Pugilists

The story of how butcher’s boy Tom Spring rose to become champion of All England in 1823 was all but forgotten. Aside from a memorial put up in a Herefordshire field, little was known about Spring or his dramatic and bloody 77 round, bare knuckle fight at Worcester in front of 40,000 people. In 2005 Hereford can lay claim to another champion, Dazzo Williams, British Featherweight Boxing champion, and to a new rising star in 14-year-old Joe Maggs. Researched and filmed locally by 20 young people, Pugilists sheds light on Hereford's most famous sons and sport's most violent and dangerous profession.

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