By: Michael Blackett
Tom Sayers was an English Bareknuckle fighter who was born on the 25th of May in 1826. On paper I suppose he didn’t have the best fighting records compared to others but he is nevertheless down in history as a great. Tom was the youngest of 5 children, his father James was a shoemaker and his mother Maria stayed at home and struggled to feed the family as did most during the early 19th century.
As most work was centered around London during these times, Tom moved away from Brighton at the age of 13 and moved in with his sister and brother in law who was a builder at the time and got Tom fixed up with an apprenticeship as a bricklayer. He continued bricklaying for the next 7 years commuting between London and his parents’ house, and at the age of 20 settled down permanently in London.
Although he had his fair share of cobble fights his first organized fight was at the age of 23, he fought Abe Couch and finished him easily in 13 minutes and was $12,000 richer. As Tom weighed less than 154 pounds throughout his career and was quite short at 5ft 8 1/2 he often had to fight heavier men as getting him matched up against fighters of his own weight proved difficult. This was perhaps the reason that in total he only had 16 fights losing 1 against Nat Langham and drawing 3.
Although he did have few fights compared to some other notable pugilists of the time he did fight some good quality fighters including William Perry, Tom Paddock, and Bill Benjamin amongst others. The main reason his name was made famous was for his fight with John C Heenan, the American bareknuckle fighter. Sayers fight with Heenan looked like a total mismatch on paper; Sayers was giving away almost 43 pouinds in weight and over 5.5 inches in height.
The date for the fight was set for the 17th of April, 1860 and it was to be fought in Farnborough, Hampshire. This was no ordinary fight it was billed as “The International Championship of the World” Heenan also known as the “Benicia Boy “was the first foreign challenger for the championship of England since Tom Molineaux 50 years earlier.
The fight was a ferocious one with both men pounding each other. Heenan was the aggressor due to his height and weight advantage but Sayers used his skill to place accurate shots on Heenan’s face, almost blinding him. In the 42nd round and after more than 2 hours and 20 minutes, the crowd overran the ring and the fight was later stopped it was later called a draw.
Both men had replica belts made for them in honor of the brave battle they gave. The British public had great pride in their fighter and as a result more than $4,700 dollars was raised on condition Sayers didn’t fight again. He used his popularity to prepare himself for a life away from the ring and in 1861 he named his circus which he had just bought, “Tom Sayers championship circus”.
As many fighters before him Sayers business attributes were not on par with his fighting skills and his circus nosedived and was sold off only 1 year since he bought it. Sayers sadly passed away on November the 8th, 1865 at the age of 40. He was buried in Highgate cemetery beneath a magnificent and fitting memorial.
Heenan himself died on October 28, 1873 at the age of only 39 years old.
Tom Sayers grave site
*If anyone is interested in reading more on the origins of bare knuckle boxing, here is a link to Michael Blackett’s site- THE HISTORY OF BAREKNUCKLE BOXING
