https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9075-6941
![Sample our Social Sciences journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/110822/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Social-Sciences.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
This article explores the first exhibition tour of professional boxers in Spain in 1911. The scandal produced by their exhibition caused boxing to be banned in Madrid. After being abandoned in Madrid’s streets with no money, the boxers were required by the Barcelona sportsmen as great sports figures before returning to their home countries. Their vicissitudes allow us to understand, first, the conditions in which these international boxing troupes worked as pioneers of professional sports. In addition, it shows the development of the concept of sport in Spanish society, which was similar to that of other Mediterranean nations. The intellectual middle classes promoted sport as a tool for regeneration and democratisation. This progressive view clashed with the elitist and conservative beliefs held by the first sportsmen, arising from the high industrial class of Barcelona. Madrid’s economic and political elites also used the supposed violence of boxing to reject any Europeanisation and defend national traditions – specifically bullfighting. Through the study of this specific case, we can observe the interrelationships of social groups within their progressive integration into international sport networks developing at that time.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Manuel Vitoria, Paulino Uzkudun (Madrid: Gymnos, 2004).
2 Murray G. Philips, Gary Osmond and Stephen Townsend, ‘A Bird’s Eye View of the Past: Digital History, Distant Reading and Sport History’, in Methodology in Sports History, ed. Wray Vamplew and Dave Day (London: Routledge, 2018).
3 Pedro Carasa, ‘El Tiempo y Los Acontecimientos van Por Delante Del Régimen’, in Historia de España. Siglo XX 1875-1939, ed. Ángel Bahamonde (Madrid: Ediciones Cátedra, 2008), 75–107.
4 Pere Gabriel, ‘Gobierno y Reformismo Dinástico’, in Historia de España. Siglo XX 1875–1939, ed. Ángel Bahamonde Magro (Madrid: Ediciones Cátedra, 2008), 351–96.
5 Manuel Suárez Cortina, ‘Democracia liberal y regeneración en la España de entre siglos’, Aportes no. 92 (2016): 89–120.
6 According to Manuel Tuñón de Lara, in 1910 66% of the active population still worked in the agriculture. Poder y Sociedad en España, 1900–1931 (Barcelona: España Calpe, 1992).
7 Manuel Suárez Cortina, ‘El republicanismo español tras la crisis de fin de siglo (1898-1914)’, Cuadernos de Historia Contemporánea no. 20 (1998): 165–189.
8 Glicerio Recio Sánchez, ‘El regeneracionismo de los republicanos federales’, Anales de la Universidad de Alicante: Historia contemporánea, no. 5 (1986): 261–76.
9 Sebastián Lorente, ‘La idea de Europa en el pensamiento político de Ortega y Gasset’, Revista de Estudios Políticos no. 83 (1994): 221–44.
10 Francisco Vázquez García, La invención del racismo (Madrid: Akal, 2009).
11 Xavier Torrebadella-Flix and Miguel Vicente-Pedraz, ‘Gymnastics as an Anti-Onanistic Tool in Shaping School Physical Education in 19th Century Spain: The Birth of a School Discipline’, Movimento no. 22 (2016): 99–114.
12 Xavier Torrebadella-Flix, Antonio Rivero-Herraiz & Raúl Sánchez García, ‘When the Elites Began Going to the Gym: The Professional and Social Spaces of the First Hygienic Gymnasiums in Madrid, 1860–69’, The International Journal of the History of Sport (2019), doi:10.1080/09523367.2019.1691531.
13 Xavier Torrebadella-Flix, ‘Las primeras revistas profesionales y científicas de la educación física española (1882-1936)’, Apunts Educación Física y Deportes 109 (2012): 11–24.
14 Xavier Torrebadella-Flix and José Antonio Domínguez Montes, ‘Las escuelas gimnásticas en España: un enfrentamiento técnico doctrinal en la educación física (1806-1936)’, Materiales para la Historia del Deporte 17 (2018): 136–65.
15 Delia Manzanero, ‘Democracy, Sovereignty and Autonomy in the Legal Philosophy of the Spanish Krausism’, Dilemata 22 (2016): 105–19.
16 Antonio Rivero-Herraiz and Raúl Sánchez-García, ‘The British Influence in the Birth of Spanish Sport’, International Journal of the History of Sport 28, no. 13 (2011): 1788–809.
17 Francisco López Serra, ‘Los Juegos en la Institución Libre de Enseñanza. De 1876 a 1898’, Ensayos: Revista de la Facultad de Educación de Albacete 13 (1998): 249–64.
