, 1812, 81; Leslie A. Marchand, Lord Byron: Letters and Journals, volume 3, "Alas the Love of Women" (London: John Murray, 1974), 133. Struck a solid blow against the temple, Earl fell back and struck his head against a solid rail. The Prince of Wales was present at the bout, and to avoid further scandal, he awarded an annuity to Earl's widow and children.
William Ward (Bill Warr)	5-May	1789	KO		Edwin Swaine		Enfield	London	England	Heavy	Pierce Egan, Boxiana, London, 1812, 118; “William Ward, a boxer, convicted of manslaughter for killing his opponent," http://www.exclassics.com/newgate/ng370.htm; Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org), "William Ward, Killing: Murder, 3rd June, 1789," Ref: t17890603-17. Swaine was a blacksmith who challenged Ward, a professional, to a fight, for a prize of a guinea. Swaine took Ward by the hair, and began punching him in the face. They then went to the ground, and the first round ended. They got back up, and Ward began striking back. Swaine said he wanted to stop, and began walking away. Ward followed Swaine, and struck him again, once in the stomach and a second time to the head. Swaine went down, and was dead on the spot. The surgeon did not do an autopsy, but said that the cause of death was a blow to the temple. Ward was arrested, convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced to three months imprisonment, plus a one-shilling fine. An artist's depiction of the mill appears in Andrew Knapp and William Baldwin, The Newgate Calendar, vol. 3 (London: J. Robins and Co., 1825), 145.
Thomas Kniblett	12-Mar	1798	KO		William Turner		Mile-End	London	England	ND	London Times, July 7, 1798. This was a grudge match that was fought as a prizefight. Turner was thrown with a cross-buttock. He struck his head on a rock, and he died soon after. Kniblett was convicted of manslaughter.
ND	14-May	1800	KO		Collins		Newington	London	England	ND	Anonymous, Sporting Magazine, v. 16 (Apr.-Sept. 1800), London, Rogerson & Tuxford, 1800, p. 89. Collins was a construction worker, and his opponent was an Irish fisherman. The two men had a dispute, so they decided to settle it with a prizefight at noon. The bout took place outside the Elephant and Castle, and it lasted 1 hour, 20 minutes. Finally, Collins was struck on the jugular and he died almost instantly. The Irishman died soon after.
Collins	14-May	1800	WKO		ND		Newington	London	England	ND	Anonymous, Sporting Magazine, v. 16 (Apr.-Sept. 1800), London, Rogerson & Tuxford, 1800, p. 89. Collins was a construction worker, and his opponent was an Irish fisherman. The two men had a dispute, so they decided to settle it with a prizefight at noon. The bout took place outside the Elephant and Castle, and it lasted 1 hour, 20 minutes. Finally, Collins was struck on the jugular and he died almost instantly. The Irishman died soon after.
S. Houghton	20-Oct	1801	KO		B. Dickenson		Great Ponton	Lincolnshire	England	ND	Edinburgh Advertiser, November 13, 1801. Houghton was a horse breaker, and Dickinson was a tailor. This was probably a grudge match fought under prize ring rules, as Houghton was said to be about 70 years of age.
James Ayres	30-Jun	1809	KO	13	William Dormer		Hackney	London	England	ND	Bob Mee, Bare Fists: The History of Bare-Knuckle Prize Fighting (Woodstock, New York: Overlook Press, 2001), 76. Struck below the left ear, Dormer fell down. He stood up, and then collapsed. Ayres and his second were convicted of manslaughter and branded on the arm.
Haynes	11-Dec	1809	KO		Holmes		Sallowfield	Hampshire	England	ND	Edinburgh Annual Register for 1809, Vol. 2 (London: James Ballantyne and Co., 1811), 311-312. Holmes was knocked down by a blow below the right ear, and he did not get up.
Stringer Tonk	16-Dec	1810	KO	31	Charles Beale		Rollestone	Wiltshire	England	ND	Plattsburgh (New York) Republican, May 31, 1811, cited at http://esf.uvm.edu/vtbox/Historical.html. Although fought for a purse, this was also a grudge match.
ND	12-Dec	1812	KO		White		Wickwar	South Gloucestershire	England	ND	The Sporting Magazine, Volume 39, 1812, p. 242. The wager was 3s, and the fight lasted about an hour. White walked home after the fight, a distance of about three miles, and that night, he became unconscious. He died the following Saturday. Cause of death was a burst blood vessel in the brain.
Edward "Ned" Turner	22-Oct	1816	KO	68	John "Jack" Curtis		Moulsey Hurst	Surrey	England	ND	Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org), "Edward Turner: Killing: Murder, 30th October, 1816," Ref: t18161030-8; Edinburgh Advertiser, November 5, 1816; London Times, November 1, 1816; Editors of Bell's Life, Fistiana: Or, The Oracle of the Ring, London, 1841, 248; Henry Ripley, The History and Topography of Hampton-on-Thames, London: Wyman and Sons, 1884, 115. The mill lasted 1 hour, 28 minutes. At the conclusion, Curtis was knocked out. After getting up, he started vomiting, so he was taken to a nearby inn. Surgeons were called, and he was bled, but he died nonetheless. After two minutes deliberation, the jury convicted Turner of manslaughter. The sentence was three months imprisonment and a one-shilling fine.
William Batts	28-Apr	1817	KO	27	Thomas Clayton		Oxford	Oxfordshire	England	ND	Personal correspondence with Ollie Batts (a descendent). The location of the mill was either Radley Common, or a riverside meadow on the Berkshire bank of the Thames, and the purse was 20 guineas. After being knocked out by a blow to the side of the head, Clayton was taken to King's Arms Public House in Sandford, where he died at about 7 p.m. Batts was arrested, convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced to six months imprisonment. See also Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, May 1817, where the pugilists are described as Clayton and Whitney.
Charles "Pug" McKay (or McGee)	15-Jun	1819	KO		Samuel Eades		Birmingham (Rotten Park)	West Midlands	England	ND	London Times, June 28, 1819; Editors of Bell's Life, Fistiana: Or, The Oracle of the Ring, London, 1841, 226. Said the London Times: "After fighting nearly 40 minutes, the latter had received so much injury that he died."
Dogherty	Dec/	1820	KO	45	Michael White		Bristol	Bristol	England	ND	The Cottager's Monthly Visitor, Volume 1, London: F.C. & J. Rivington, 1821. The two men had a quarrel that they decided to settle with a prize fight. The bout took place on a Tuesday, and lasted one hour, ten minutes. White was carried home, and died about 6 p.m.
Edward "Ned" Horner	16-Jul	1821	KO		John Wilson	24	London	London	England	ND	Edinburgh Advertiser, October 19, 1821. The men had a quarrel that they decided to settle as a prizefight, with side bets and a purse. The bout took place on a Sunday morning, near Milbank Penitentiary.
Jack Cooper (Slashing Gypsy)	7-Aug	1821	KO	38	Dan O'Leary		Epsom (Walton Down)	Surrey	England	Welter	Edinburgh Advertiser, September 14, 1821; Edinburgh Advertiser, September 18, 1821; Editors of Bell's Life, Fistiana: Or, The Oracle of the Ring, London, 1841, 217. O'Leary was hit several times under his ear, and went down. He was carried off the field, and soon died. Cooper was found guilty of manslaughter, and sentenced to six months imprisonment.
Daniel Watts	4-Apr	1823	KO		Jim Smith		Brighton	East Sussex	England	ND	Henry Downes Miles, Pugilistica: The History of British Boxing (London, J. Grant, 1906), 17. Cause of death was attributed to congestion of the brain. Around this time, pugilism began falling out of favor with the British aristocracy. One reason was a scandal over betting that caused the retirement of Gentleman John Jackson, a man widely viewed as an honest broker. Another was the well-publicized trial and execution of a homicidal boxing promoter named John Thurtell. And a third was the spread of middle-class Christian evangelicalism. To the Christian reformers, pugilism gave crude pleasure to the rich and the working classes. Moreover, it was associated with homoeroticism, which was an even graver sin. (During the Regency, heroic nudity had been an artistic vogue, and Thomas Bruce, Earl of Elgin, was notorious for paying pugilists to pose nude amidst his Greek marbles.) Thus, new laws were passed -- and more importantly, enforced. The first major fight to be stopped under the new anti-prizefight laws was one between Ned Neale and Jem Burns in 1824. Going to America was one of the ways that fighters avoided such strictures, and in July 1823, the New York Evening Post described a bout between an 18-year old butcher and "a man they called the champion of Hickory Street." The stakes in the latter fight were $200, an amount roughly equal to a working man’s annual income. Better known were the battles between Ned Hammond of Dublin and George Kensett of Liverpool in 1824 and 1826. Such battles had strong ethnic overtones, and the practice of tying gang colors to the ropes dates to this era. At the same time, journalists such as Pierce Egan, author of Boxiana, or Sketches of Ancient and Modern Pugilism, began promoting the heroics of the old days, and newspapers such as the New York Herald began routinely reporting prizefights. Other, less famous, popular boxing texts of 1820s and 1830s included William Sharples's The Complete Art of Boxing (1829), Samuel O’Rourke’s The Art of Pugilism (1837), and Owen Swift’s Hand-Book to Boxing (1840). The American edition of the latter book was called Boxing without a Master.
John Hargreaves	30-May	1823	KO		Ralph Croft		Kirby Lonsdale	Cumbria	England	ND	London Times, August 14, 1823. This was a grudge match fought as a prize fight. Croft was struck below the left ear. He fell, and died three days later without regaining consciousness. Death was due to bleeding in the brain. Hargreaves was convicted of manslaughter.
James Bostick	9-Jul	1824	KO		Thomas Smith		Islington (Copenhagen Fields)	London	England	ND	Editors of Bell's Life, Fistiana: Or, The Oracle of the Ring, London, 1841, 239.
Ned Brown	9-Nov	1824	KO	21	Harry Scott		Colnbrook	Berkshire	England	Bantam	Editors of Bell's Life, Fistiana: Or, The Oracle of the Ring, London, 1841, 134. Scott stood up at the start of the twentieth round, then collapsed.
Miller	3-Jan	1825	KO		Ezra Coizer		Cheltenham	Gloucestershire	England	ND	Editors of Bell's Life, Fistiana: Or, The Oracle of the Ring, London, 1841, 211.
Jack Ford	26-Feb	1825	KO		Joseph Ebbs		Rickmansworth	Hertfordshire	England	ND	London Times, March 4, 1826; Editors of Bell's Life, Fistiana: Or, The Oracle of the Ring, London, 1841, 161, 168. This was a grudge match fought as a prizefight, for five shillings a side. Ford did much headbutting throughout the fight. Ebbs died of ruptured blood vessels in the brain. Ford was convicted of manslaughter.
George Alexander Wood	28-Feb	1825	KO	60	F. Ashley Cooper	14	Eton	Berkshire	England	ND	Edinburgh (Scotland) Advertiser, March 8, 1825; Edinburgh (Scotland) Advertiser, March 11, 1825; The Cottager's Monthly Visitor, vol. 5 (London: C. & J. Rivington, 1825), 179; Andrew Knapp and William Baldwin, The Newgate Calendar, vol. 3 (London: J. Robins and Co., 1825), 394-396; William Pitt Lennox, Celebrities I Have Known (London: Hurst and Blackett, 1876), 52; (Bristol, Pennsylvania) Bucks County Gazette, July 21, 1892; Newgate Calendar, http://www.exclassics.com/newgate/ng595.htm. Cooper was the fifth son of the Earl of Shaftsbury. Meanwhile, Wood, who was aged about 16 years, was the son of an army colonel and the nephew of Charles Stewart, 3rd Marquis of Londonderry. Wood and Cooper had an argument about seating, and they agreed to settle it using prize ring rules. After boxing for about two hours, Cooper was knocked down by a blow to the temple, and he did not get up. His friend James Morrell carried him to his bed. A servant looked in on him every hour, and after about four hours, the surgeon was called. By the time the doctor arrived, Cooper was dead. The coroner's jury found for manslaughter. The criminal case was tried March 9, 1825. Cooper's family refused to allow his brothers, who had served as his seconds in the match, to testify against Wood. Consequently, since there were no witnesses to the contrary, a verdict of not guilty was returned.
Joseph Parker	16-Jun	1825	KO		John Stone		Chalkfarm	London	England	ND	Editors of Bell's Life, Fistiana: Or, The Oracle of the Ring, London, 1841, 220.
Al Henderson	28-Nov	1825	KO		Jerry Halton (Runner)		Hungerford	Berkshire	England	ND	Editors of Bell's Life, Fistiana: Or, The Oracle of the Ring, London, 1841, 178. The fight lasted two hours.
Joe Hayes	Mar/	1826	KO		Pat Driscoll		Eel Pie Island	London	England	ND	Editors of Bell's Life, Fistiana: Or, The Oracle of the Ring, London, 1841, 159.
Hawkeswell (Coachman)	25-Oct	1826	KO		Buxton		Kingston	West Sussex	England	ND	Editors of Bell's Life, Fistiana: Or, The Oracle of the Ring, London, 1841, 181. The bout lasted 60 minutes.
Albert Frankhorn	15-May	1827	KO	43	Al Seeley		Bath (Lansdown)	Somerset	England	ND	Editors of Bell's Life, Fistiana: Or, The Oracle of the Ring, London, 1841, 168.
Jack Yates	21-May	1827	KO	90	Bob Clough		Eccles	Greater Manchester	England	ND	Editors of Bell's Life, Fistiana: Or, The Oracle of the Ring, London, 1841, 144.
Samuel Beard	1-Oct	1827	KO		John Kemp Crow		Westminster (Old Oak Common)	London	England	ND	Editors of Bell's Life, Fistiana: Or, The Oracle of the Ring, London, 1841, 126; London Times, October 31, 1827; Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org), "Samuel Beard, Alexander Reed, Michael Kirton, Patrick Flinn: killing : murder, 25th October, 1827," Ref: t18271025-89. This was a grudge match fought by prize-ring rules. The fight lasted about half an hour, and during the fight, several of Crow's ribs were broken. One of the rib fragments punctured Crow's spleen, and he died of the internal injury. Beard and the seconds were convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced to serve seven to fourteen days.
William Davis	26-Jul	1829	KO	55	Thomas Winkworth		Hampstead	London	England	ND	Editors of Bell's Life, Fistiana: Or, The Oracle of the Ring, London, 154, 255; Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org), "William Davis, Patrick Flynn, Michael Driscoll, killing : manslaughter, 10th September, 1829," Ref: t18290910-51. This was a grudge match fought according to prize-ring rules. The fight lasted about an hour and a quarter, and for the last half hour, Davis was clearly leading. Winkworth was heard to say, "So help me God, I am not able to fight any longer," but his seconds kept pushing him to the mark. He was knocked down again and again, and finally the fight was stopped. Cause of death was bleeding on the right side of the brain. Davis and the seconds were convicted of manslaughter. Davis was confined for a year, and the seconds were transported for life.
Simon Byrne	2-Jun	1830	KO	47	Alexander "Sandy" McKay	26	Salcey Forest	Northhamptonshire	England	Heavy	London Times, July 24, 1830; John Johnstone, The Schoolmaster and Edinburgh Weekly Magazine, v. 1-2 (1832-1833) (Edinburgh: John Anderson, 1833), 97. "Match between Simon Byrne and Sandy M'Kay, Oriental Sporting Magazine: From June 1828 to June 1833, Vol. II (London: Henry S. King & Co., 1873), 44-45; Henry Downes Miles, Pugilistica: The History of British Boxing, (London, J. Grant, 1906), 226; Peter Radford, The Celebrated Captain Barclay: Sport, Money and Fame in Regency Britain (London: Headline, 2001), 255-264; "The fight at Salcey Green," http://www.mkheritage.co.uk/hdhs/fight.html; "The death of Simon Byrne, the pugilist," National Gazette and Literary Register," August 1, 1833, No. 1928, XII, at http://www.boxinggyms.com/news/simon/death_simon1.htm; "Broadside entitled 'S. Byrne &c.'," National Library of Scotland, http://www.nls.uk/broadsides/broadside.cfm/id/15559/transcript/1; "Broadside entitled 'MacKay poisoned!" http://www.nls.uk/broadsides/broadside.cfm/id/14570, "Simon Byrne," Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Giano/Sand_box_2. McKay was a strongman rather than a pugilist, and despite the billing that this was a championship bout, it was only McKay's fourth prizefight. (He had two wins over an Irish boxer, Paul Spencer, and a loss to Simon Byrne 2-1/2 years earlier.) The blow that ended the fight was a left to the throat that didn't seem to anyone to be that powerful. Nonetheless, McKay was carried to his corner. When he regained consciousness, he complained of severe headache. The surgeon bled him and gave him laudanum, but he died nonetheless. Cause of death was listed as "considerable effusion of blood, three or four tablespoons full," on the left side of the brain. In other words, he had an acute left subdural hematoma. At the subsequent manslaughter trial, witnesses were found to say that McKay had struck his head while falling on some stones several hours before the fight, and so no convictions were obtained.
