fit

In 1908, "Ogden's Pugilists and Wrestlers (series 1) (England)" featured a Jim Esson on card #49. A card from the series was included as a premium with each packet of Ogden's Cigarettes. It's probably the same Jim Esson in this photo by London photographer Percy Luton. Edit, quoting an article by Willie Baxter titled "The Greatest Wrestler of the Century" (referring to Donald Dinnie, not to Esson), from the March, 2000 issue of the magazine Highland Gathering:

"Jimmy Esson from Aberdeen, was acclaimed as World Heavyweight Champion when he won the Lonsdale Challenge Cup and the National Sporting Club’s tournament in the Alhambra in London in 1908."

(You can find the article on the web with a Google search using terms- highland gathering baxter. For some reason it won't link here.) This 1908 event was "...the first legitimate international championship tournament in Catch-as-catch-can....", according to the author of this page at the website of the Commonwealth Amateur Wrestling Association.

Great picture and history

I simply love this photo. These two ladies are charming.

fierce

After being the Boxing Champion of the World, Jimmy Clabby is said to have squandered over $500,000 in earnings, and was found dead of starvation in Calumet City during the Great Depression More on Jimmy Clabby www.boxrec.com/media/index.php?title=Human:53088

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called FLICKR PARA LA HISTORIA , and we'd love to have this added to the group!

This is such a great sports history photo, there is so much we can learn just from this one picture. One of the most noticeable things is how the athlete influences the wardrobe. By this I mean that we can appreciate the growth of the skill and strength of the athletes over time, and see that the size of the athlete and the accessories like the gloves have changed. Could you imagine if the modern brutes had these small padded gloves to hit with? We'd be talking career ending blows in a number of bouts.

Those are bag gloves, not boxing gloves for competition.