Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 9, 2006



Simon Byrne was an Irish bare-knuckle prize fighter. The champion heavyweight boxer of Ireland, he was drawn to England by the larger sums of prize money and by hopes to become the heavyweight champion there as well. He became one of only four boxers worldwide to have been involved in fatal fights both as survivor and as deceased since records began in 1741. His death was a factor contributing to the improvement of safety standards in English boxing. Byrne fought in an era when English boxing, though illegal, was patronised by the most powerful. Its patronage and popularity did not, however, free it from corruption, gambling, and staged fights. Byrne fought just eight recorded matches. His career and notability can be measured by just three of those fights: his fight against Alexander McKay, Champion of Scotland, for the right to fight Jem Ward, Champion of England, in which his opponent was killed; the following fight against Ward, which Byrne lost and for which he was said to have been unfit to fight; and his final fight against Ward's successor as champion of England, James Burke, in which Byrne himself was killed. (more...)

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