Isaacs	23-Aug	1831	KO		Samuel Gilpin		Newscastle	Staffordshire	England	ND	Editors of Bell's Life, Fistiana: Or, The Oracle of the Ring, London, 1841, 173.
Richard Dodd	Aug/	1831	KO		James Cox	25	Isle of Dogs	London	England	ND	London Times, September 1, 1831. Dodd was charged with manslaughter, but released; he died in a separate fight with James Hargrave in December 1831.
James Hargrave	8-Dec	1831	KO		Richard Dodd		Isle of Dogs	London	England	ND	R. v. Hargrave, 1831, 5 C&P 170, King's Bench, "Reports of Cases Argued and Ruled at Nisi Prius..." (London: W. McDowall, 1833), 170-171; see also Charles F. Williams and David S. Garland, American and English Encyclopaedia of Law, Vol. 28 (Northport, New York: Edward Thompson Co., 1895), 203. The fight started at Islington (then part of Middlesex), but the police interfered. The fighters then moved to the Isle of Dogs (Kent), where they resumed the mill. Dodd lost, and and he died soon after in hospital. The court's ruling was that if the fatal blow occurred in one county, but death occurred in another, then the county in which the blow was struck had jurisdiction. Hargrave was convicted, and sentenced to fourteen years' transportation.
James Barber	26-Feb	1833	KO	44	James Startin		Walsall	West Midlands	England	ND	Editors of Bell's Life, Fistiana: Or, The Oracle of the Ring, London, 1841, 241.
Charles Jackson	26-Apr	1833	KO	29	Edward Bower		Sheffield (Shiregreen)	South Yorkshire	England	ND	London Times, April 29, 1833; (Glasgow) Scotsman, May 11, 1833. Bower was carried to his home, where he died within a few hours. Jackson and the seconds were charged with manslaughter.
James Burke (Deaf 'Un)	30-May	1833	KO	99	Simon Byrne	32	St. Albans	Hertfordshire	England	Heavy	(Glasgow) Scotsman, July 24, 1833; John Epps, Consumption (London: Sanderson, 1859), 103; Henry Downes Miles, Pugilistica: The History of British Boxing (London, J. Grant, 1906), 126; John Gilbert Bohun Lynch, Knuckles and Gloves (London: W. Collins Sons, 1922), 80-83. Byrne had gained a lot of weight over the past few years, so during his training for this fight, he lost about 25 pounds. By the 43rd round, both men were clearly exhausted, but the seconds and the referee kept pushing them to their marks, as they had their bets to consider. Finally, by the 99th round, Byrne's hands were too damaged to go on, and the fight was stopped. Two days later, Byrne died. The official cause of death was congestion of blood on the left side of the brain. The scandal surrounding the seconds pushing exhausted fighters to their mark contributed to the development of London Prize Ring Rules, which, among other things, prohibited seconds from carrying a nearly unconscious man to the mark. Meanwhile, although Burke avoided prison, he was unable to get another fight in England. Therefore, in 1836, he went to the USA, where he fought in both New York and New Orleans
Welsh Ned	12-Jun	1833	KO		Samuel Oakey		Cheltenham	Gloucestershire	England	ND	London Times, June 18, 1833. The two men had quarreled, and agreed to a prize fight to resolve their differences. The bout lasted about three-quarters of an hour. Oakey was carried unconscious from the field, and died three days later. Welsh Ned fled, and the coroner's jury charged him with manslaughter.
Michael Murphy	2-Jul	1833	KO		Edward "Ned" Thompson (Paddington Pet)		Friern Barnet	London	England	ND	London Times, July 13, 1833; Editors of Bell's Life, Fistiana: Or, The Oracle of the Ring, London, 1841, 211; Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org), "Edward Murphy, killing: murder, 28th November, 1833," Ref: t18331128-45; Jack Anderson, "Pugilistic prosecutions: Prize fighting and the courts in nineteenth century Britain," The Sports Historian, November 2001, http://www.umist.ac.uk/sport/SPORTS%20HISTORY/BSSH/The%20Sports%20Historian/TSH%2021-2/Art3-Anderson.htm. Thompson died of concussion of the brain, but his being bled of four pints (two liters) of blood probably didn't help. A faction fight, complete with bludgeons, had broken out during the middle of the bout, and this led to Murphy and his seconds being charged with death during riotous assembly. The case law is R. v. Murphy, 6 C&P 103. Murphy was sent to prison, where he soon died, but the true importance of this case is that in it, the court determined that seconds could be charged with aiding and abetting manslaughter.
Hackney Bill	30-Oct	1833	KO	69	John Brown (Northampton Baker)		Kingston upon Hull	Yorkshire	England	ND	Editors of Bell's Life, Fistiana: Or, The Oracle of the Ring, London, 1841, 135. Brown died that night, and Hackney left England for Holland. The jury returned a verdict of murder.
Owen Swift	24-Jun	1834	KO	74	Anthony Noon		Andover	Hampshire	England	Feather	Eau Claire (Wisconsin) Argus, July 24, 1879. Swift served six months for manslaughter.
James Dukes	20-Apr	1835	KO	13	Bob Skinner		Birmingham (Sutton Coldfield)	West Midlands	England	ND	Editors of Bell's Life, Fistiana: Or, The Oracle of the Ring, London, 1841, 159, 238.
Austin	4-May	1835	KO		Lupton		Mapperley Plains	Nottinghamshire	England	ND	John Frost Sutton, The Date-Book of Remarkable & Memorable Events connected with Nottingham... (Nottingham: H. Field, 1880), 449. The two men were competing for the attentions of a young woman. They decided to settle the matter according to prize ring rules. They fought for about two hours. Lupton was knocked out, and died soon after.
George Gaudry	24-Aug	1835	KO		James "Stringy-bark" Bishop		Windsor	Berkshire	Australia	ND	R. v. Gaudry and others [1836], NSWSupC 70, 10 November 1836 Sydney (Australia) Gazette, November 12, 1836. The bet was £10, and the fight lasted about an hour. Gaudry threw Bishop several times, and finally Bishop stayed down. The surgeon bled Bishop, and then he was taken to a nearby pub, where he died. Cause of death was listed as compression of the brain, occasioned by a profusion of blood on the brain. The mechanism was attributed to the falls rather than the blows. The survivor, seconds, and bottle holders were convicted of prizefighting, and sentenced to prison sentences ranging from three months to two years.
Owen Swift	19-Dec	1837	KO	85	William Phelps (Brighton Bill)	20	Royston (Melbourne Heath)	Hertfordshire	England	Feather	Editors of Bell's Life, Fistiana: Or, The Oracle of the Ring, London, 1841, 222; London Times, March 20, 1838; (Glasgow) Scotsman, March 24, 1838; Edmond Burke, The Annual Register, v. 80 (London: Rivingtons, 1839), 40-41; Eau Claire (Wisconsin) Argus, July 24, 1879; Alfred Kingston, Fragments of Two Centuries: Glimpses of Country Life when George III was King (Royson: Warren Brothers, 1893); "Famous pupils -- William Phelps -- Brighton Bill," http://www.middlestreet.org/mshistory/brightonbill.htm. The fight was well-planned (it took place at the border of three counties, but on a main road), lasted about 1-1/2 hours, and throughout, no one called "shame." Phelps collapsed after the fight. Cause of death was given as brain hemorrhage, primarily on the left side, and a punctured left lung. Swift was charged with manslaughter, but acquitted. Nonetheless, the scandal following this death led to the Pugilistic Club of London replacing Broughton's Rules with London Prize Ring Rules. The new rules introduced a 24-foot square roped ring, eliminated seizing below the waist, and prohibited seconds from pushing a a semi-conscious fighter to his mark.
Robert Forbister	22-May	1838	KO	37	John Brown		Ryton (Hedley Common)	Durham	England	ND	Editors of Bell's Life, Fistiana: Or, The Oracle of the Ring, London, 1841, 135, 167; Thomas Fordyce, John Sykes, Local Records: or, Historical Register of Remarkable Events… (Newcastle upon Tyne: T. Fordyce, 1867), 91. The bout lasted 1 hour, 25 minutes. The local clergyman refused to allow Brown to be buried in the churchyard, and Rorbister was sentenced to four months at hard labor.
George Terry	Feb/	1839	KO	33	Edward "Ned" Marshall (Screw)	28	Tipton	Staffordshire	England	ND	Editors of Bell's Life, Fistiana: Or, The Oracle of the Ring, London, 1841, 205, 245; London Times, March 9, 1839. Marshall fell or was knocked down. The witnesses said he must have struck his head on a stone. Anyway, he died of brain injury. The coroner's jury ruled it was manslaughter.
Cain	7-Jan	1840	ND	6	Richard Cricknell		Norwich	Norfolk	England	ND	Charles Mackie, Norfolk Annals, Vol. I (Norwich: Norfolk Chronicle, 1901), 391, 415.The police stopped the bout in the sixth round, but on February 5, 1842, Cricknell died. Said the Norfolk paper: 'He had never been well since he fought with Cain (on January 7th, 1840, q.v.); the injury which he received to his head deprived him of his reason, and he had since been in the Bethel.'"
Robert Middleton	7-Jul	1840	KO	61	Henry Isaac Cutts		Bollingford	London	England	ND	London Times, August 22, 1840. This was a grudge match, fought as a prize fight. Middleton was convicted of manslaughter.
Presdee	18-Sep	1840	KO	23	Thomas Barkes	25	St. Pancras	London	England	ND	London Times, September 30, 1840. Cause of death was bleeding in the brain. The coroner's jury ruled death by misadventure.
Harry Bell	12-Apr	1841	KO	5	Henry Marshall	21	Stonyford	Derbyshire	England	ND	London Times, May 27, 1841; Alfred Swaine Taylor, ed. Thomas Stevenson, The Principles and Practice of Medical Jurisprudence (London: J. & A. Churchill, 1883), 601. The jury found that Marshall died of the effects of a blow received during the prizefight. Specifically, his kidney was ruptured. The prisoners were convicted. The case law is Regina v. Bell (Notts Aut. Ass. 1841).
Philip Inkin	6-Jun	1841	KO	75	William "Maggot" Brown	27	Gloucester	Gloucestershire	England	ND	(Glasgow) Scotsman, June 12, 1841. The two men had a quarrel that they decided to settle with a prize fight. After the fifteenth round, a City policeman asked if they would stop. They said no. After 45, the same policeman asked again, this time with a baton. A local squire told the policeman to stand back, saying that he had seen thirty rounds, and he wanted to see the end. At the end of 75 rounds, Brown collapsed and the fight was ended. Inkin was convicted of manslaughter, and the local squire was officially reprimanded. "Inkin," said the paper, "from injuries, is in a dangerous state. He is unmarried, and about twenty-one."
Harry Broome	Apr/	1842	KO		John Gorrick (Bungaree)		Newmarket	Suffolk	England	Heavy	Henry Downes Miles, Pugilistica: The History of British Boxing..., (London: J. Grant, 1906), 308; Joseph Irving, The Annals of Our Time: A Diurnal of Events (London: Macmillan and Co., 1880), 107.
Christopher Lilly	13-Sep	1842	KO	120	Thomas McCoy		Hastings	New York	USA	ND	Wellsboro (Pennsylvania) Tioga Eagle, September 21, 1842; Elliott Gorn, The Manly Art: Bare-Knuckle Prize Fighting in America (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1986), 73-76; Joan Levy, "Chris Lilly in the middle of history," (San Mateo, California) Daily Journal, March 16, 2006, http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=55616. McCoy's corner would not throw in the towel and he ended up literally drowning in his own blood. Lilly went to England to avoid prosecution, but 18 others were arrested and convicted of fourth-degree manslaughter. Lilly later returned to the USA via New Orleans, and during the early 1850s, he was promoting boxing and cockfighting in San Francisco. In August 1856, a vigilance committee suggested that Lilly leave California for his health. So, he went to Honduras, where he was executed in February 1857. NOTE: This is not the first US ring fatality. For example, according to Plattsburgh (New York) Republican, December 6, 1817, cited at http://esf.uvm.edu/vtbox/Historical.html, "A young man was killed the other day in New York (City), in a boxing match." There is also indication of a death in New Orleans in 1834. However, there is no additional documentation, so these deaths are not listed here.
Thomas Smith (Chequer Lad)	11-Jul	1842	KO	53	James "Jemmy" Russell	23	(Outside Manchester)	Derbyshire	England	ND	Willaim E.A. Axon, The Annals of Manchester (London: J. Heywood, Deansgate and Ridgefield, 1886), 218.
Matt Rusk	15-Apr	1843	KO	169	Gilbert Freeland		Goosetown	Pennsylvania	USA	ND	Wellsboro (Pennsylvania) Tioga Eagle, April 26, 1843. Freeland was an English pugilist,and Rusk was a Philadelphia bricklayer. Rusk was almost blinded by the many blows to his eyes. Nonetheless, in the 169th round, he managed to strike Freeland hard in the chest. Freeland went down, and stayed down. Seconds included men associated with the Lilly fight of 1842.
Henry Ball	5-Dec	1843	KO	21	George Gray	22	Gravesend Marsh	Kent	England	ND	London Times, December 11, 1843; London Times, December 12, 1843. This was a grudge match fought as a prizefight. Gray was knocked down and did not get up. Cause of death was bleeding in the brain. Ball was convicted of manslaughter.
Michael Manning	6-Oct	1845	KO	12	John Woodley		Saffron Walden	Essex	England	ND	London Times, Doctober 9, 1845. The two men were railway workers. This was a grudge match fought as a prizefight. Woodley was struck over the heart and he died. Cause of death was attributed to heart disease.
William Cleghorn	10-Mar	1846	KO	48	Michael Reilly		Blyth Links	Northumberland	England	ND	John Latimer, Local Records; or the Historical Register of Remarkable Events (Newcastle: Chronicle Office, 1857), 210. The fight lasted 2 hours, 21 minutes. Reilly died the following morning. Cleghorn was convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced to six months.
James Johnson	27-May	1847	KO		William Edwards		ND	Missouri	USA	ND	Brooklyn Eagle, June 5, 1847. The original citation was the St. Louis Union.
Campbell	ND	1849	KO		Robert Owens		Liverpool	Merseyside	England	ND	Racine (Wisconsin) Advocate, February 14, 1849.
William "Paddy" Gill	23-Jul	1850	KO	53	Thomas Griffiths	28	Frimley Green	Surrey	England	Bantam	London Times, August 3, 1850; Bob Mee, Bare Fists: The History of Bare-Knuckle Prize Fighting (Woodstock, New York: Overlook Press, 2001), 111. The fight lasted about 1-3/4 hours, and at the end, Griffiths was unconscious. According to one theory, a second doped Griffiths using nicotine. Gill was charged with manslaughter, but acquitted of the doping charges.
Thomas Welsh (Tiny Tom)	7-Dec	1852	KO	78	George "Hammer" Wilson		Woodhead	Derbyshire	England	ND	London Times, December 9, 1852. Wilson fell, and apparently struck his head. Cause of death was a ruptured blood vessel in the brain. He had been unconscious for some time subsequent to a fight a few months earlier and reported feeling dizzy before the fight.
ND	Mar/	1853	Sparring		Rivington Duyckinck	21	New York	New York	USA	ND	New York Times, March 28, 1853. Duyckink enjoyed sparring with gloves, and did so regularly. One night during the middle of March, he came home, complaining of pain in his head. He was put to bed, and seen by the doctor. Nonetheless, he died on Friday, March 25, 1853. The cause of death was attributed to congestion of the brain, superinduced by over-exercise in sparring.
