Born into slavery, Molineaux was trained by his father and boxed with other slaves for the entertainment of the plantation owners. Having earned his owner a large sum of money in winnings on bets, Molineaux was granted his freedom, and moved to England where he expected to be able to earn money as a professional boxer.
His first fight in England took place on 21st August, 1810, Molineaux beating the Englishman Tom Blake in the eighth round. In December of that year, having been trained by Bill Richmond, another ex-slave turned boxer, Molineaux challenged Tom Cribb for the English title and narrowly lost in the 39th round. However, in earlier rounds Molineaux had had Cribb in trouble, and Cribb's supporters had invaded the ring, giving their man extra time to recover.
The return fight on 28th September, 1811, was watched by 15,000 people and saw Molineaux winded early on and finally knocked out in the 11th round.
Molineaux's boxing career came to an end in 1815, and he died penniless in Dublin three years later.
A hand coloured etching of Molineaux by Robert Dighton is held in the National Portrait Gallery, and a fictionalised account of Molineaux's boxing career appears in Black Ajax, by George MacDonald Fraser.
External link
National Portrait Gallery (http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?LinkID=mp05587&rNo=1&role=sit)
Black Ajax (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Special:Booksources&isbn=0002255855)
TomMolineaux was born a slave in Virginia in 1784.
In December, 1810, Molineaux fought Tom Cribb at Copthorne, near East Grinstead, for the heavyweight championship of England.
Molineaux seemed to disregard the attempts of Blake, and showed himself tolerably conversant in the science, by beating down his adversary's guard with his left hand, and by a tremendous blow with his right levelled Blake.
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