Scientific Pugilism

Classes start 05/09 & 05/11

Learn Self-Defense and history while getting fit and having fun! Located at 1639 N. Hancock St in Philadelphia, class starts at 5:30 pm with instruction in:
Scientific Pugilism
Collar and Elbow Wrestling
Rough & Tumble fighting
Shillelagh
+ MORE!

First month is FREE! and only $50/month after with special discounts for Military and First Responders

An aerial photo of the old boxing grounds located in Belmont Hills just outside of the city limits of Philadelphia. This spot was the site of boxing going back to the early days of Bare Knuckle, including some Rough and Tumble fights.

Boxing was illegal in Philly so this area, along with League Island just south of the city, were prime places to hold bouts. Originally known as West Manayunk, after the incorporation of the city in the 1840's, the name changed as Manayunk became part of the city.

I was raised in Manayunk and spent a lot of my youth exploring this area as a kid with no knowledge of its history. Ironically I was in a fight as a kid, almost in this exact location lol only learning about this place and it's rich history back in the early 2000's when I discovered a newspaper article describing the Rough and Tumble fight between a saloon keeper from Manayunk and a guy from NYC.

I added 2 photos of the site today which is now a gas station

Viro Small, aka Samuel Hadely, aka Black Sam b:1854
Born into slavery in North Carolina, Small gain his freedom at the end of the Civil War and moved to Vermont. He is possibly the first professional wrestler of African decent in America.
While his career started in boxing in 1870, he never did exceptionally well until he agreed as a filler in a Collar and Elbow wrestling match in 1871 against Mike Horogan. Despite losing, Horogan saw potential in Small and took him under his wing.
Small competed and lost under Catch as Catch Can rules against Gus Lambert in 1882. Later that year, after a grueling match against William McCallum, held at Owney Geoghegan's notorious Bastille of the Bowery, which devolved into a brawl and declared a draw, Small was shot in the neck while sleeping by McCallum. Having survived the shooting, Small competed next only 3 months later in a rematch with Lambert resulting in a draw.
Small's final battle was a wrestling match against Joe Ryan, in New York on Oct 6, 1885. The match lasted 2 hours and both contestants agreed to a draw, with each man having attained 1 fall.
Known as "good natured" and "inoffensive", Small would win and hold the Vermont Collar and Elbow championship twice. A true Combination Man, Small competed in 3 separate combat sports, and was one of the first African- Americans to be called a professional fighter and crossed the racial line competing against whites, all during Jim Crow.

2020 CYBER MONDAY SALE!!!! We are offering 2 specials for the holidays!!! Use code "CYBERMON" to get 10% OFF total purchase or use code "SCIPUGBOOK" to get a FREE PDF copy of the book Introduction to Scientific Pugilism when you spend at least $30!!! Go ahead and use them both!!! Hurry offer ends Dec. 10th! Link in bio!

Be sure to order by December 10 to get it by the holidays! Link in bio

Be sure to order by Dec. 10 to get it by the holidays! Link in bio

Arthur Chambers, British born, American Lightweight Bare Knuckle Boxing Champion (1872-1879) opened a saloon and sporting house in 1875, at the corners of Ridge Ave & Wood St in Philadelphia's 15th Ward (todays neighborhood of Fairmount). Called the Champion's Rest, it was said to contain "a large barroom on the first floor, a more modest but 'handsomely furnished, well ventilated, and well lighted' pool room on the second, and an exhibition room on the third. The exhibition room contained a 16-foot roped and staked ring where sparing matches, which drew audiences of nearly 200 people, were held at least every Saturday night."
I grew up about 15 minutes away, just off of Ridge Ave.

"FENCING

G C. L. BARRETT informs the gentlemen of Boston, that he proposes teaching the elegant accomplishment of FENCING, on the following terms: Entrance, 3 dollars, every 8 lessons 5 dollars. Any Gentleman desirous of receiving lessons at their own house, entrance as above, each lesson 1 dollar. Mr. BARRETT likewise teaches the Scientific and manly art of BOXING, on the above terms. Exactly according to the attitudes of either HUMPHRIES or MENDOZA. Sparring Gloves may be had of Mr. B. at No. 78, State, Areet. Feb. 10."
One of the oldest published advertisements, in America, for boxing. Published in the Columbian Centinal, Boston, MA, Feb. 17, 1798

“I charged in. A tall, well-built soldier with yellow hair and mustache saw me coming and tried to bluff me, aiming his rifle at me. But when I rushed him, he threw his rifle at me without shooting. I dodged it. We grabbed each other and wrestled there in the dust and smoke. It was like fighting in a fog. This soldier was very strong and brave. He tried to wrench my rifle from me. I lashed him across the face with my quirt, striking the coup. He let go, then grabbed my gun with both hands until I struck him again.
“But the tall soldier fought hard. He was desperate. He hit me with his fists on the jaw and shoulders, then grabbed my long braids with both hands, pulled my face close and tried to bite my nose off. I yelled for help: ‘Hey, hey, come over and help me!” I thought that soldier would kill me.
“Bear Lice and Crow Boy heard me call and came running. These friends tried to hit the soldier. But we were whirling around, back and forth, so that most of their blows hit me. They knocked me dizzy. I yelled as loud as I could to scare my enemy, but he would not let go. Finally I broke free.
“He drew his pistol. I wrenched it out of his hand and struck him with it three or four times on the head, knocked him over, shot him in the head, and fired at his heart. I took his pistol and cartridge belt. Hawk-Stays-Up struck second on his body."
From The Man Who Killed Custer by Stanley Vestal published in American Heritage magazine February 1957

Yankee Sullivan vs Hammer Lane
February 2, 1841
"Round 6th
Lane came up laughing, hit out with his left, but was stopped; he made a feint with his left, and succeeded in planting slightly with his right on Sullivan's pimple, which he followed up, after another cunning dodge, by a visitation from his left. Sullivan, nothing daunted, followed him up to the corner, caught his left hand with his right, and with his left gave him a whack in the chops. Lane broke away and commenced a fierce rally, hitting out left and right. Sullivan stopped both blows on the points of his elbows, and in an instant we observed, from the immediate swelling of his right forearm, that Lane had sustained severe injury..."

Tales of the Founding Fathers of American Pugilism

"Prison Discipline"-Mr. Cogswell, the keeper of the Halls of Justice, was thrashed within an inch of his life, night before last, by Thomas Hyer, a convict under sentence for cutting a man's nose off. The prisoner had been making a disturbance during the night, and the keeper went to quiet him; he had no sooner entered the cell, however, than Hyer fell upon and beat him in such a dreadful manner that he was carried away in a state of insensibility."
Morning Herald June 29, 1838