Frank Donnelly	10-Nov	1853	KO		James "Rory" Gill		Formby Beach (Liverpool)	Merseyside	England	ND	London Times, November 17, 1853. Cause of death was a fractured left lower jaw, which in turn led to a blocked windpipe.
Richardson	5-Sep	1854	KO		Thomas Crick	19	Wilmington	Ohio	USA	ND	Brooklyn Eagle, September 12, 1854. Crick was struck above the heart, and he died within minutes. It's not directly related to this death, but "a contusion of the heart muscle [can result in]… abnormal electrocardiographic changes." A.D. Dennison, Jr., "Cardiovascular situations related to athletic injures," Journal of the Indiana State Medical Asociation, January 1958, 39. In addition, writes Barry D. Jordan in Medical Aspects of Boxing (Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press, 1993), 262: "Athletes in whom the diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is established should not participate in professional or recreational boxing." Meanwhile, in New York City, Frank Queen's New York Clipper becomes the first newspaper to specialize in covering sports (Queen especially liked boxing), theater, and other popular entertainment.
Charles Lynch	18-Sep	1856	KO	85	Andy Kelly		Palisades	New Jersey	USA	Bantam	Janesville (Wisconsin) Gazette, October 4, 1856; Viroqua (Wisconsin) Western Times, October 11, 1856. Kelly was carried unconscious to the hospital, where he died. Around this same time, an anonymous notice in London's Saturday Review coined the phrase "Muscular Christianity." The phrase described the philosophy that a perfect Christian gentleman should fear God, play sports, and doctor a horse with equal facility. ("The object of education," said an editorial in Spirit of the Times, "is to make men out of boys. Real live men, not bookworms, not smart fellows, but manly fellows.") This in turn began changing the interpretation of the English word "sport," which previously had referred mostly to betting on boxing matches and horse races.
James Morris (Brighton Pet)	20-May	1858	KO		Philip Redwood	26	Gravesend Marsh	Kent	England	ND	London Times, May 28, 1858; London Review, August 7, 1858, cited in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 11, 1858. The fight lasted about an hour. Morris was sentenced to three months imprisonment.
Mike Fagin	15-Jun	1862	KO	35	Andrew Love	17	Illinoistown	Missouri	USA	ND	Whitewater (Wisconsin) Register, June 20, 1862. Love's injuries included two broken ribs. He died the following day. See also Recollections of Corporal Marcus S. Pratt, Company G, 12th Wisconsin Infantry, http://www.russscott.com/~rscott/12thwis/marcprat.htm -- the Union general Francis P. Blair reportedly refused to move his 8,000 men to take part in the ongoing battle at Pittsburg Landing until this fight ended.
John Young	9-Oct	1866	KO	6	Edward Wilmot		Westminster (Carlton Gardens)	London	England	ND	London Times, October 30, 1866; London Times, November 3, 1866; Charles Dickens, All the Year Round, Vol. 20 (London: Chapman and Hall, 1868), 379; Montagu Stephen, Leaves of A Life; Being the Reminiscences of Montague Williams, Q.C. (London: Macmillan and Co., 1890), 220-223; Jack Anderson, "Pugilistic prosecutions: Prize fighting and the courts in nineteenth century Britain," The Sports Historian, November 2001, http://www.umist.ac.uk/sport/SPORTS%20HISTORY/BSSH/The%20Sports%20Historian/TSH%2021-2/Art3-Anderson.htm. The fight was with gloves. Because prizefighting was illegal, the match was advertised as a "protracted sparring match." The two men fought for about an hour. In the end, Young was knocked down. He struck his head against a ring post. He said did not feel well, and his second stopped the fight. Young went to the hospital, where he died five hours later. Cause of death was a rupture of an artery on the right side of the brain. The subsequent court case, R. v. Young, (1866) 10 Cox 371, established the legal precedent that death "caused by an injury received in a friendly sparring match, which is not a thing likely to cause death... is not manslaughter, unless the parties fight on until the sport becomes dangerous." (Henry Roscoe, Roscoe's Digest of the Law of Evidence in Criminal Cases, Eighth American Edition, volume II, Philadelphia, 1888, p. 912.) Another important distinction of this fight is that it took place in private rooms, and so did not cause a public nuisance. There had been cases of fence-breaking and illegal timber removal in earlier outdoor prizefights, and after 1860, most British railway companies refused to hire special trains for prizefight excursions. Indeed, the practice of hiring special prizefight trains was specifically prohibited by the Regulation of Railways Act of 1868: "Any railway company that shall knowingly let for hire any special train for the purpose of conveying parties to be present at any prize fight... shall be liable to a penalty ... of such sum not exceeding five hundred pounds, and not less than two hundred pounds." Henry Godefroi and John Shortt, The Law of Railway Companies, Comprising the Companies Clauses (London: Stevens and Haynes, 1869), 526.
Duffy	26-Jul	1868	KO	185	Jack		Albuquerque	New Mexico	USA	ND	Fort Wayne (Indiana) Daily Gazette, July 30, 1868; Dubuque (Iowa) Daily Herald, September 19, 1868; both citing the Denver News. The fight took 6 hours, 19 minutes. Duffy's left eye was closed, two ribs were broken, and his left arm was broken. Jack, who had lost three teeth and had a broken nose, was essentially blind for the last two rounds, and he died ten minutes after the fight. The report said it was the best fight ever witnessed.
Donnelly	19-Jun	1869	KO	9	Jimmy McGuire		Ogden's Lock	New York	USA	ND	Chicago Daily Tribune, June 19, 1869. McGuire weighed about thirty pounds less than Donnelly. Nonetheless, Donnelly was the one being thrashed throughout the first eight rounds. Then, in the ninth, Donnelly struck McGuire in the temple. "McGuire dropped to the ground like a bar of lead, gasping twice, and died." Donnelly left the scene, reportedly going to Canada.
ND	3-Jul	1869	ND		Michael Ryan		Nashville	Tennessee	USA	ND	US Army, A Report of Surgical Cases Treated in the Army of the United States from 1865 to 1871 (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1871), 107. Ryan was a private in Company C, 45th US Infantry. He and another soldier were boxing. Ryan was struck, but not especially hard, in the abdomen. Ryan stopped boxing, walked away, and then collapsed. Within ten minutes, the surgeon was on hand, but death occurred less than five minutes after that. Autopsy revealed a ruptured spleen.
Patrick Malone	17-Oct	1871	KO		Tom Connor	21	New York	New York	USA	ND	Elyria (Ohio) Independent Democrat, October 25, 1871. Both men were hod carriers. They had a dispute, and they decided to settle it with a prize fight. During the fight, they grappled (which was fair, under London Prize Ring Rules), and Connor was thrown. Connor reported that his neck hurt, so the fight was stopped. It turned out his neck was broken, and he died soon thereafter.
George Robinson	13-Mar	1872	KO		Robert Taylor		Sandhurst	Victoria	Australia	ND	Melbourne (Australia) Argus, March 14, 1872.
John Connor	15-Mar	1872	KO		Thomas Callis		Long Reach	Cambridge	England	ND	London Times, March 27, 1872; (Glasgow) Scotsman, March 28, 1872; Dennis Brailsford, Bareknuckles: A Social History of the Prize Ring (Cambridge: Lutterworth Press, 1988), 158. Callis died on March 16, 1872. Cause of death was attributed to apoplexy, the result of injuries received in the fight. Connor and the seconds were convicted of manslaughter.
Charles Miller	7-Nov	1873	KO		John Lynch		Portsmouth	Hampshire	England	ND	London Times, November 11, 1873. The pugilists were soldiers, and promoters charged in the death included Captain Sir George Malcolm Fox (1843-1918). There were no convictions, and Fox's future billets included Inspector of Army Physical Training (1890-1897). As inspetor of training, Fox wrote rules for Army and amateur boxing that were widely influential in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods. One of Fox's rules was that knockouts did not count any more than any other clean blow. (One lost by not coming up for time, but not by the knockout per se.) The idea was to reduce the boxers' incentive to try for knockout punches. Arthur Frederick Bettinson and William Outram Tristam, The National Sporting Club Past and Present (London: Sands & Co., 1902), 190.
Jim Rogers	19-Nov	1873	KO	36	Jack Lewis		Ottawa	Illinois	USA	ND	United States Central Publishing Co., Important Events of the Century, Philadelphia: United States Central Publishing Co, 186.
Jimmy Weeden	31-Aug	1876	KO	76	Philip Kosta (Billy Walker)		Pennsville	New Jersey	USA	Light	Chicago Daily Tribune, September 3, 1876; Chicago Daily Tribune, September 6, 1876; New York Times, November 4, 1876; National Police Gazette, September 18, 1880, 15; Walter Campbell, "Going back in the fight game," Veteran Boxer Magazine, January-March 1945. This was a rematch, as in November 1875, the two men had fought a 41-round contest that went to Weeden. After this fight, Weeden was convicted on manslaughter charges. His second, Martin "Fiddler" Neary, and several others were also imprisoned. After getting out of prison, Weeden was shot to death (Salem, Ohio, Daily News, September 9, 1890).
Patrick "Paddy" McDermott	28-Dec	1876	Ldec	24	Daniel Davidson	24	Boston	Massachusetts	USA	ND	Boston Daily Globe, December 29, 1876; New York Times, December 31, 1876. The men were professionals, and fighting with "the ordinary stuffed boxing-gloves with which it is impossible to inflict serious injury." There was no referee, but there was a time-keeper. Witnesses included several police officers in uniform. Davidson quit from exhaustion, and died about an hour later. Although both men were carried to their marks for the last couple of rounds, "neither man was bruised to any extent" (New York Times), and death was attributed to cardiac trouble.
Taylor	12-Aug	1877	KO		William Scully		Melbourne	Victoria	Australia	ND	Melbourne (Australia) Argus, August 14, 1877; Melbourne (Australia) Argus, August 15, 1877; Wellington (New Zealand) Evening Post, August 20, 1877; Melbourne (Australia) Argus, September 19, 1877.
William Henry Booth	18-Jun	1881	KO	8	Denis Kellcher	25	Sydney	New South Wales	Australia	ND	Chicago Daily Tribune, August 25, 1881. The fight was in the eighth round when the police arrived to break it up. Kellcher ran with everyone else, but collapsed and died. Booth and his second were arrested.
James "Jem" Carney	7-Oct	1881	Draw	43	James Highland		Middleton	Warwickshire	England	Light	(Dublin) Irish Times, October 17, 1881; Billy Edwards, Gladiators of the Prize Ring: Heroes of All Nations (Philadelphia: Pugilistic Publishing, 1894), 123; Syracuse (New York) Post Standard, October 27, 1956. The police stopped the fight after the fight had gone on for an hour and 45 minutes. Highland had his ribs broken, and died four days later. Cause of death was given as inflammation of the lungs. Carney was acquitted of manslaughter but convicted of prizefighting, and sentenced to six months imprisonment. Upon getting out of jail, Carney resumed boxing, and he was the English lightweight champion from December 1884 to May 1891.
ND	Apr/	1882	KO		Daniel Keller		Celina	Ohio	USA	ND	Cambridge (Ohio) Jeffersonian, May 4, 1882; Athens (Ohio) Messenger, May 4, 1882. Gloves were worn. Keller was struck on the right temple, and died. (NOTE: There was a 31-year-old farmer by the name of Daniel Keller living in Mercer County, Ohio, in 1880; this is possibly him.)
John Shea	11-Mar	1883	KO		Bernard Carr	23	South Boston	Massachusetts	USA	ND	Newport (Rhode Island) Mercury, March 17, 1883. The contest was with gloves. Carr fell or was knocked down, and did not get up. He died the following day. Cause of death was attributed to a burst blood vessel in the head.
Mike McLaughlin	2-Apr	1883	KO	20	Martin Linskey	18	Dubois	Pennsylvania	USA	ND	Davenport (Iowa) Daily Gazette, April 4, 1883; Reno Evening Gazette, April 4, 1883; Pennsylvania (Indiana) Indiana Democrat, April 12, 1883. The bout was fought by London Prize Ring rules. At the start of the last round, men clinched, and Linskey was thrown. He hit the ground face first, and he died almost instantly. Cause of death was listed as broken neck.
Robert B. Williams	8-Mar	1884	KO	1	Oliver Dyer Jr.	21	New Haven	Connecticut	USA	ND	Newark (Ohio) Daily Advocate, March 11, 1884; Fort Wayne (Indiana) Daily Gazette, March 13, 1884; New York Times, March 15, 1884; New York Times, March 17, 1884 (Letters to the Editor); Yale University Class of 1886, Vicennial Record. Both boxers were students at Yale College. Dyer was reportedly feeling dizzy before the bout, and some onlookers attributed this to drinking. During the bout, Dyer was not very active, and he was knocked down by a blow to the chin. During the fall, his head may have hit the floor. Death was attributed to apoplexy brought on by excitement.
"Kilrain"	5-Apr	1884	KO	58	Nickvest		Hyndman	Pennsylvania	USA	ND	New York Times, April 6, 1884; Albert Lea (Minnesota) Freeborn County Standard, April 16, 1884. The bout was fought according to London Prize Rules. Both boxers were in bad shape by the 24th round, but the crowd refused to let the fight stop. Finally, in the 58th round, Nickvest collapsed, and the cry went up, "Foul!" The referees and seconds drew their guns, and by the time the shooting stopped, Nickvest was dead of a broken head, one man in the crowd had been shot dead, three other members of the crowd shot, and others injured.
Jimmy Lawson	17-Apr	1885	KO	15	Alec Agar		Melbourne	Victoria	Australia	Middle	Australian Encyclopaedia, 1926, 346; Collins Australian Encyclopedia, 1984, 90. Lawson was African American and Agar was white European, and this death led to a prohibition on mixed race boxing in Melbourne.
Frank McGonigle	3-Mar	1886	KO	43	James Sheady		Fayetteville	West Virginia	USA	Middle	Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 5, 1886; Chester (Pennsylavania) Times, March 5, 1886. Although fought for a purse of $50, this was also a grudge match. As for rules, well, McGonigle's little finger was bitten off, and his right ear was torn away. Meanwhile, McGonigle's techniques included kicking Sheady while the latter was down. Sheady died at his home, and McGonigle and his seconds left the county.
James	31-Jul	1886	KO	32	Evans		Rhondda		Wales	ND	Reno Evening Gazette, August 2, 1886; Bradford (Pennsylvania) Daily Era, August 2, 1886. Evans was carried from the ring and put into a carriage, but died before reaching his home.
Thomas Wagner (Fred Behringer)	12-Apr	1887	KO	1	Elijah Watters (Lije Walker)		Napa	California	USA	ND	Coshocton (Ohio) Semi Weekly Age, April 15, 1887; (Reno) Weekly State Journal, August 27, 1887. The fight was a grudge match, and the cause of death was listed as broken neck. Behringer was smaller, and the jury acquitted him.
Simon Besser (Swipes the Newsboy; aka Tom White)	22-Jan	1888	KO		William Dempsey	22	Brooklyn	New York	USA	Light	Chicago Daily Tribune, January 23, 1888; Brooklyn Daily Eagle, February 25, 1888; Brooklyn Daily Eagle, February 26, 1888; Waterloo (Iowa) Daily Courier, December 21, 1891; Syracuse (New York) Herald, December 3, 1911. Although Dempsey fought lightweight, he weighed about 114 pounds. The bout took place in a back room of Red Leary's Live Oak Hotel. Two-ounce gloves were worn, and it was a finish fight fought according to Queensberry Rules. Dempsey was hit in the temple. He collapsed, and did not get up. The promoter said he didn't know the names of anyone who was there, and the seconds said that death was due either to the fall or to Dempsey being unfit for boxing. Besser was about 18, and he remained a professional boxer for several years. Besser's wife Minnie also boxed professionally (Chicago Daily Tribune, November 2, 1892).
ND	4-Mar	1888	KO		ND		Albert Park		New Zealand	ND	Otago (New Zealand) Witness, March 9, 1888. "A young man, married and with a small family, has died as the result of a prize fight… He fought till he slipped off his second's knee in a faint. The doctors declare he was simply beaten to death." This was a grudge match, fought according to London Prize Ring rules, with side bets.
