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Boxing matches were very popular in England two hundred years ago. In those days, boxers fought with bare fists for Prize money. Because of this, they were known as 'prizefighters'. However, boxing was very crude, for there were no rules and a prizefighter could be seriously injured or even killed during a match.   One of the most colourful figures in boxing history was Daniel Mendoza who was born in 1764. The use of gloves was not introduced until 1860 when the Marquis of Queensberry drew up the first set of rules. Though he was technically a prizefighter, Mendoza did much to change crude prizefighting into a sport, for he brought science to the game. In his day, Mendoza enjoyed tremendous popularity. He was adored by rich and poor alike.  Mendoza rose to fame swiftly after a boxing match when he was only fourteen years old. This attracted the attention of Richard Humphries who was then the most eminent boxer in England. He offered to train Mendoza and his young pupil was quick to learn. In fact, Mendoza soon became so successful that Humphries turned against him. The two men quarrelled bitterly and it was clear that the argument could only be settled by a fight. A match was held at Stilton where both men fought for an hour. The public bet a great deal of money on Mendoza, but he was defeated. Mendoza met Humphries in the ring on a later occasion and he lost for a second time. It was not until his third match in 1790 that he finally beat Humphries and became Champion of England. Meanwhile, he founded a highly successful Academy and even Lord Byron became one of his pupils. He earned enormous sums of money and was paid as much as &100 for a single appearance. Despite this, he was so extravagant that he was always in debt. After he was defeated by a boxer called Gentleman Jackson, he was quickly forgotten. He was sent to prison for failing to pay his debts and died in poverty in 1836.

 

两百年前，拳击比赛在英国很受欢迎。在那些日子里，拳击手们用赤手空拳争夺奖金。正因为如此，他们被称为“职业拳击手”。然而，拳击是非常粗鲁的，因为没有规则，一名拳击手可能在比赛中严重受伤甚至死亡。在拳击史上最具色彩的人物之一是丹尼尔·门多萨，他生于1764年。直到1860年，昆斯伯里的侯爵制定了第一套规则时，才开始使用手套。尽管他在技术上是一名职业拳击手，但丹尼尔·门多萨在很大程度上把原始的战斗变成了一项运动，因为他把科学带到了比赛中。在他的日子里，Mendoza非常受欢迎。受到富人和穷人的喜爱。Mendoza在14岁的时候就开始了一场拳击比赛，一举成名。这引起了Richard Humphries的注意，当时他是英国最著名的拳击手。他提出要训练Mendoza，他的年轻学生很快就学会了。事实上，Humphries很快就变得如此成功，以至于Mendoza转而反对他。这两个人吵得很激烈，很明显，这场争论只能通过一场战斗来解决。两人在高顿举行了一场比赛，两人都打了一个小时的比赛。公众把大量的钱押在Mendoza身上，但他被击败了。Humphries在稍后的场合会见了Mendoza，他第二次失去了。直到1790年他的第三场比赛，他才最终击败了Humphries，成为了英格兰的冠军。与此同时，他创立了一个非常成功的学院，甚至连拜伦勋爵也成了他的学生。他赚了一大笔钱，一次只花了100英镑。尽管如此，他还是太奢侈了，总是负债累累。在他被一个叫杰克逊绅士的拳击手击败后，他很快就被遗忘了。他因没有偿还债务而被送进监狱，在1836年死于贫困。