John Jackson
English boxer who defeated Daniel Mendoza in 1795, ran a boxing academy in London, taught Lord Byron, and founded the Pugilistic Club in 1814.
Quick Facts
United KingdomBiography
John Jackson was born in 1769 in London; one source gives the year 1768. He is known as an English boxer, boxing teacher of Lord Byron, and founder of the Pugilistic Club.
He stood 180 cm tall and weighed around 89 kg; because of his muscular build he posed for artists as a model. Over his whole career he fought only three bouts: on 9 June 1788 he defeated William Fewterel, on 12 March 1789 he lost to George Ingleston due to injury, and on 15 April 1795 he defeated Daniel Mendoza in 10 minutes and 30 seconds. Modern sources have called him champion of England since 1795, but contemporary sources from the 1790s called neither him nor Mendoza that. We have not been able to verify who taught him boxing.
After his 1795 victory he founded a boxing academy at 13 Bond Street in London, where training took place with gloves. Lord Byron regularly attended lessons there and called him the "Emperor of Pugilism". He ended his career around 1795–1800 and publicly announced his retirement in December 1801. On 22 May 1814 he founded the Pugilistic Club, whose purpose was to regulate bouts.
He later ran the Cock Hotel in Sutton, on the road from London to Brighton. He died on 7 October 1845 at his home on Lower Grosvenor Street in London's Mayfair district and was buried at Brompton Cemetery under a monument costing more than 400 pounds. In 1954 he was inducted into the Ring Boxing Hall of Fame, and in 1992 into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Associated Martial Arts
Organisations
- Pugilistic ClubFounder · 1814
Achievements and honours
- Ring Boxing Hall of FameHall of Fame · 1954
- International Boxing Hall of FameHall of Fame · 1992