ND	2-Apr	1888	KO	50	William Drury		Nottinghamshire	East Midlands	England	ND	London Times, May 24, 1888. Drury failed to make the mark for the fifty-first round. Cause of death was attributed to brain disease.
Furhman	8-May	1888	KO		Fred Winkler		Greenfield Park	Wisconsin	USA	ND	Oshkosh (Wisconsin) Daily Northwestern, May 8, 1888; New Philadelphia (Ohio) Democrat, May 17, 1888. Winkler was knocked down by a blow to the left side.
Tom Bannon (Young Barrett, Boston Casey)	23-Sep	1888	KO	1	George Fulljames	30	Grand Forks	Dakota Territory	USA	Middle	Mitchell (Dakota Territory) Daily Republican, September 25, 1888; Plattsburgh (New York) Republican, October 6, 1888, cited at http://esf.uvm.edu/vtbox/Historical.html. Although a one-round knockout, remember that under London Prize Ring Rules, rounds lasted until there was a knockdown or fall. Anyway, Bannon reportedly held Fulljames' hand, and then struck him repeatedly in the temple. However, the coroner's inquest ruled that it was a slung shot that struck Fulljames in the temple, causing his death, rather than a blow from a fist. Either way, the bettors didn't want Fulljames winning. As for Bannon, he was murdered about a week later. See Salem (Ohio) Daily News, April 22, 1889 and Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 20, 1889.
Barker	8-Oct	1888	KO		John Dallas		Lilydale	Victoria	Australia	ND	Otago (New Zealand) Witness, October 26, 1888; Te Aroha (New Zealand) News, November 28, 1888,
Jerry Flower	12-Mar	1889	KO	4	John Kendall		Couer D'Alene	Idaho	USA	ND	Newark (Ohio) Daily Advocate, March 13, 1889. Kendall was black and Flower was white.
Ed Cuffe	26-Apr	1889	KO	4	Tom Avery		San Francisco	California	USA	ND	Reno Evening Gazette, April 27, 1889. The bout was with gloves, and was scheduled for 6 rounds. During the fourth, Cuffe fell to the floor and died. Cause of death was attributed to heart failure.
Edward Herron (Ed Ahearn)	16-Sep	1889	KO	11	Thomas E. Jackson (Jack King)	18	St. Louis	Missouri	USA	Feather	Reno Evening Gazette, September 17, 1889; Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) Post, September 18, 1889; New York Times, September 18, 1889; Decatur (Illinois) Daily Despatch, September 18, 1889; Decatur (Illinois) Saturday Herald, September 21, 1889; Albert Lea (Minnesota) Freeborn County Standard, October 3, 1889. The venue was a saloon on Seventh Street in St. Louis, between Market and Chestnut, that was owned by by Dan, Charlie, and Johnny Daly. The purse was $30. Two-ounce gloves were worn, and the fight started at midnight. Within the first couple rounds, both the boxers and the ring floor were slick with blood. At the start of the twelfth, Jackson stood up, then fell backwards, and the fight was stopped. After Jackson died, Herron and the seconds were arrested on charges of murder in the second degree. Herron told the police that Jackson must have had heart disease, because he had not been hit hard enough to cause death. Newspaper coverage of this bout was extensive, in part because the referee, Joe Murphy, was the former sporting editor of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
Tom Branch	27-Sep	1889	KO		Ernest Willingham		Allatoona	Georgia	USA	ND	Indiana (Pennsylvania) Progress, October 2, 1889; New Philadelphia (Ohio) Democrat, October 3, 1889. Willingham was "negro," while Branch was white.
John Gallagher	17-Dec	1889	KO	105	George W. Ward	30	Butte	Montana	USA	Heavy	Helena (Montana) Independent, December 17, 1889, in the boxing file at Montana Historical Society; Dunkirk (New York) Evening Observer, December 18, 1889; Butte (Montana) Anaconda Standard, April 10, 1903; Frank Bell, Gladiators of the Glittering Gulches (Helena, Montana: Western Horizons Books, 1985), 63-66. The two men decided to settle a dispute via a prizefight. Gallagher's arm was injured in the 48th round. Moreover, his body had a lot of bruises and his face was badly swollen. Nonetheless, the fight went on, and in the 98th round, Gallagher caught Ward with a blow under the chin that knocked Ward down. Ward's seconds pushed him out for round 99 while he was just half conscious. Gallagher knocked Ward down eleven times more times, and at the end of the 105th round, Gallagher was declared the winner. Ward died the following day, and Gallagher left the territory ahead of the manslaughter warrant.
James Farrell	26-Dec	1889	KO	5	James Burns		Plymouth	Pennsylvania	USA	ND	Mitchell (South Dakota) Daily Republican, December 26, 1889.

Table 2: Toughman deaths, 1979 to present

Name	Day/Mo	Year	Res	Rd	Deceased	Age	City	State	Weight	Original/Not Original Toughman	Source/Remarks
ND	22-Mar	1981	KO		Ronald Miller	23	Johnstown	Pennsylvania	ND	Original Toughman	Syracuse (New York) Post-Standard, March 25, 1981; Detroit News, March 5, 2003, “Toughman bouts with danger,” www.jameshoyer.com/news_toughman_din.pdf; CBS Evening News, May 8, 1981. Desperate for the prize money, Miller fought three bouts in two nights, despite headaches after the first round. After the third fight, during which he was knocked down several times, he was taken to the hospital, where he died the following morning. Early Toughman bouts were two minutes in length, with no headgear, but after this death headgear began to be required. As noted above, Original Toughman dates to 1979, and this is its first known fatality.
J.J.	10-Mar	1981	TKO	2	Viken “Vic” Ayvazian	21	Laverne	California	Middle (150-lb)	Not Original Toughman	Los Angeles Times, March 14, 1981; Los Angeles Times, March 15, 1981; Los Angeles Times, March 18, 1981; Los Angeles Times, March 19, 1981; Los Angeles Times, April 28, 1981; CBS Evening News, May 8, 1981. Ayvazian fought in an unregulated “Tough Guy” contest. His opponent was about 40 pounds heavier. Ayvazian complained of a headache after the fight. He was admitted to the hospital, where surgery was done to try to repair a blood clot on the brain. He died on April 26, 1981. NOTE: Tough Guy was based on Original Toughman. Men’s Original Toughman, promoted by Art Dore, dates to 1979; women’s events were added in 1996. See Greg Fagan, “Stupid Fun,” Maxim Online, June 1998, http://www.maximonline.com/stupid_fun/articles/article_584.html.
ND	11-Jul	1987	Wdec	3	Robert Rollins	33	Montgomery	Alabama	Heavy	Not Original Toughman	Detroit News, March 5, 2003, “Toughman bouts with danger,” www.jameshoyer.com/news_toughman_din.pdf. Immediately after the fight, Rollins complained of being dizzy. Soon after, he died. Death was attributed to a heart attack. Rollins, who stood 6 feet tall and weighed 280 pounds, had been taking medicine for high blood pressure for months before the fight.
ND	Mar/	1992	KO		Ricky Sanders	27	Scottsboro	Alabama	ND	Not Original Toughman	Detroit News, March 5, 2003, “Toughman bouts with danger,” www.jameshoyer.com/news_toughman_din.pdf.
Terry Vermaelen	11-Jun	1994	TKO	2	Bobby Troy DePue	26	Lafayette	Louisiana	ND	Original Toughman	Keith O’Brien, “Ultimate fighting,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, October 23, 2003, http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/index.ssf?/base/news-0/106689292994050.xml; Detroit News, March 5, 2003, “Toughman bouts with danger,” www.jameshoyer.com/news_toughman_din.pdf. DePue quit in the second round, and the crowd booed. He collapsed soon after, saying he couldn’t breathe, and he died in hospital the following day. The cause of death was listed as blunt force trauma exacerbating a pre-existing heart condition.
ND	9-Apr	1995	KO		Zinious Haynes	38	Fayetteville	North Carolina	ND	Original Toughman	Detroit News, March 5, 2003, “Toughman bouts with danger,” www.jameshoyer.com/news_toughman_din.pdf. The morning after the fight, Haynes woke his mother to say his head hurt. An ambulance took him to the hospital, where he died three hours later. Cause of death was a blood clot on the brain.
ND	14-Dec	1995	KO		Eric Crow	23	Kansas City	Kansas	ND	Original Toughman	Kansas City Star, December 15, 1995; James A. Fussell, “The mom who got tough on a deadly sport,” Good Housekeeping, July 1997; Detroit News, March 5, 2003, “Toughman bouts with danger,” www.jameshoyer.com/news_toughman_din.pdf; http://cctr.umkc.edu/~tjthompson/pap1.htm. After the fight, Crow was dazed, and the next day, he couldn’t get out of bed. He was taken to the hospital, where he died. Cause of death was heavy bleeding inside the brain.
Harold Brashear	19-Jul	1996	KO	3	Donald L. Lewis	23	Hazard	Kentucky	ND	Not Original Toughman	Warrendale (Pennsylvania) North Hills News Record, July 30, 1996; Syracuse (New York) Post-Standard, July 30, 1996. The event was called Iron Man. After the fight, Lewis rested, talked to the doctor, and walked down the road to a convenience store to get Gatorade. He collapsed at the counter. An ambulance was called. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
The Ironman	14-Sep	2002	KO	1	Art Liggins	44	Meridian	Idaho	ND	Original Toughman	“Match that killed Meridian boxer banned in some states,” Idaho Statesman, September 17, 2002, http://204.228.236.37/News/story.asp?ID=20580; Holden Parrish, “Suing for some peace of mind,” Idaho State Journal, January 11, 2004, http://www.journalnet.com/articles/2004/01/11/news/local/news02.txt. Liggins was a former National Junior Olympics champion, and he had been training hard. However, he had not boxed competitively in 18 years. He had won a fight the previous night, and two more that day. During his last fight, he was struck once on the cheek. The blow did not appear especially hard. Nonetheless, Liggins fell unconscious, and he died in hospital the following day. The autopsy revealed blood clots in his head, probably from one or more of the three previous bouts.
Jim Sluder	14-Sep	2002	KO	2	Michael Kuhn	26	College Station	Texas	ND	Original Toughman	Jeremiah Nichols, "Full of fight," Bryan-College Station Eagle, September 22, 2003, http://www.theeagle.com/brazossunday/092202toughman.htm; “Injuries claim life of College Station boxer,” Corpus Christi Caller-Times, September 23, 2002, http://www.caller.com/ccct/texas_sports/article/0,1641,CCCT_993_1434513,00.html; Texas A&M BattalionOnline, September 26, 2002, http://www.thebatt.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2002/09/23/3d8ecbec89b6b. Kuhn was recruited for this fight in a bar. He had no prior boxing experience. He won a fight on Friday night, and so he fought again on Saturday. Between the second and third rounds, he went to his corner, said, “I feel sick,” and then passed out. He subsequently died in hospital. The autopsy found that blood vessels connecting the brain and the skull were severed. This was said to be the eighth Toughman death in the USA, and the first in Texas. See also Doug J. Swanson, “Gib Lewis was Toughman ally,” Dallas Morning News, November 25, 2003.
ND	3-May	2002	KO	3	Nelson Land	23	Jacksonville	Florida	ND	Not Original Toughman	Man dies of ‘Fight Night’ injuries, News4Jax.com, May 7, 2002, http://www.news4jax.com/jax/news/stories/news-143888120020507-060542.html; “No charges to be filed in Jacksonville nightclub boxing death,” AP, May 29, 2002, http://www.wtlv.com/news/2002-05-29/local_boxing.asp. Land was participating in a nightclub’s open fights. He was struck on the chin. He stumbled backwards, lost consciousness, and died in hospital three days later. He had been drinking prior to the fight, but his blood alcohol level was within legal limits.
Jason “Piledriver” Pyles	3-Jan	2003	Wdec	3	Scott Wood	31	Mount Pleasant	Michigan	ND	Original Toughman	Sarasota (Florida) Herald-Tribune, June 29, 2003; Associated Press, “Texas boxer dies after suffering injuries in Toughman bout,” News8Austin, http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?ArID=59217&SecID=2; Andy Grimm, “Death of a toughman,” Saginaw News, February 23, 2003, http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1045999316311060.xml?sanews; “Toughman fighter’s death ruled homicide,” Gambling Magazine, February 2, 2003, http://www.gamblingmagazine.com/managearticle.asp?c=380&a=1837. Wood was reluctant during the fight, and afterwards complained of head pain and blurred vision. He lost consciousness, and he died in hospital three weeks later. Cause of death was subdural hematoma. The coroner ruled the death a homicide, but no charges were filed.
Josh Snow	26-Jan	2005	KO	2	Steven Burress	27	Dayton	Ohio	Heavy	Original Toughman	Elyria (Ohio) Chronicle Telegram, February 1, 2005; Dayton (Ohio) Daily News, January 27, 2006; “Ohio man dies in fight promoted by local businessman,” Bay City (Michigan) Times, February 3, 2005, http://www.mlive.com/news/bctimes/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1107449124310990.xml. Burress had won on fight the night before, plus two fights earlier that night, and so advanced to the finals. However, he was tired, and after two knockdowns, the referee stopped the fight in the second. Burress collapsed again, outside the ring, and he died the following day in the hospital. Cause of death was subdural hemorrhage.

Table 3: Training deaths, 1890 to present

Survivor	Day/Mo	Year	Deceased	Age	City	County/State	Country	Weight	Pro/Amateur	Source/Remarks
ND	ND	1892	William Sheriff (The Prussian)	45	London	London	England	Light heavy	Professional	Billy Edwards, Gladiators of the Prize Ring: Heroes of All Nations (Philadelphia: Pugilistic Publishing, 1894), 65. During a fight in the USA, Sheriff injured his leg. He returned to England, the injury became gangrenous, and the infection proved fatal. Date of death was June 4, 1893.
Arthur Foster	13-Feb	1894	Alfred Hosmer Linder	19	Cambridge	Massachusetts	USA	ND	Professional	New York Times, February 19, 1894; Stevens Point (Wisconsin) Journal, February 24, 1894; Secretary's Report, No. 1, Harvard College Class of 1895, 60, 176; "Alfred Hosmer Linder '95," http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=316563. The boxers were college students. Seven ounce gloves were worn. Linder was struck on the jaw. He congratulated Foster on the blow, and then fell to the floor. Cause of death was listed as concussion of the brain. A scholarship was subsequently established in Linder's name at Harvard College.
Ed Turner	7-Oct	1894	John A. Gerharty	14	New Orleans	Louisiana	USA	ND	Amateur	Los Angeles Times, October 8, 1894. The youths were sparring, and Gerharty dropped dead following a blow to the heart.
ND	Jan/	1895	Michael Nugent		Springfield	Ohio	USA	ND	Professional	Cumberland (Maryland) Evening Times, January 8, 1895. A few days prior to his death on January 8, Nugent had been boxing with a friend. He was punched in the nose. Cause of death was a clot on the brain.
William Gollie	13-Mar	1897	Peter O'Shay		Cheyenne	Wyoming	USA	ND	Amateur	Marble Rock (Iowa) Weekly, March 18, 1897. Both boxers were privates in the 8th US Infantry assigned to Fort D.A. Russell (modern Warren Air Force Base).
Peter Langtry	24-Apr	1897	Rudolph Babst	48	Brooklyn	New York	USA	ND	Amateur	Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 25, 1897; New York Times, April 25, 1897. Babst, a recently retired Army recruiting sergeant, was sparring with a 17-year-old man. The two sparred for about 2 minutes, during which time Babst was struck repeatedly in the face and torso. Babst staggered backwards, saying, "I guess I've got enough." He sat down in a chair, and died. Babst had been diagnosed earlier with a heart condition.
Frank Shoemaker	27-Apr	1897	Daniel Thomas	14	Lima	Ohio	USA	ND	Amateur	Fort Wayne (Indiana) News, April 28, 1897; Marble Rock (Iowa) Weekly, May 6, 1897. This does not appear to have been an organized bout. Thomas, a newsboy, was knocked down by a blow over the heart. He staggered home, and died soon after. Shoemaker, who was 21 years old, left town.