18 Richard Holt, Sport and the British: A Modern History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989).
19 Torrebadella-Flix, Rivero-Herraiz and Sánchez García, ‘When the Elites Began’.
20 Xavier Torrebadella-Flix, Javier Olivera Betrán and Mireia M. Bou ‘Origin and Institutionalisation of Sports and Gymnastics Associations in Nineteenth-Century Spain (1822-1900)’, Apunts 119 (2015): 7–54.
21 Kasia Boddy, ‘Under Queensberry Rules, so to speak: Some versions of a metaphor’, Sport in History 31, no.4 (2011): 398–422.
22 Jean-François Loudcher and Dave Day, ‘The international boxing union (1913-1946): A European sports and/or political failure?’ International Journal of the History of Sport, 30 no. 17 (2013): 2016–30.
23 Matthew Taylor, ‘The Global Ring? Boxing, Mobility, and Transnational Networks in the Anglophone World, 1890-1914’, Journal of Global History 8, no. 2 (2013): 231–55. https://doi.org/10.1017/S174002281300020X.
24 Torrebadella i Flix, ‘Los Orígenes de Una Ciudad Olímpica : Barcelona y El Asociacionismo Deportivo Decimonónico Ante La Gestación de Los Primeros Juegos Olímpicos’.
25 Federico Bonet, ‘El Público de Barcelona y El Boxeo’, La Actualidad, August 8, 1911.
26 Carlos Gutiérrez and Julián Espartero, ‘Jujutsu’s Image in Spain’s Wrestling Shows’, Journal of Asian Martial Arts 13, no. 2 (2004): 8–31.
27 T Sanz, ‘Eucaristía y Boxeo’, El País, June 21, 1911.
28 Ricardo Ruiz Ferry, ‘El Boxeo En Madrid’, El Heraldo de Madrid, July 3, 1911.
29 Rafael Cansinos-Asséns, Novela de Un Literato (Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1982), 226.
30 ‘Fiestas de Boxeo En Madrid’, El Liberal, June 18, 1911.
31 ‘El Boxeo En Madrid’, El Heraldo de Madrid, June 19, 1911.
32 José Antonio Piqueras La esclavitud en las Españas. Un lazo transatlántico (Madrid: Catarata, 2012).
33 Herzog, Tamar, ‘How Did Early-Modern Slaves in Spain Disappear? The Antecedents’, Republics of Letters: A Journal for the Study of Knowledge, Politics, and the Arts 3, no. 1 http://rofl.stanford.edu/node/106 (accessed September 15, 2012).
34 Ferrán Archiles Cardona ‘¿Una cultura imperial? Africanismo e identidad nacional española en el final del siglo XIX’, Storicamente 12 (2016): 1–25.
35 Helios F. Garcés, ‘El racismo antirom/antigitanoy la opción decolonial’, Tabula Rasa 25 (2016): 225–51.
36 Jackson was accused of burglary in Paris at the time, according to a Paris newspaper (Le Journal, May 31, 1911).
37 ‘Boxe au cirque du Paris’, Figaro, Journal non politique, April 8, 1911.
38 ‘Boxe’, Paris-midi, March 1, 1911.
39 ‘Dixie Kid à l’Intrasigeant’, L’Intrasigeant, March 22, 1911.
40 The boxing database boxrec.com shows that Camille, Dixon, Harton and Schmidt had no other bouts in their career. Gould fought 16 times, Crozier participated in 17 bouts, Carl Wonders, later known as Louis Verger, fought 55 times and, after making his debut in Madrid, Mahir fought 33 times. As for Tommy Jackson, there is no evidence of his career by that name. Another black American boxer also active in Paris in those days, Kid Jackson, had a long career with 35 combats. http\\www.boxrec.com consulted on April 7, 2020.
41 Avi Astor and Jofre Riba, ‘Knocked out: Ritual Disruption and the Decline of Spanish Boxing’, International Review for the Sociology of Sport 53, no. 6 (2018): 726–44, https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690216677845.
42 Julio de la Cueva Merino, ‘El Rey Católico’, in Alfonso XIII. Un Político En El Trono, ed. Javier Moreno Luzón (Madrid: Marcial Pons, 2003), 277–306.
43 Sanz, ‘Eucaristía y Boxeo’.
44 Sanz.
45 ‘El Boxeo En Madrid’, El País, June 21, 1911.
46 ‘Negro Porvenir’, El Correo Español, June 20, 1911, https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-0581.1992.18666.
