The Marquess of Queensbury: The Man Who Broke the Code

What’s your name?

After Mike Tyson was destined for fine dining adventures, Evander Holyfield’s right ear was a famous menu item, but he kept his actions in line with the spirit of the Queensbury Rules. I could have argued that there is. Marquis of that name. It may be a long shot, but it’s worth a try.

The Queensbury Rules are the cornerstones of modern boxing, the Twelve Commandments, where the bare fist is the weapon and the length of a round is a knockdown and a fight is fought if one of the combatants is physically unable to continue. only ends.

One might speculate that the rules bearing Marquez’s name were their creator a man of temperance, a legislator, and a bringer of light in darkness. The work of the great Welsh sporting guru John Graham Chambers, whose name had to sit behind history, the Marquis still basks in the glory of Chambers’ work. increase. Gone are the days.

So who was Queensberry?Sir John Sholto Douglas, 9 years old^th The Marquess of Queensbury was an eccentric, enthusiastic horseman and spire chaser who competed in many Grand Nationals and countless fox hunts (breaking most of his bones in the process).A scene in which fast women and slow horses are the medium, and a man’s worth is judged by the amount of his material he is ready to squander in a long shot. Queensbury’s father, age 8^th Marquez lost most of his family fortune on a horse called Rambler – the name should have been a warning – and committed suicide shortly thereafter. This is just one of many suicides in the Douglas family over the decades.

As mentioned earlier, James, 3rd Marquess, trampled the boundaries of culinary etiquette in 1703 when he escaped from his locked quarters to kill and skewer an unnamed kitchen boy. This escape story calls the narrative into question, but he was also claimed to have unnatural powers and to have no sanity at all. His convenient death established a sad pattern of mental instability in the Douglas family that continues to this day.

Queensbury, who inherited the title when she was still a naval cadet at the age of 14, was never seen at court, but was a member of the British nobility who possessed the wealth, land, and power those two assets brought. was part of it. – His three cherries in the fruit machine of life. He differed from his peers in that while they generally hid scandals and eccentricities from the public’s inquisitive gaze, he actively sought them out. . His life was a series of fights, feuds, scandals and tragedies, all followed by brutal anger, harsh words and blows. Most of all, he was in the spotlight in an era when the press was growing up. As ironic as it may seem, his memory reminds us of another great exhibitionist, Oscar, who declared, “If I can’t be famous, I’ll be infamous,” and managed to be both. It’s fitting that it’s forever tied to his wild.

Resigning from Royal Navy duty at the age of 20, Queensbury spent two years at Cambridge University, enjoying little academic glory but enjoying a full sporting life of cricket, track and field and, of course, boxing. , became the university lightweight champion. Here he befriended Chambers, the great legislator and sports organizer of Victorian England, and founded the Amateur Athletic Club (which later became the Amateur Athletic Association) in 1866. I became a member. The following year he gave his title to the revolutionary code Chambers had created. Its main points were the introduction of gloves, setting the number of rounds to 3 minutes, and the 10-second knockdown rule. ‘You must follow and win’ is a phrase that Queensbury might well have taken advantage of had she applied it to her own life.

In seven years he had four sons and a daughter, but broke down in the face of his overt womanizing, and his children came to hate him. Loudly professing his atheism, he lost his seat in the House of Lords when he refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Bible, branding it a “Christian hoax”. . His vicious temper led him to quarrels, and he appeared before the magistrate’s court, where even a small fine could not deter him from his actions.

He had an open fight with his three oldest sons. His anger knew no bounds when his eldest son, Francis, was elected lord under the patronage of the Earl of Rosebery. He sniffed out gay favoritism in his son’s promotion, and “queer snobbery like Rosebery” corrupted his son, two snippets of his correspondence over the course of this controversy. , shows the flavor of the man. “Cher fat Boy,” he wrote to Rosebery. Another letter to the Prime Minister was entitled “Copy of letter sent to Christian prostitute and hypocrite Gladstone”. No wonder he found himself alienated from the society of his time. Francis died in a “shooting accident” a year after him. He probably committed suicide.

Alfred, Lord Douglas, his third son, was at the center of the most famous scandal of the day for his homosexual relationship with Oscar Wilde, then at the peak of his literary career. the importance of being serious Running towards a packed house in the West End. Convinced (in this case, rightly) of the nature of the relationship, Queensbury pursued Wilde relentlessly, eventually posting him an infamous note. During the course of his ‘campaign’, his younger son Percy, who sided with Alfred and tried to intervene on his behalf, approached Queensbury on the street. A fistfight ensued that drew an enthusiastic crowd before being demolished by police.The quarrel between his two nobles, father and son, was his front page news and an illustration to spice up the event. and the paparazzi era is some 50 years ahead of him.

A trial in April 1895 and its successor brought by Queensbury resulted in Wilde being ruined, imprisoned, and exiled only five years later to die poor. Meanwhile, Alfred lurked on the continent, his superior position in life protecting him from the legal consequences of what was still a criminal offense at the time.

The incident caused a sensation, the victorious Queensbury became the hero of the moment, and the British public reveled in a bit of queer-bashing glee. In many ways, he was seen as a protective father, saving his son from the corrupting influence of his elders. In fact, his relationship with Alfred was one of mutual loathing him.

But his brief moment in the sun of Queensbury’s public affection didn’t last long, as his negative traits came to the fore again. Yes, which lasted less than a year, but was terminated because the marriage could not be consummated. The evidence of his impotence in legal proceedings provided juicy reading to the same public that once welcomed him.

His physical and mental health began to decline rapidly, and unidentified syphilis was suspected. His stroke left him incapacitated and he died on January 31, 1900.

Sporting Times gave an ironic resignation to Queensbury. It had a thirst for something. didn’t know anything about it.

And while we may leave the story of this honed, driven, unhappy man, the fact that his ghost is still with us, playing a supporting role in the cartoon series for. The Mystery of Mike Tyson, a playful and fantastic impersonation of Scooby-Doo. The Ghost of Queensbury is flying around as Tyson’s lifestyle coach, trying to add a little polish to his rep behavior. It’s not hard to imagine what the Marquis himself would imagine from this watery description!

* His first winner as a rider was the 1865 Damfriesshire Hunt Club Pursuit, his last winner being Sundown Park 1883.

Sir John Sholto Douglas Queensbury, 8th Marquess of Queensbury, 1844–1900 (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Marquess of Queensbury (1867)

1. Be a fair stand-up boxing match in a 24.4m ring, or be as close to that size as is practicable.
2. No wrestling allowed.
3. Rounds shall be 3 minutes, with 1 minute between rounds.
4. If either fighter falls due to weakness, etc., that fighter must get up unaided and the boxer is given 10 seconds to allow the other fighter to return to his corner. It will resume and continue until 3 minutes have passed. If he fails to reach the scratch by one man on the count of ten allowed, the referee shall no longer have the power to award one man in favor of him.
5. A person hanging helplessly on a rope with his toes off the ground is considered down.
6. No second or other person is allowed in the ring during the round.
7. If the contest is abandoned due to compelling interference, the referee will designate a time and place to end the contest as soon as possible. So unless supporters of both men agree to draw the wager, the match must be decided.
8. Gloves are top quality, brand new, fair size boxing gloves.
9. If a glove bursts or comes off, it must be replaced to the referee’s satisfaction.
10. A man on one knee is considered to be down and is entitled to the wager if hit.
11. Shoes or boots with spikes or twigs (wire nails) are not permitted.
12. In all other respects, the Contest will be governed by the London Prize Ring Rules, as amended.