ND	Oct/	1901	Charles Northeast		Gosport	Hampshire	England	ND	Professional	Kingston (Jamaica) Gleaner, October 29, 1901. Northeast was a private in the Royal Marines, and he died in hospital following a boxing match with a fellow Marine.
Jerome Wood	Jun/	1901	Charles Varney	18	Gallipolis	Ohio	USA	ND	Professional	Coshocton (Ohio) Daily Age, June 11, 1901. Varney died "by being hit over the heart while playfully boxing with a companion."
George R. Ainsworth	26-Jan	1901	Curtis L. Crane		Cambridge	Massachusetts	USA	ND	Amateur	Davenport (Iowa) Daily Republican, January 27, 1901; Syracuse (New York) Sunday Herald, January 27, 1901; Anaconda (Montana) Standard, January 28, 1901; New York Times, January 28, 1901. The two men were college students, Crane at Harvard University and Ainsworth at Lawrence Scientific School (the latter did not become part of Harvard University until 1906). Ainsworth was acting as boxing instructor. The men had been sparring about three minutes when Crane was struck in the face. Crane collapsed backwards, and within eight minutes, he was dead. Cause of death was said to be heart disease.
Thomas West	23-Sep	1901	George Johnson	37	Brooklyn	New York	USA	Welter	Amateur	Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 25, 1901; Washington Post, September 26, 1901. Johnson was an amateur who enjoyed sparring with professionals in the gym. After being hit hard in the head, Johnson went home saying that he had a headache. He died two days later of a brain injury. West was arrested.
G. F. Paff and R.M. Nickelson	24-Oct	1905	Grover Muldoon	19	Indianapolis	Indiana	USA	ND	Amateur	Fort Wayne (Indiana) Weekly Sentinel, November 1, 1905. After sparring with his roommates for about half an hour, Muldoon, a college student, began vomiting. He was taken to the hospital, where he died. Cause of death was said to be cerebral hemorrhage.
Robert Moore	17-Sep	1908	Adolph Bach		Milwaukee	Wisconsin	USA	ND	Professional	Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Evening Gazette, September 19, 1908. The two men were sparring, using one-minute rounds. After the round, Bach asked for water, then fell unconscious to the floor. Cause of death was attributed to a fractured skull.
Bud Class	7-Feb	1909	Ernest Free	18	Edge (Brazos County)	Texas	USA	ND	Amateur	Galveston (Texas) Daily News, February 9, 1909. Free was hit over the heart. He collapsed, and died two hours later.
John Scanlon	13-Feb	1909	Frank Crossland	15	Boston	Massachusetts	USA	ND	Amateur	Washington Post, February 19, 1909. The youths were boxing after school. Crossland was knocked down, and died fifteen minutes later. The school principal said it was not a fight, but a sparring match. During this period, boxing was being emphasized as a good bodybuilder, and boxing was recommended for inclusion in public school physical fitness programs. Proponents included Dr. Philip O'Hanlon of the New York Coroner's office. "Post-mortem examinations on bodies of small boys have impressed upon Dr. O'Hanlon... the great lack of chest development these lads must have had in life. As the best means of safely attaining lung development in the physically formative years, he urges the effectiveness of boxing, properly conducted. He mentions President Roosevelt as an example of the efficacy of the 'manly sport' in chest building" (Syracuse, New York, Herald, January 25, 1909).
Private Weston	Mar/	1910	Private A. Tindall		Aldershot Barracks	Hampshire	England	ND	Amateur	London Times, March 11, 1910; (Glasgow) Scotsman, March 11, 1910. During sparring at the Army base, Tindall was struck on the jaw. He collapsed, and did not get up. Cause of death was originally attributed to heart failure, but the autopsy showed a ruptured artery in the brain.
ND	4-Aug	1912	W. Furness	18	Greymouth		New Zealand	ND	Amateur	Wellington (New Zealand) Evening Post, August 5, 1912. While training for a tournament, Furness complained of being tired, then died.
ND	20-May	1913	Frank Carbone	18	Chicago	Illinois	USA	Heavy	Professional	Boston Daily Globe, May 26, 1913; Stevens Point (Wisconsin) Daily Journal, May 26, 1913. Cause of death was attributed to shock caused by a blow to the abdomen.
ND	Feb/	1916	Arthur Cote	38	Augusta	Maine	USA	Light	Professional	New York Times, February 11, 1916; Augusta (Maine) Daily Kennebec Journal, May 1, 1916. Cote was a former lightweight champion. He fell while training for a fight, and death was formally attributed to this fall. However, the family maintained the cause of death was injuries received during a fist fight near Government Reservation. In any event, cause of death was cerebral hemorrhage.
Willie Gould	ND	1917	Federico Lefrancois		ND		Argentina	Feather	Professional	Manuel Velazquez collection. Gould's last scheduled fight was in March 1915.
Andrew Lockett	11-Mar	1920	Milton Sternfeld		New York	New York	USA	ND	Amateur	New York Times, March 13, 1920; Syracuse (New York) Herald, March 12, 1920; Kansas City (Missouri) Star, March 12, 1920; New York Times, March 20, 1920. The boxers were students at Columbia University, and the university treasurer posted Lockett's $2,000 bail. Sternfeld was a former Army lieutenant and current post-graduate student, while Lockett was a sophomore.
ND	31-Jan	1921	Irving Gray Anderson	18	Annapolis	Maryland	USA	ND	Amateur	New York Times, February 6, 1921; 1920; Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Census Place: Annapolis Ward 1, Anne Arundel, Maryland; Roll: T625_654; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 6; Image: 53. Anderson, a midshipman at the Naval Academy, had been sparring with his roommate for several weeks. He knew he had been hit hard in the nose, but it was several days before he decided to go on sick call. Cause of death was cerebral hemorrhage.
Sam McVea	19-Jun	1922	Donald "Kid" Kelly		Kingston		Jamaica	Light	Professional	Kingston (Jamaica) Gleaner, June 21, 1922. Kelly had a major contest scheduled for July 5, 1922, and McVea was his sparring partner. After three rounds of sparring, Kelly complained of not feeling well, so he was taken to the hospital, where he died.
Elmer Cross	4-Sep	1922	Louis Barrese	18	Easton	Pennsylvania	USA	ND	Professional	New York Times, September 22, 1922; Oakland Tribune, September 4, 1922. Five minutes after being knocked down, Barrese died. Cause of death was given as over-exertion.
ND	ND	1923	Mick Rutherford		Melbourne	Victoria	Australia	Light	Professional	Manuel Velazquez collection. Rutherford twisted his right ankle during a bout. The injury became infected, and doctors amputated the foot. He died of surgical complications.
"Big Joe" Harnick	3-Apr	1924	Earnest "Count" Loske	32	Kansas City	Missouri	USA	Middle	Professional	Port Arthur (Texas) News, April 4, 1924; (Lincoln) Nebraska State Journal, April 5, 1924. Loske was sparring with his trainer.
ND	May/	1924	Joe Minehan	19	Boston	Massachusetts	USA	ND	Amateur	New York Times, June 26, 1924. Minehan was from Boston College, and he was expected to make the 1924 Olympics team. However, he collapsed during a training bout, and he died June 25, 1924. Cause of death was listed as anemia.
Nina Roundtree	Jun/	1925	George Schofield	50	Heaven City	Illinois	USA	ND	Amateur	Olean (New York) Times, June 16, 1925; Syracuse (New York) Herald, July 26, 1925. Heaven City was a commune outside Harvard, Illinois, and Roundtree was Schofield's 15-year-old girlfriend. Schofield boasted that he was a boxer, and to prove it, he sparred a male member of the commune. However, he fared badly against the man. Roundtree was upset at this, and put on the gloves herself. She then proceeded to box, while Schofield proceeded to have a heart attack.
Irving Selder	14-Feb	1926	Walter Jones	19	Tacoma	Washington	USA	Welter	Professional	Fresno (California) Bee, February 15, 1926; Seattle Times, February 15, 1926; New York Times, February 16, 1926; Helena (Montana) Independent, February 15, 1926; Merle A. Reinikka, "Death certificates of Finns in Pierce County, Washington," http://www.genealogia.fi/emi/emi3d20p3e.htm. During training, Jones sparred two rounds with Selder, who was a middleweight. After time was called, he slumped to the floor, where he died before medical aid could be obtained. Death certificate reads "acute dilatation of right auricle from over-exercise while training as a boxer. Single. Boxer-pugilist."
Ernest Taylor	10-Dec	1926	Fred Canady	29	Chicago	Illinois	USA	ND	Professional	Chicago Daily Tribune, December 16, 1926. Canady was knocked out during a sparring match at Ferrell's gym. He was taken home unconscious, and he died there five days later. His sparring partner may have been the Toronto flyweight Ernie Taylor.
Clayton "Big Boy" Peterson	11-Jan	1926	Preston "Prince" Brown	28	New Orleans	Louisiana	USA	Heavy	Professional	Olean (New York) Evening Times, January 12, 1926. Cause of death was brain injury. Both boxers were black.
ND	29-Nov	1926	Emrys Bishop	20	Caerphilly		Wales	ND	Amateur	(Dublin) Irish Times, November 30, 1926. Bishop and his friend were sparring. Bishop was hit near the heart. He stepped back, and fell down. He died at the scene.
ND	4-May	1927	Frank Rea (Frankie Ray)	22	San Antonio	Texas	USA	Light	Professional	Dallas Morning News, May 6, 1927. Cause of death was attributed to a broken artery in the head. Rea had fought professionally in California and Arizona, but had only sparred in Texas.
ND	27-Jul	1927	Antone Corriera (Kid Peters)	33	Fall River	Massachusetts	USA	Light	Professional	New York Times, July 30, 1927. Corriera, a former professional, was teaching a boxing class. A student struck him hard, and he died two days later of intestinal perforation.
ND	6-Apr	1928	Jess Stringham	25	Salt Lake City	Utah	USA	Middle	Professional	San Francisco Chronicle, April 6, 1928; Danville (Virginia) Bee, April 7, 1928. At the gym, Stringer complained that he did not feel well. Then he collapsed. He was taken to the hospital, where he died. Cause of death was attributed to internal hemorrhage.
Philip Bromley	20-Mar	1928	Michael Carnakis	20	Los Angeles	California	USA	Welter	Amateur	Fort William (Ontario) Daily Times-Journal, March 21, 1928; Bismarck (North Dakota) Tribune, March 21, 1928. Both men were students sparring at the university gym, and both fell during an exchange of blows. Bromley, age 19, was unconscious for 1 hour, 45 minutes, and Carnakis died. Carnakis had a history of basal skull fracture and cause of death was listed as cerebral hemorrhage.
Les Marriner	14-Apr	1928	Fred Bobzin	21	Chicago	Illinois	USA	Heavy	Amateur	Dallas Morning News, April 15, 1928; Chicago Daily Tribune, April 15, 1928; Bismarck (North Dakota) Tribune, April 16, 1928. Bobzin, a sophomore at the University of Illinois, was sparring with Marriner, who was a professional boxer. Sixteen-ounce gloves were being worn, and the sparring was supervised by Paul Prehn, chairman of the state boxing commission. After a few minutes, Bobzin said he didn't feel well, so the sparring was stopped. "I hope you don't think I'm yellow," he said, and then went to the dressing room, where, ten minutes later, he was found unconscious. He was then taken to the hospital, where he died. Cause of death was attributed to hemorrhage of the brain.
ND	12-Nov	1929	Johnny O'Keefe	25	Columbus	Ohio	USA	Light	Professional	Lima (Ohio) News, November 12, 1929. In May 1929, O'Keefe had retired from the ring following four straight losses, but he subsequently decided to try a comeback. His first comeback bout was scheduled for the next Friday night.
Marvin Williams	Apr/	1929	Willie Rizutto	23	La Junta	Colorado	USA	ND	Professional	New York Times, April 18, 1929; Bismarck (North Dakota) Tribune, April 17, 1929; Danville (Virginia) Bee, April 17, 1929. The fatal sparring match occurred about a week before. Rizutto died without regaining consciousness on April 16, 1929. Cause of death was brain injury.
ND	27-Sep	1929	Johnny Hill	23	Glasgow		Scotland	Fly	Professional	"Johnny Hill, Scotland's first boxing world champion 1928," bbc.co.uk, http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/sportscotland/asportingnation/article/0082/print.shtml. Hill died of a broken blood vessel in his lung. The origin of this condition was attributed to a chill caught while training.
ND	30-Nov	1929	Carl Howell	19	Chicago	Illinois	USA	ND	Amateur	Chicago Daily Tribune, December 4, 1929; Oakland Tribune, December 4, 1929. Howell had been boxing at the South Chicago YMCA. He reported no ill effects at the time, but the next day, he reported severe headaches. Death was attributed to concussion of the brain.
Duane Duncan	25-Jan	1930	John "Red" Wilford	21	Kalamazoo	Michigan	USA	Light Heavy	Professional	Helena (Montana) Independent, January 25, 1930; Port Arthur (Texas) News, January 26, 1930. Knocked down during sparring, Wilford's head struck an unpadded turn-buckle. He died of cerebral hemorrhage.
David Maier	29-Aug	1930	Dean Spaulding	28	Oconomowoc	Wisconsin	USA	Middle	Professional	Bismarck (North Dakota) Tribune, August 30, 1930; Waterloo (Iowa) Daily Courier, August 30, 1930; Sheboygan (Wisconsin) Press, August 30, 1930; Lima (Ohio) News, August 31, 1930. Spaulding was training for a bout with Ben Danske, a Milwaukee middleweight. Maier was a light heavyweight. While sparring, Spaulding was knocked down by a blow to the jaw. Cause of death was attributed to skull fracture secondary to Spaulding striking his head on the floor.
ND	7-Apr	1930	Gordon L. Saunders	23	Ballston Spa	New York	USA	ND	Professional	New York Times, April 9, 1930. Cause of death listed as enlargement of the thymus gland in the throat.
Al Stillman	21-Apr	1931	William Kardinski	19	Belleville	Illinois	USA	Heavy	Amateur	Edwardsville (Illinois) Intelligencer, April 24, 1931; New York Times, May 16, 1931; Zanesville (Ohio) Signal, April 24, 1931. The men were training for a charity program when Kardinski collapsed. He died in hospital two days later. Cause of death was cerebral hemorrhage.
ND	10-Feb	1932	Arthur Vincent	19	Hollywood	California	USA	ND	Amateur	Connellsville (Pennsylvania) Daily Courier, February 10, 1932. Vincent was trying out for a junior college boxing team. He collapsed while sparring another student, and he was pronounced dead an hour later. Cause of death was attributed to heart failure.
ND	29-Aug	1932	Thomas Swan	24	Invercargill		New Zealand	ND	Amateur	http://www.geocities.com/kiwiboxing/ringdeaths.htm
Thomas McGillivary	10-Sep	1932	Gilbert Ernest Ellery		Oamaru		New Zealand	ND	Amateur	http://www.geocities.com/kiwiboxing/ringdeaths.htm
Joseph Robert	4-Dec	1932	William Lafroy	43	Sturgeon Falls	Ontario	Canada	ND	Amateur	Canandaigua (New York) Daily Messenger, December 5, 1932. The men were sparring. Lefroy said, "Wait a minute," then collapsed.
John Fitzgerald	3-Dec	1935	John Sheridan		Brisbane	Queensland	Australia	ND	Professional	Manuel Velazquez collection. Sheridan was struck in solar plexus, but autopsy revealed no cause of death.
Lorenzo "Pete" Pedro	13-Feb	1935	Eddie Kimm	24	San Francisco	California	USA	Light Heavy	Professional	Bismarck (North Dakota) Tribune, Feburary 14, 1935. This was Dr. Werkgartner's 1935 case described in Jokl's book.
ND	20-Feb	1935	Adolf Wolfson	19	College Park	Maryland	USA	ND	Amateur	Frederick (Maryland) Post, February 22, 1935. Wolfson collapsed following a sparring match at the University of Maryland. He died the following day.
ND	23-Jan	1936	James Sallus	24	Peoria	Illinois	USA	ND	Amateur	Chicago Daily Tribune, January 24, 1936; Hammond (Indiana) Times, January 25, 1936. Sallus collapsed after a workout. The coroner was not sure if death was due to a blow or a heart condition. Sallus was known as "Slaughterhouse," because his training methods included punching on steer carcasses hanging in the Peoria stockyards.