47 ‘Debut de Los Boxeadores’, La Correspondencia de España, June 22, 1911.
48 ‘Debut de Los Boxeadores’.
49 Ricardo Ruiz Ferry, ‘En El Frontón Central’, El Heraldo de Madrid, June 25, 1911.
50 ‘Debut Del Team Internacional de Boxe Anglaise’, El País, June 25, 1911.
51 ‘Las Luchas de Anoche’, El Imparcial, June 25, 1911.
52 ‘El Boxeo En Madrid’, El Liberal, June 25, 1911.
53 ‘Debut de Los Boxeadores’, ABC, June 25, 1911.
54 ‘Los Boxeadores Del Frontón’, La Correspondencia de España, June 25, 1911.
55 ‘Los Boxeadores En El Frontón’, La Mañana, June 25, 1911.
56 Ricardo Ruiz Ferry, ‘El Boxeo de Espectáculo y El Boxeo Como Defensa Personal’, El Heraldo de Madrid, June 25, 1911.
57 Ricardo Ruiz Ferry, ‘El Boxeo En Madrid’, El Heraldo de Madrid, June 26, 1911.
58 ‘El Boxeo Inglés’, El País, June 26, 1911; ‘Combates de Boxeo’, ABC, June 26, 1911.
59 ‘El Boxeo Inglés’, La Correspondencia de España, June 27, 1911.
60 Ruiz Ferry, ‘El Boxeo En Madrid’, June 26, 1911.
61 Ruiz Ferry.
62 Shubert, Death and Money in the Afternoon: A History of the Spanish Bullfight.
63 ‘Se Acabó El Boxeo’, El País, June 27, 1911.
64 Pedro Mata, ‘El Boxeo Prohibido’, La Actualidad, July 4, 1911.
65 Antonio Zozaya, ‘Fiestas Crueles’, El Liberal, June 30, 1911.
66 Mata, ‘El Boxeo Prohibido’.
67 ‘Escobazos’, Vida Socialista, July 2, 1911.
68 A. Balbín, ‘Boxeo En España’, El Día, July 1, 1911.
69 ‘Jueves. El Boxeo’, El Fusil, July 1, 1911.
70 Ricardo Ruiz Ferry, ‘En, de, Por, Sin, Sobre El Boxeo’, El Heraldo de Madrid, July 10, 1911.
71 ‘El Campeonato de Lucha Greco-Romana En La Ciudad Lineal’, Gran Vida, July 1, 1911.
72 ‘Artistas Apurados’, El Heraldo de Madrid, June 30, 1911.
73 ‘Artistas Apurados’, El Heraldo de Madrid, July 4, 1911.
74 ‘Los Boxeadores Enflaquecen’, El País, July 5, 1911.
75 ‘El Fin de Un Calvario’, El Heraldo de Madrid, July 8, 1911.
76 ‘El Beneficio de Los Boxeadores’, El Heraldo de Madrid, July 12, 1911.
77 Ricardo Ruiz Ferry, ‘Fiesta Benéfica’, El Heraldo de Madrid, July 17, 1911.
78 Discóbolo, ‘El Campeón Negro Johnson Hará Demostraciones’, La Publicidad, July 22, 1911.
79 ‘El Boxeo, Autorizado’, La Publicidad, July 24, 1911.
80 ‘Notas Locales’, La Vanguardia, July 29, 1911.
81 Look, ‘Crónicas Del Aire Libre’, El Diluvio, August 2, 1911.
82 Dionisio Sánchez, ‘Boxeadores En Barcelona’, El Mundo Deportivo, August 3, 1911.
83 Look, ‘Fiesta Deportiva’, El Diluvio, August 5, 1911.
84 Bonet, ‘El Público de Barcelona y El Boxeo’.
85 Discóbolo, ‘Inauguración Del Spanish Athletic Club’, La Publicidad, October 19, 1911.
86 ‘Una Escuela de Boxeo En Barcelona’.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Carlos García-Martí
Carlos García-Martí is a lecturer at the Universidad Europea de Madrid’s Faculty of Sport Science, where he teaches sports history, sociology and policies. He finished his PhD in the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid’s Faculty of Physical Activity and Sports Science, and previously had studied sociology at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. His current interest include national sport cultures and playing styles, professional culture among athletes and coaches and the origins of physical culture, bodybuilding and the gym culture, and its relationship with professional athletes, strongmen, boxing and the different paths towards sports professionalism and its junction with class and race.