Daniel Sheehan	6-Jan	1938	Tim Sheehan	21	Merthyr		Wales	Welter	Professional	"Merthyr boxers," http://www.merthyrhistory.150m.com/boxers.htm. The deceased, who was training for the middleweight championship of Wales, was in the gym, sparring with his brother. "I'm beat," he said, just before collapsing.
Gene Fowler	3-Aug	1938	Nethro Hendson	28	Pleasantville	New Jersey	USA	ND	Professional	New York Times, August 4, 1938. Cause of death was attributed to a heart condition.
Alvin Johnson	Nov/	1938	Victor Morgheim		Cheyenne	Wyoming	USA	ND	Professional	(Lincoln) Nebraska State Journal, November 23, 1938. Both men were soldiers of Company F, 8th US Infantry, at Fort Warren (now Warren Air Force Base).
Babe Richie	31-Jul	1939	Herman Tankersley	20	Dallas	Texas	USA	ND	Professional	El Paso (Texas) Herald Post, August 1, 1939. After sparring, Tankersley said he didn't feel well. He went to the showers, where he collapsed. Cause of death was attributed to a blood clot on the brain.
Samuel Fox	29-Nov	1940	William J. Armstrong	20	Enniskillen		Northern Ireland	ND	Amateur	(Dublin) Irish Times, November 30, 1940. The two men were constables in the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and they were sparring under supervision with 16-ounce gloves. Fox struck Armstrong in the face with a straight left, and Armstrong fell straight back into the arms of the referee, Sergeant Ashfield. Armstrong was taken to the hospital, where he died. Cause of death was extensive hemorrhage of the brain. The jury returned a verdict of accident.
Leroy Smith	23-Aug	1944	Thomas Schenck	34	ND	New Jersey	USA	Heavy	Professional	Lowell (Massachusetts) Sun, August 28, 1944. Schenck had been a sparring partner for Joe Louis and Two-Ton Tony Galento. Cause of death was brain injury. The death was remarked in the press mostly because it was the second professional boxing death in a month. Otherwise, said New York sportswriter Lawton Carver, Schenck's death "was more of an erasure than an obituary; he was wiped off the slate, and few in the boxing game mourn his loss. He was, you see, unknown."
Lundy	26-Mar	1944	John Claude Lundy	16	Joplin	Missouri	USA	ND	Amateur	Joplin (Missouri) Globe, March 29, 1944. Lundy was sparring with an older brother when he collapsed. Cause of death was listed as cerebral hemorrhage and gastric perforation.
ND	ND	1946	Annare Baisagale		ND		Australia	ND	Professional	Manuel Velazquez collection
ND	Jun/	1948	Leon "Ken" Kennedy		New York	New York	USA	Middle	Professional	Syracuse (New York) Post-Standard, June 8, 1948, http://www.boxrec.com. Kennedy, a middleweight, was training in preparation for a job as a sparring partner for Joe Louis, who was then preparing for his defense against Jersey Joe Walcott. Several days before reporting to Louis's camp, Kennedy collapsed and died while jogging. Cause of death was listed as heart attack. Kennedy's last known match was in November 1946. During his career, he lost 25 out of 32 fights, 5 by knockout, and one of his wins was due his opponent being penalized for low blows.
Joseph Malone	8-Jun	1949	Evangelist Ramos	28	New York	New York	USA	Feather	Professional	New York Times, June 9, 1949. Ramos fell during a sparring session. He stood up, said he was all right, and then collapsed.
Bob "Bud" Goldstein	30-Dec	1949	Arthur Almeida	23	Providence	Rhode Island	USA	Feather	Professional	Lowell (Massachusetts) Sun, December 31, 1949. Cause of death was brain injury.
Harold Marlette	13-Nov	1949	Eugene Potter	23	Ann Arbor	Michigan	USA	ND	Amateur	Traverse City (Michigan) Record Eagle, November 15, 1949. Potter fell as he left the ring, and did not get up. He had sparred less than one round with Marlette, who was the boxing instructor.
ND	28-Nov	1949	Donald F. Eberhardt	22	Tucson	Arizona	USA	ND	Amateur	Pittsfield (Massachusetts) Berkshire Evening Eagle, December 1, 1949. Eberhardt was sparring at the University of Arizona's gym. Twelve-ounce gloves were being worn. He was knocked down. He failed to regain consciousness, and he died in hospital on December 1, 1949.
ND	23-Nov	1950	Abdul Djiniz		Paris		France	ND	Amateur	Manuel Velazquez collection
Wesley Morgan	22-Jan	1951	Neleigh Walker	27	Chicago	Illinois	USA	Light	Amateur	Lethbridge (Alberta) Herald, January 23, 1951; Chicago Daily Tribune, January 23, 1951; (Madison) Wisconsin State Journal, January 23, 1951. Walker was sparring with Morgan, who was aged 16. Afterwards, Walker walked to his corner, where he collapsed. A doctor was called, but Walker as pronounced dead at the scene. Walker's last bout had been as an amateur in Kansas City in 1942.
ND	5-Mar	1951	Richard Sinclair	23	San Francisco	California	USA	Middle	Amateur	Newport (Rhode Island) Daily News, March 6, 1951; Modesto (California) Bee and News-Herald, March 6, 1951; San Mateo (California) Times, March 6, 1951; Hayward (California) Daily Review, March 9, 1951. Sinclair had lost two fights in the past month to an opponent named Benito Rodriguez. Several days after his second fight with Rodriguez, Sinclair was in the gym, sparring. He stopped, saying that he didn't feel well, and then he collapsed. He died in St. Luke's Hospital six days later. Cause of death was hemorrhage of the brain.
ND	12-Mar	1951	Robert Marquebielle	22	ND		France	Welter	Amateur	Manuel Velazquez collection
Clifford Williams	10-Mar	1953	James Jones	22	Chicago	Illinois	USA	Light	Amateur	Ring Record Book 1953. Jones was sparring with a professional.
ND	27-Sep	1953	Johnson Hicks	21	Pendleton	Indiana	USA	ND	Amateur	Kokomo (Indiana) Tribune, September 29, 1953; Anderson (Indiana) Herald, September 30, 1953. This was a supervised match in a prison. Cause of death was ruptured spleen.
Fosi Schmidt	15-Feb	1954	Vaipou Ainu'u	35	ND	American Samoa	USA	Heavy	Amateur	Austin (Minnesota) Daily Herald, December 27, 1954. Ainu'u suffered head injuries when his head hit the ring floor.
ND	2-Apr	1954	Lawrence Crump Jr.	19	Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island	South Carolina	USA	ND	Amateur	Reno Evening Gazette, December 15, 1954. Crump complained of a headache after a boxing match at the Marine recruit training depot.
Johnny Summerlin	21-Jan	1956	Eddie Lee Walker	24	Detroit	Michigan	USA	Heavy	Professional	Philadelphia Inquirer, January 26, 1956; Charleston (West Virginia) Daily Mail, January 26, 1956; Troy (New York) Record, January 26, 1956. Walker collapsed at the end of three rounds of sparring. He died four days later without regaining consciousness.
Oliver L. "Ollie" Wilson	26-Oct	1956	Larry Branham	22	Hartford	Connecticut	USA	Heavy	Amateur	New York Times, October 28, 1956; Bridgeport (Connecticut) Telegram, November 30, 1956. Branham was a soldier stationed at the Army's Nike missile site HA-36, which was located near Portland, Connecticut. Wilson, who was 23 at the time of Branham's death, was a professional boxer whose eventual career record of 20-43-0 suggests that during the rest of his boxing career, he was brought in mostly to build younger fighters' knockout records. This is almost certainly the case at the end of his career, because his last two fights, in 1971 and 1972, were against George Foreman and Jimmy Ellis.
Ildelmaro Farias	26-Dec	1957	Andres Dominguez		Havana		Cuba	ND	Professional	Manuel Velazquez collection
ND	22-Feb	1957	Al-Yunes Elalfi		Alexandria		Egypt	Middle	Amateur	New York Times, February 24, 1957; Panama City (Florida) News-Herald, February 24, 1957.
ND	7-Jan	1958	Walter Sanders	23	Cleveland	Ohio	USA	Heavy	Amateur	Coshocton (Ohio) Tribune, January 8, 1958. Several years earlier, Sanders had boxed in Golden Gloves competition. He then went into the Army. Following his discharge, he resumed training. He had been working out for about 45 minutes when he suddenly collapsed and died.
ND	Feb/	1960	Terence Francis Sanders	17	Barnstaple	Devon	England	ND	Professional	London Times, February 20, 1960. Sanders had never participated in a tournament, only in sparring. Headgear and gloves had always been worn. He collapsed, and was taken to hospital. He died. Cause of death was swelling of the brain.
Bruno Spartaro	6-Jan	1960	Mohamed Beziane	20	Oran	Algeria	France	Light	Amateur	(Dublin) Irish Times, January 8, 1960. Beziane was training for the French amateur championships, the quarterfinals of which were scheduled for later that week in Tolouse. He was knocked down during some sparring. He got up, sparred one more round, and then collapsed. Brain surgery was done, but he died anyway. Cause of death was a blood clot on the brain.
ND	20-Feb	1962	David Ross Buzzell	22	Arlington	Texas	USA	Welter	Professional	Dallas Morning News, February 24, 1962; Stroudsburg (Pennsyvlania) Daily Record, February 27, 1962. Although a former amateur champion, Buzzell had not boxed for several years. He decided to resume training. He was knocked down during a sparring match. He never regained consciousness. Cause of death was brain hemorrhage.
ND	29-Apr	1962	Douglas Klosterhuber	22	Green Bay	Wisconsin	USA	Light Heavy	Amateur	Stevens Point (Wisconsin) Daily Journal, April 30, 1962; Appleton (Wisconsin) Post-Crescent, April 30, 1962. Klosterhuber was participating in supervised boxing at the Wisconsin State Reformatory, which had organized formal boxing tournaments. Headgear and 16-ounce gloves were worn. After sparring, Klosterhuber said he did not feel well, so he was sent to the infirmary. He was dead within half an hour. Cause of death was brain hemorrhage, perhaps associated with congenital aneurysm. This was the second boxing fatality at the Wisconsin State Reformatory (Golubiff being the first), and it led to Wisconsin prison officials discontinuing boxing tournaments.
Tim Fish	6-Feb	1963	Omar Olive	18	Toledo	Ohio	USA	ND	Amateur	New York Times, April 8, 1963; Appleton (Wisconsin) Post-Crescent, February 8, 1963. Cause of death was brain injury. He was practicing for the Golden Gloves.
ND	11-Oct	1963	Carroll J. Belt	23	Camp Sukiran	Okinawa	USA	Welter (Lt Welter)	Amateur	Pacific Stars and Stripes, October 13, 1963; Pacific Stars and Stripes, October 18, 1963; Frederick (Maryland) Post, October 18, 1963; Washington Post, October 18, 1963. In early October 1963, Bill Champion and Emanuel Rivera organized a 19-member Marine Corps boxing team at Camp Sukiran, Okinawa. The idea was to start holding weekly contests with the Army. "Many of our fighters are fairly short on experience," Champion was quoted in Pacific Stars and Stripes as saying. "But where they lack experience they conceal it with willingness and guts." On October 11, 1963, Corporal Belt was knocked unconscious, and soon after, he died in hospital. Cause of death was subdural hematoma.
Marika Naivalu	6-May	1964	Anare Baisagale	24	Suva	Fiji	Australia	Heavy	Amateur	Kingston (Jamaica) Gleaner, May 7, 1964; Fresno (California) Bee Republican, May 7, 1964. The two boxers were cousins. Baisagale was knocked down by a right to the head. The death is attributed to Australia because Fiji did not become independent until 1970.
ND	20-Mar	1966	Dolphin Candelario	30	Wailuku	Hawaii	USA	ND	Professional	Honolulu Advertiser, March 21, 1966. After sparring with some young amateurs, Candelario felt dizzy, so he went home and went to bed. The next morning, he was admitted to the hospital, where he subsequently died.
ND	26-May	1966	Alejandro "Chico" Torres		Maracaibo		Venezuela	ND	Amateur	New York Times, May 29, 1966; Oakland Tribune, May 29, 1966. Cause of death listed as concussion.
ND	6-Nov	1969	Seiichi Ninomiya	20	Osaka		Japan	Middle	Professional	Manuel Velazquez collection. Ninomiya's last known bout was in Sapporo on March 30, 1969.
ND	22-Apr	1969	Mitsuya Oshiro	17	Naha	Okinawa	USA	ND	Amateur	Pacific Stars and Stripes, April 24, 1969. Headgear was not worn, and the coach was not present.
Pierre Fourie	1-Jun	1970	Winston Nkoyane	21	Johannesburg		South Africa	Middle	Professional	New York Times, July 3, 1970. Fourie was the South African middleweight champion. Nkoyane was a Fourie's sparring partner. One evening, after two hard rounds, Nkoyanea went home, looking fine. Next morning, he was dead. In 1973, Fourie became the first white South African to fight a black (Bob Foster) in front of a mixed race South African audience.
Gil King	19-Jan	1971	Eddie L. Pace	30	Los Angeles	California	USA	Welter	Professional	Oakland (California) Tribune, January 24, 1971; (Reno) Nevada State Journal, January 27, 1971. Pace, the former California welterweight champion, was sparring with the current state champion. He stepped back, looked at his manager in the corner, and then collapsed in the ring. Cause of death was thought to be cardiac.
ND	30-Apr	1971	Al Robinson	23	Oakland	California	USA	Light	Professional	Oakland (California) Tribune, May 4, 1971; Lima (Ohio) News, January 27, 1974; Oakland (California) Tribune, May 6, 1971; Oakland (California) Tribune, February 18, 1974. Robinson, an Olympic silver medalist in 1968, turned pro in June 1969. One day, after a 6-round sparring session, he said, "My head hurts," and then he collapsed. He remained in a coma until his death 33 months later. Surgery revealed an old blood clot that had recently resumed bleeding.
ND	31-Mar	1971	George Kennedy	45	Fresno	California	USA	Heavy	Professional	Fresno (California) Bee Republican, April 1, 1971. Kennedy had boxed professionally from 1946-1961, and after retiring from the ring, he had continued training for exercise. On this night, after sparring five rounds at the gym, he collapsed. He said he did not want to go to the hospital, so he was taken home. His wife promptly called an ambulance, and he was taken to the hospital, where he was dead on arrival. Cause of death was a heart attack.
ND	5-Aug	1971	William Markley	18	Portland	Maine	USA	ND	Professional	Oakland Tribune, August 6, 1971; (Reno) Nevada State Journal, August 10, 1971. Markley had turned pro just two months before. During sparring, he took a hard shot to the left ear. His right side began to shake. He sat down, and began having convulsions. He lost consciousness, and he died in hospital two days later.
ND	Oct/	1972	Frank Barry	20	Syracuse	New York	USA	Heavy	Amateur	Syracuse (New York) Post-Standard, January 29, 1973. Barry collapsed at the gym in October 1972, and died in 1973. His most recent match had been against Tom Stewart on October 7. His amateur record was 14 wins, 11 losses. Cause of death was a blood clot in the brain.
ND	9-Mar	1976	Johnnie Harp	32	Syracuse	New York	USA	Welter	Professional	Syracuse (New York) Herald Journal, March 10, 1976; Social Security Death Index. Harp left the gym about 5 p.m. About 7:30 p.m., he began to complain of pain, and an ambulance was called. Harp was taken to the hospital, where he died about an hour later. Cause of death was a heart problem. Harp was reportedly aware of the problem, but told his friends "not to tell anyone, because maybe they won't let me fight."
ND	17-Mar	1976	Willie Ray Booker	28	Tucson	Arizona	USA	ND	Professional	Flagstaff (Arizona) Daily Sun, March 17, 1976. Booker had boxed under supervision during 1973 and 1974, and had recently returned to it. He collapsed at the start of the second round of a sparring session. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
ND	17-May	1977	Richard C. Mull	19	US Military Academy West Point	New York	USA	Welter (145-lbs)	Amateur	Lima (Ohio) News, May 20, 1977; New York Times, May 21, 1977; "Taps," http://www.west-point.org/class/usma1980/taps.htm; R.W. Enzenauer, J.S. Montrey, R.J. Enzenauer, and W.M. Mauldin, "Boxing-related injuries in the US Army, 1980 through 1985," Journal of American Medical Association, March 10, 1989, 261:10, 1463-1466. Headgear was used, and 16-ounce gloves were being worn. Mull was knocked down twice in two rounds, so the intramural match was stopped. Fifteen minutes later, Mull collapsed and went into convulsions. He died three days later. Cause of death was brain hemorrhage. The Army's defense was cited in Military Medical Ethics, vol. 1, ed. by Thomas E. Beam, et al. (Falls Church, Virginia: Office of The Surgeon General, 2003), 253: "Before cadets get to the Academy, they know that they must take boxing. Because they are free to leave without penalty in their first year, they implicitly risk whatever physical injury may result. Thus, though boxers frequently hurt each others, such activities need not be stopped according to the harm principle" (as espoused by John Stuart Mill).
Gerald Herrera	18-Aug	1980	Victor "Vito" Romero	20	Albuquerque	New Mexico	USA	Feather	Professional	Syracuse (New York) Herald Journal, August 22, 1980; Pacific Stars and Stripes, August 24, 1980; Frank Deford, "An encounter to last an eternity," Sports Illustrated, 58:15 (April 11, 1983), 70. Romero was a professional boxer who was training for a contest scheduled for September 1980. Shortly after finishing sparring with Herrera, an amateur boxer, Romero went into a coma and began convulsing. The clot that killed him was attributed to a previous injury.
ND	20-Aug	1981	Rick Craney	36	Portland	Maine	USA	Welter	Professional	Syracuse (New York) Herald Journal, August 21, 1990; Kingston (Jamaica) Gleaner, August 28, 1990. Craney collapsed on a bench after sparring three rounds each with two separate training partners. The medical examiner attributed death to severe stenosing coronary artery arthrosclerosis.
ND	24-Sep	1984	John Kevin Gordon	18	Prince George	Maryland	USA	ND	Amateur	Washington Post, September 25, 1984; Washington Post, October 1, 1984; Washington Post, October 18, 1984; Washington Post, December 27, 1985. Gordon had a pre-existing heart murmur, but had received medical approval to box. Cause of death was cardiac.
Kenny Styles	29-Sep	1985	David "The Hammer" Harris	25	New York	New York	USA	Light heavy	Professional	Frederick (Maryland) Post, October 2, 1985. While sparring, Harris stepped backwards out of a clinch, fell through the ropes, and slid down the wall to the floor. An ambulance was called, and he was taken to the hospital, but he was pronounced dead in the emergency room. His most recent bout had been on April 25, 1985, and he was scheduled for another match later that week.
ND	23-Dec	1985	Hayes Singletary Jr.	19	Prince George	Maryland	USA	ND	Amateur	Silver Springs (Maryland) Journal, December 27, 1985; Washington Post, December 27, 1985. Singletary stepped from the ring after five rounds of sparring, talked with his trainer, and then collapsed. For about two weeks prior to his death, Singletary had been complaining of headaches. In addition, his employer reported that Singletary had been vomiting. His coaches, however, said that Singletary never told them about this -- his goal was to become a professional boxer, and he knew that his coaches wouldn't let him spar if they knew about his headaches. Cause of death was acute subdural hematoma.
Jeff Franklin	7-Jul	1988	Harold Watts	24	Reno	Nevada	USA	ND	Amateur	Kingston (Jamaica) Gleaner, July 11, 1988; Steve Kanigher, "Can boxing be made safer," Las Vegas Sun, October 23, 2005, http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sports/2005/oct/23/519549564.html. Watts, an amateur, was sparring with Franklin, a professional featherweight. During the second round, Watts took a sharp hit to the chin. He was asked if he was okay. He said he was, so the sparring continued. At the end of the third round, Watts walked toward his corner, turned around, and collapsed. He died in hospital. Cause of death was a ruptured blood vessel in the brain.
ND	22-Feb	1990	Tyrone Smith	23	Fort Carson	Colorado	USA	Welter (147-lb)	Amateur	Pacific Stars and Stripes, February 25, 1990; Syracuse (New York) Herald Journal, February 26, 1990; Syracuse (New York) Post-Standard, February 27, 1990. Smith was preparing for the USA National amateur boxing championships to be held in Colorado Springs later in the week. He was sitting on the ring surface getting his left glove removed, when he suddenly fell over unto the ring apron. Cause of death was a blood clot on the brain. "I cannot emphasize enough that [this incident] is not related to boxing," said Dr. Robert Voy, director of sports medicine for USA Boxing.
ND	24-Feb	1990	Sean Lee	18	Colorado Springs	Colorado	USA	Welter (139-lb)	Amateur	Syracuse (New York) Herald Journal, February 26, 1990; Waterloo (Iowa) Courier, February 26, 1990; Syracuse (New York) Post-Standard, February 27, 1990. The venue was the USA National amateur boxing championships. The actual bouts did not begin until that evening. After attending (and passing) the pre-fight physical, Lee went to run some slow laps with another Louisiana boxer, Kenneth Pratt. During the run, Lee complained of chest pain, and then he collapsed. Cause of death was given as congenital coronary insufficiency (e.g., a difficult to detect, but comparatively common, cause of sudden death in young athletes).
ND	3-Sep	1991	Anthony McWilliams	20	Fort Huachuca	Arizona	USA	Fly	Amateur	Syracuse (New York) Herald Journal, September 24, 1991; Annapolis (Maryland) Capital, September 24, 1991. McWilliams, a member of an Army boxing team, was sparring with a lighter boxer. Both men were wearing headgear. McWilliams was in a coma 17 days before dying.
ND	1-Oct	1993	Nunu Puafisi	19	Reno	Nevada	USA	ND	Professional	Austin (Texas) American-Statesman, October 7, 1993. Puafisi went into a coma after sparring, and died October 2, 1993.
ND	21-Jan	1993	Michael J. Butler	21	Kelly Air Force Base	Texas	USA	ND	Amateur	Chicago Daily Herald, January 26, 1993; Annapolis (Maryland) Capital, January 26, 1993. Kelly was a member of an Eglin Air Force Base boxing team visiting Kelly Air Force Base for a tournament. After sparring, Kelly complained of dizziness and then collapsed. Cause of death was a blood clot.
ND	Dec/	1994	Jimmy Rodriguez	16	Waco	Texas	USA	ND	Amateur	"Good Morning," KWTX.com, Waco (Texas), December 18, 2006, http://www.kwtx.com/breakingnews/4939987.html. Rodriguez collapsed during sparring, and died on December 18, 1994. Cause of death was listed as repeated head trauma.
Chris King and Patrick Harris	19-Jan	1995	Nathan Wigfall	21	Washington	District of Columbia	USA	Heavy (180-lbs)	Amateur	Washington Post, January 24, 1995; Washington Post, February 17, 1995. Wigfall sat down after some 3-round sparring sessions with different opponents. He rolled over unconscious. He died the following day. Cause of death was a burst blood vessel in the brain.
ND	Mar/	1995	Marek Michalczuk		Varsovia		Poland	ND	Amateur	http://espndeportes.espn.go.com/news/story?id=391601
Anthony Pagan	30-Mar	1995	Jeffrey Foronda	25	Hilo	Hawaii	USA	ND	Amateur	Foronda v. Hawaii International Boxing Club, Supreme Court of the State of Hawaii, Civil No. 96-5123, http://www.hawaii.gov/jud/ica21703.htm; 96 Hawai'i, 25 P.3d 826. According to the court records, "Decedent was hit, sat temporarily on the second rope from the bottom, some 27 inches from the padded mat, sagged toward the floor, and leaned sideways, hitting his head, while wearing regulation protective headgear, on the padded apron just outside the rope." The court ruled that the risk of falling was an inherent risk of sport, and that, while the gym did not have all the latest safety equipment, there was insufficient evidence to demonstrate defective equipment, supervision, or coaching.
Carlos	28-Jul	1996	Reginaldo Tavares da Silva	18	San Goncalo		Brazil	ND	Amateur	New Bedford (Massachusetts) Standard Times, July 1996, http://www.standardtimes.com/daily/07-96/07-30-96/d05sp147.htm; Warrendale (Pennsylvania) North Hills News Record, July 30, 1996. After the fight, da Silva said his stomach hurt. He went to the hospital, where he died during surgery. Cause of death was severe internal bleeding.
ND	7-Feb	1997	Michael J. Cecil	19	Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island	South Carolina	USA	ND	Amateur	Myrtle Beach (South Carolina) Sun, May 21, 1997, http://www.healthwatcher.net/Boxing/mb970521marine.html. See also R. T. Ross and M.G. Ochsner, Jr., "Acute intracranial boxing-related injuries in U.S. Marine Corps recruits: report of two cases," Military Medicine, January 1999, 164:1, 68-70. Cecil died during "combat hitting training," the first (and reportedly only) of approximately 120,000 recruits to do so. Nonetheless, "combat hitting training" was stopped as a result.
ND	20-Feb	1999	K. Karunakaran		Imphal		India	ND	Amateur	Tribune of India, February 21, 1999, http://www.tribuneindia.com/99feb21/sports.htm#12. Karanukaran died of cardiac arrest while jogging. He was scheduled for a bout that afternoon.
Robert Alaniz	9-May	2000	Sergio Ariel Soto	26	Buenos Aires		Argentina	ND	Professional	"Murio el Pugilista Sergio Soto," La Nacionline, October 19, 2000, http://www.lanacion.com.ar/00/10/19/d32.htm
Emiliano Valdez	11-Jan	2000	Elijah Fenwick	18	Pahokee	Florida	USA	Welter	Amateur	"Fighting to the death," Palm Beach Post, April 16, 2000, http://www.coxnews.com/boc/metro/sports.html#. Fenwick was an amateur sparring with a pro (Valdez) and another fighter. Twelve days later, Valdez was knocked unconscious and subsequently died of injuries. Neither Valdez nor Fenwick had life or medical insurance, because under Florida boxing law, boxers were not required to have insurance.
ND	23-Apr	2002	Justin Chino	11	Milan	New Mexico	USA	ND	Amateur	Albuquerque Journal, April 25, 2002; Albuquerque Journal, April 26, 2002. Chino was running with his coach when he collapsed and died. He had been training for about a month, and his first match was scheduled to take place the following Saturday.
ND	2-Jul	2003	Brandon Nicholes Reeves	20	Longview	Texas	USA	Middle	Amateur	John Lynch, "Father of two dies after boxing practice," Longview (Texas) News-Journal, July 15, 2003; personal communication with Josephine Bray. The date given is date of death. While training some weeks before his death, Reeves took a heavy blow to his head. Afterwards, he began complaining of blurred vision and an inability to concentrate. At the time, this was attributed to allergies, but the cause of death was brain hemorrhage. The autopsy revealed that Reeves was genetically disposed toward aneurism. Weight is approximate, as it varied between 150 and 170 pounds.
Munyagwa	10-Sep	2003	Godfrey Sekabira	22	Kampala		Uganda	Middle (Jr Middle)	Amateur	Nicholas Kajoba, "Scoul boxer dies," New Vision, September 12, 2003, http://allafrica.com/stories/200309120166.html; Moses Mugalu, "Malaria hits six Bombers," New Vision, September 17, 2003, http://allafrica.com/stories/200309170078.html. The deceased was the brother of professional boxer James Lubwama. Cause of death was not known, but brain injury was suspected.
ND	22-Jan	2004	Kenichi Hashimoto	16	Higashimatsuyama		Japan	ND	Amateur	"Schoolboy boxer killed in ring," Mainichi Shimbun, January 25, 2004, http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/archive/200401/25/20040125p2a00m0dm007002c.html. Following three 3-minute rounds of sparring, Hashimoto bowed to his opponent, and then collapsed. He subsequently died of brain injuries.
ND	2-Feb	2006	Richard Hermance Jr.	28	Saratoga Springs	New York	USA	ND	Amateur	Jim Kinney, "Boxer dies while sparring," (Saratoga, New York) Saratogian http://www.saratogian.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16065254&BRD=1169&PAG=461&dept_id=17708&rfi=6 February 4, 2006; Matt Leon, "Coroner: Boxer's death linked to blow to head," Glens Falls (New York) Post Star, http://www.poststar.com/story.asp?storyid=209670, February 6, 2006; Curtis Schick, "Boxer died from brain hemorrhage," Capital News 9, http://www.capitalnews9.com/content/your_news/saratoga/default.asp?ArID=167577, February 7, 2006. Hermance was training for his first amateur bout, scheduled for March 5, 2006. He complained of dizziness, collapsed in the locker room, and died in hospital. Cause of death was subarachnoid hemorrhage.
ND	16-Feb	2006	Shawn Benjamin	30	Fort Benning	Georgia	USA	ND	Amateur	Michelle Tan, "Fall while boxing kills Benning soldier," Army Times, February 22, 2006, http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1550629.php; FirstCoastNews, "Warrant officer dies from boxing injury," Firstcoastnews.com, February 21, 2006, http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/georgia/news-article.aspx?storyid=52250; "Shawn R. Benjamin," Dothan (Alabama) Eagle, http://www.legacy.com/DothanEagle/DeathNotices.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=16822427. While participating in a hand-to-hand instructor training course, Benjamin was struck in the head. He fell, and he died in the hospital two days later. Headgear and boxing gloves were being worn. This was reportedly the first death in the US Army's hand-to-hand instructor's course, which to date had trained about 11,000 students.

Table 4: Amateur ring deaths, 1890 to present

Survivor	Day/Mo	Year	Res	Rd	Deceased	Age	City	Counth/State	Country	Weight	Source/Remarks
Thomas Levitt	4-Feb	1890	KO	3	John William Williams	20	London	London	England	Bantam (8 stone 6)	London Times, February 10, 1890; (Glasgow) Scotsman, February 10, 1890. Williams was a member of the Stanhope Amateur Athletic Club, and 8-ounce gloves were being worn. During this fight, Williams was hit repeatedly, but according to the papers, not especially hard. In any case, he stepped back, and then collapsed unconscious. He was rubbed down with vinegar and left to wake up on his own. After about an hour, he still was not conscious. Consequently, he was wrapped in blankets and taken to the hospital, where he died several hours later. Cause of death was due to the rupture of small blood vessels in the brain. Williams had been knocked unconscious during December 1899.
Frank W. McConnico	25-Sep	1890	WKO	13	Warren Taliaferro	15	Lexington	Virginia	USA	ND	Fort Wayne (Indiana) Sentinel, September 26, 1890; Dallas Morning News, September 26, 1890. The pugilists were cadets at Virginia Military Academy. They had a dispute, and they decided to settle it with a prize fight. The fight lasted about half an hour. McConnico was unconscious at the end of the fight, and Taliferro went to his room with his nose bleeding. He went to sleep and never awoke. McConnico afterwards attempted suicide, so was placed in jail for his own protection.
William Kemper	31-Mar	1896	KO	1	John Lipke	40	Otis	Indiana	USA	ND	Los Angeles Times, April 2, 1896; Fort Wayne (Indiana) Weekly Sentinel, April 8, 1896; Ancestry.com. Indiana Deaths, 1882-1920 [database on-line]. Kemper struck Lipke in the abdomen. Lipke collapsed and he died the following day.
Arthur Bradley	4-Apr	1896	KO		Richard Ingram		Haverhill	Massachusetts	USA	ND	Los Angeles Times, April 5, 1896. Both men were factory workers. They decided to see who was the better boxer. After about 30 minutes, Ingram was struck on the right jaw and collapsed. He subsequently died at his brother’s house.
Willie Glantz	2-Feb	1898	KO	4	Carl Lindback	18	West Bend	Wisconsin	USA	ND	Chicago Daily Tribune, February 4, 1898; Waterloo (Iowa) Daily Reporter, February 5, 1898; Albert Lea (Minnesota) Freeborn County Standard, February 9, 1898. The two youths were in high school, and decided to settle a quarrel with a gloved match consisting of ten 2-minute rounds. In the fourth round, Lindback was knocked down by a blow to the face. He did not get up, and was dead within minutes. Cause of death was listed as the effects of a blow to the heart.
Carl Conner	25-Mar	1899	KO		Charles McCoy	17	Kokomo	Indiana	USA	ND	Chicago Daily Tribune, March 27, 1899; Mansfield (Ohio) News, March 27, 1899; New York Sun, April 2, 1899; National Police Gazette, April 15, 1899. The youths were boxing bareknuckle in front of McCoy’s father’s store. McCoy was struck over the heart, and his heart literally burst. Explained the always-colorful Police Gazette, the blow “caused all the blood from the vital organ to pour out into the abdominal cavity. Death was almost instantaneous.” Autopsy revealed that McCoy had an enlarged heart.
Bert Whidden	18-Mar	1900	KO	8	Frank Cass	18	Santa Cruz	California	USA	Middle	San Francisco Chronicle, March 19, 1900. The pair fought three rounds at the YMCA in the morning, and then went to Twin Lakes for a finish match. Cass, the deceased, weighed about 170, while Whidden weighed about 150. Cass was ahead the first three rounds. After that, Whidden started getting the better of Cass. In the eighth round, Whidden knocked Cass down. When Cass stood up, Whidden knocked him down again, and this time, he did not get up. A physician was called, but Cass died before he arrived. Whidden was arrested, then released on his own recognizance.
Thomas Nelson	30-Mar	1900	KO	2	Thomas McGregor	16	New York	New York	USA	ND	New York Times, April 1, 1900. McGregor took a heavy blow to the face. He fell to the ground, blood streaming from his nose. The bleeding would not stop, so after about an hour, he was taken home and put to bed. A doctor was called, and after about four hours, the bleeding stopped. McGregor died the following morning.
Neil McCallum	15-May	1900	KO		Will Stowe	17	Batesville	Indiana	USA	ND	Chicago Daily Tribune, May 17, 1900; Fort Wayne (Indiana) News, May 17, 1900. According to the Chicago paper, “While engaged in a friendly sparring match… Will Stowe, aged 17, received a blow near the heart. He stepped back, and while in the act of raising his hands to strike, fell dead.”
ND	17-May	1900	KO		Isaac C. Thomas	41	Lexington	Kentucky	USA	ND	(Rockcastle County, Kentucky) Mount Vernon Signal, May 25, 1900, http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ky/ky-footsteps/1999a/v01-497.txt; Ancestry.com. Kentucky Death Records, 1852-1953 [database on-line]. Thomas, a married African American man, was sparring with a friend. He was hit in the jaw, and lay comatose two days before dying. Cause of death was cerebral hemorrhage.
Joseph Kelly (Young Kelly)	12-Dec	1900	KO	2	Edward Sanford (Frank Barr)	19	New York	New York	USA	ND	New York World, December 24, 1900; Frederick (Maryland) News, December 24, 1900; North Adams (Massachusetts) Transcript, December 24, 1900. On the first night of the tournament, Sanford was knocked out. Then it was determined that his opponent was a professional, so he advanced to the quarter-finals. Sanford won a 4-round decision, and so advanced to the finals. He was knocked down in the first round, and was so clearly overmatched in the second round that the fight was stopped. Sanford was sent to the hospital, where he died. Cause of death was listed as skull fracture.
Charles Johnson	8-Jul	1905	KO	8	Raphael Cohen		USS Yankee	Off Monte Christi	USA (At sea)	ND	Fort Wayne (Indiana) Sentinel, August 16, 1905; Van Wert (Ohio) Daily Bulletin, August 16, 1905; Galveston (Texas) Daily News, August 19, 1905; Letter dated July 15, 1905, from sailor Frank Hoster of USS Olympia to his mother, advertised on E-bay on October 20, 2005. Cohen was a coal passer from USS Yankee, while Johnson was a coal passer on USS Olympia. Cohen died in sick bay early the next morning. Cause of death was cerebral hemorrhage on the left side of the brain. The following passage comes from Hoster’s letter: “We have been holding prize fights aboard this Ship but I don’t think we will have any more on account of one of the Yankee’s crew getting killed. The fellows name was Cohen and lived near the Bowery in New York City. The fight was for a knock out and winner take all the money. The lad who killed him is a negro and is one of this ship’s crew. The fight was about even untill the eighth round when Johnson the negro gave him a left-swing and sent him to the mat and just about the finishing of the count Cohen got on his feet and Johnson caught him another with his right and knocked him to the mat never to rise any more. He was carried to the sick bay and died at 12 O’clock that night. We are making a purse for his Mother and have got about One Thousand Dollars so far. Johnson is getting a General Court Martial but it will not amount to anything.” Hoster was correct about the court-martial, whose verdict was that Cohen died in line of duty. According to the Daily News article, “There is hardly a ship in the navy with a sufficiently large crew which does not witness two or three of these bouts each week... They are usually held on the forward deck, and the commissioned officers, if they are present, are there more as tacitly invited guests than in any other capacity.”
Minor Meriweather Jr.	7-Nov	1905	KO		James R. Branch	23	Annapolis	Maryland	USA	ND	Oakland Tribune, November 7, 1905; Dallas Morning News, November 9, 1905; Washington Post, November 9, 1905; Phoenix (Arizona) Republican, December 13, 1905. The boxers were midshipmen at the US Naval Academy. Although run like a prizefight, it was not an officially sanctioned bout, so the cadet officers who participated were reduced in grade.
Charles Smith	9-Sep	1906	KO		Con Griffin		Little Rock	Arkansas	USA	ND	Washington Post, December 23, 1906; Trenton (New Jersey) Evening Times, January 4, 1907.
John McGrath	30-Oct	1906	KO		John Bergin		New York	New York	USA	ND	Washington Post, December 23, 1906; Oakland Tribune, January 27, 1907
Robert Lander	29-Mar	1906	TKO	2	Shenstone Wyer	20	Toronto	Ontario	Canada	Bantam	Toronto Globe, March 30, 1906; Toronto Globe, April 4, 1906. Wyer had just arrived in Canada from England, and had never boxed in a tournament before. Although he weighed about 105 pounds, he was fighting in the bantamweight division. He collapsed in the dressing room after the fight. An ambulance came to take him to the hospital, but because the injury occurred during the first bout of the night, few people in the audience were aware of it. Wyer died in hospital about four hours later. Autopsy revealed no brain injury, so the coroner’s jury ruled cause of death to be apoplexy caused by excitement.
Brown	23-Jan	1907	KO		John Mason		Indianapolis	Indiana	USA	ND	Hammond (Indiana) Lake County Times, February 7, 1907. The venue was St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church; Mason was from a boxing club associated with St. Bartholomew’s, while Brown was from a club associated with St. George’s Episcopal Church. Mason died in hospital, and his death led to restrictions on boxing in church athletic leagues. (New York Times, May 5, 1907.)
Charles Wolf	17-Mar	1908	KO	1	Willis Robinson	19	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	USA	ND	Oakland Tribune, March 18, 1908; Fort Wayne (Indiana) Sentinel, March 18, 1908; Van Wert (Ohio) Daily Bulletin, March 18, 1908. Less than a minute into the match, Robinson was struck over the heart. He collapsed in the ring, and he died while in the police vehicle transporting him to the hospital.
Johnny Hogan	17-Jun	1908	KO	3	Peter Hagen		Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	USA	ND	Fort Wayne (Indiana) Journal Gazette, June 18, 1908; Chicago Daily Tribune, June 18, 1908; Washington Post, June 19, 1908. Hagen was a Marine stationed at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, while Hogan was a professional from the city. The bout took place on board the battleship Mississippi. Hagen was hit hard, and died within a few minutes of being counted out. Death was attributed to heart failure.
Benjamin Barnett (Fred Stewart)	18-Dec	1908	KO	2	James Curran (Mickey Henry)	18	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	USA	ND	Washington Post, December 19, 1908; Titusville (Pennsylvania) Morning Herald, December 22, 1908. Barnett dominated the second round, and in the third, Curran was knocked down by a right to the chin. Curran died while en route to the hospital. Cause of death was hemorrhage of the brain. No physical exam was conducted prior to the fight.
Britton Stacey	15-Jul	1909	KO		Earl Terry	20	Hillsboro	Texas	USA	ND	Galveston (Texas) Daily News, July 16, 1909. The two men were boxing in a neighbor’s yard. Terry was struck on the left side of the body. He collapsed, and died.
David W. Williams	31-Jul	1909	KO	6	Harrison H. Foster		Provincetown	Massachusetts	USA	ND	New York Times, August 2, 1909; Boston Daily Globe, August 2, 1909; Racine (Wisconsin) Daily Journal, August 19, 1909; Washington Post, August 22, 1909; Washington Post, August 26, 1909. The boxers were African American messmen serving aboard USS Vermont. The two men had a grudge, so upon reaching port, they were allowed to box one another during a scheduled shipboard smoker. The morning after the bout, Foster complained of pain, so he was taken to sick bay, where he died. After a court-martial cleared Williams of manslaughter charges, he was turned over to Georgia civil authorities, who wanted him on charges of aggravated assault pre-existing his enlistment in the Navy.
Happy Brown	16-Jan	1910	KO		Joseph Myers		Chillicothe	Ohio	USA	ND	Van Wert (Ohio) Daily Bulletin, January 17, 1910. The two men were soldiers in the Ohio National Guard, sparring at the Armory.
Willis Elder	10-Mar	1910	KO	2	John V. Heflin	23	Presidio of Monterey	California	USA	ND	Oelwein (Iowa) Daily Register. Both men were privates in the Coast Artillery, and Heflin died at the Presidio hospital on March 21. Cause of death was hemorrhage of the brain.
Frank Keizer	5-Apr	1910	KO	7	Gilbert Trehou	18	Passaic	New Jersey	USA	ND	Washington Post, April 9, 1910; Boston Globe, April 9, 1910; New York Times, May 1, 1910. The bout was a grudge match supervised by the high school principal. Ropes were strung and a referee and timekeeper were used. Trehou was struck in solar plexus but died of brain injuries.
Thomas Holmes	19-Nov	1912	KO	1	Frederick Merten	16	New York	New York	USA	ND	Albert Lea (Minnesota) Evening Tribune, November 21, 1912; Oakland Tribune, November 21, 1912. The boxers were walking to the center of the ring to shake hands (an innovation formally introduced around 1908), when Merten collapsed. Cause of death was listed as heart failure induced by excitement.
Clarence Salmon	14-Feb	1915	KO		A. V. Brown		Navy Yard Puget Sound, Bremerton	Washington	USA	ND	Reno Evening Gazette, February 13, 1915; Fort Wayne (Indiana) News, February 16, 1915. Brown collapsed after being struck on the left ear. Both boxers were sailors, and the match took place on board USS West Virginia.
Arthur Stebbins	13-Apr	1915	KO		George Brogan	22	Brooklyn	New York	USA	ND	Fort Wayne (Indiana) Sentinel, April 16, 1915; Newark (Ohio) April 16, 1915; New York Times, April 17, 1915. Brogan was knocked down by a blow to the heart. He did not get up, and he died in hospital two days later. Cause of death listed as hemorrhage of the brain.
R. N. Lewis	12-Feb	1915	TKO	1	Archibald Leonard Foreman	16	Gisborne		New Zealand	Middle	Wellington (New Zealand) Evening Post, February 13, 1915; Wellington (New Zealand) Evening Post, February 16, 1915; Wellington (New Zealand) Evening Post, February 18, 1915. Foreman quit in the first round. While walking to the dressing room, he collapsed. Earlier in the evening, he had won the middleweight contest, and now, a little later, he was fighting in the heavyweight division. Cause of death was a blood clot on the brain.
ND	28-May	1917	KO	2	Hugh Barrie		Southampton	Hampshire	England	ND	(Glasgow) Scotsman, June 1, 1917. Barrie was participating in a military tournament. He was knocked down, and the back of his head reportedly hit the flooring. Death was due to a ruptured blood vessel in the brain.
ND	6-Nov	1917	KO		Neal Deaton	19	Submarine Base San Pedro	California	USA	ND	U.S. Navy, Officers and Enlisted Men of the United States Navy Who Lost Their Lives during the World War, from April 6, 1917 to November 11, 1918 (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1920), 222. “Died after having engaged in bout of boxing.”
Neil Mackinnon	16-Mar	1918	KO		Frank Ward	19	Minneapolis	Minnesota	USA	ND	Racine (Wisconsin) Journal-News, March 18, 1918. The venue was a Knights of Columbus hall. Cause of death was attributed to dilation of the heart.
ND	3-Aug	1918	KO	1	Gerald Yowdall		London	London	England	ND	News of the World, August 8, 1918, http://www.uk.olivesoftware.com/archive/skins/bl/navigator.asp. Yowdall, of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, received a blow on the mouth. He collapsed and subsequently died. Cause of death was cerebral hemorrhage.
Private Garland	4-Nov	1918	KO		Gunner Hennessey		London	London	England	ND	Daily News, November 4, 1918, http://www.uk.olivesoftware.com/archive/skins/bl/navigator.asp. Following the knockout, Hennessey never regained consciousness, and he died the following day in hospital.
James McDonald	4-Aug	1919	KO	3	James Keay		Dunedin		New Zealand	ND	http://www.geocities.com/kiwiboxing/ringdeaths.htm
George S. Lewis	25-Nov	1919	KO	3	Alfred Jerome Katz	17	Boonville	Missouri	USA	ND	Chicago Daily Tribune, November 26, 1919; (Lincoln, Nebraska) Evening State Journal and Lincoln Daily News, November 28, 1919. The youths were students at Kemper Military School (closed 2002). The match was sanctioned (and supervised) by school officials, for the purpose of resolving a grudge; evidently, Lewis, aged 16, had called the older youth “Pussy” Katz. Katz was larger, and did well enough during the first two rounds that Lewis wanted to stop at the end of the second. However, Katz wanted to continue, so the match was allowed to continue into the third round specified for amateur bouts. At the start of the third, before any blows were struck, Katz suddenly fell to the ground. He was pronounced dead 12 minutes later. Cause of death was attributed to acute dilation of the right ventricle of the heart.
ND	20-Nov	1920	KO		Donald R. Hendrick	23	Burlington	Vermont	USA	ND	Bridgeport (Connecticut) Telegram, November 22, 1920. Hendrick was a freshman at the University of Vermont. He was boxing in the University gym. He died of injuries the following morning.
Harold Myers	4-Aug	1921	KO		Earl Welch	20	Columbus	Ohio	USA	ND	Indianapolis Star, August 6, 1921; Lima (Ohio) News, August 6, 1921; Portsmouth (Ohio) Daily Times, August 8, 1921. Welsh was knocked to the floor and did not get up. He died two days later. Cause of death was listed as fractured skull.
Manny Stosh	ND	1921	KO		Karl Rayle		ND		New Zealand	ND	http://www.geocities.com/kiwiboxing/ringdeaths.htm
Joe Ritchie	5-Jan	1922	KO		George Bliss	24	Wilkes-Barre	Pennsylvania	USA	ND	Fort Wayne (Indiana) Journal-Gazette, January 13, 1922; Chicago Daily Tribune, January 7, 1922, Chicago Daily Tribune, January 13, 1922; Titusville (Pennsylvania) Herald, January 13, 1922. Cause of death was a kidney punch. The coroner’s jury, which included two women, recommended that physicians examine all boxers before they entered the ring.
Whitten Windham	ND	1922	KO		William Curtis McAdams	35	Jasper	Alabama	USA	ND	Ancestry.com. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]; McAdams v. Windham, 208. Ala. 492. The two men were sparring bare-knuckle, as they had often done in the past. McAdams was struck hard over the heart. He staggered back, and was caught by a spectator, a man named Waltrop. He was then laid on the floor, where he died within minutes. Cause of death was ruled to be the blow over the heart. The widow charged the survivor with assault, and the case ended up in the state supreme court. The case is McAdams v. Windham, 208 Ala. 492, 94 So. 742, 30 A.L.R. 194, Nov. 30, 1922. In its finding on behalf of Windham, the Alabama Supreme Court noted that “it is a general rule of law that a blow thus inflicted in a friendly, mutual combat -- a mere sporting contest -- is not unlawfully inflicted.” Instead, so long as no one was guilty of reckless or negligent conduct, “participants in a violent game have assumed the risk ordinarily incident to their sport.”
ND	Sep/

Death under the Spotlight: The Manuel Velasquez Boxing Fatality Collection The Data

Death under the Spotlight: The Manuel Velasquez Boxing Fatality Collection
The Data