City Boxer

The Ring Gym Est 1910The Blackfriars Ring, as it was popularly known, opened in 1910 and regular boxing was staged there for nearly thirty years.   It was the most prestigious of London’s boxing rings as, whilst it did not hold the really big fights that took place at places like the Royal Albert Hall or Olympia, it was a the venue where the real fight fan would go for his fistic entertainment. At the height of its fame it held four professional boxing promotions each week and throughout the 1920s and 1930s one could attend ‘The Ring’ at least once a week and see the best boxers in Britain compete against each other.

Situated in Southwark, on the east side of Blackfriars Road, just beyond the railway bridge going southward from the city, ‘The Ring’ was established within a chapel built in 1783 by the Reverend Rowland Hill. It had long ceased to be a place of worship when it was leased by Dick Burge, the ex-Middleweight Champion of England, so that he could become a boxing promoter. With his wife Bella he soon found success in his new venture. Within a couple of years his shows were attracting packed houses and he was able to book some of the world’s leading boxers including Frank Moran, Boer Rodel and Hughie Mehegan. After Dick Burge died in 1918 his wife became London’s only female boxing promoter and she continued to build on her husband’s work for further twenty years.  

All of the top boxers wanted to box at ‘The Ring’ and boxers from all over Britain and Europe came there to show their capabilities in front of an extremely discerning, yet rowdy, crowd of South Londoners. In 1928 the Prince of Wales (who became King Edward VIII in 1936) attended the venue to see a contest between Len Johnson and Jack Hood. The Prince was a keen fight fan and he expressly asked to see this particular bout and to see it at ‘The Ring’. It was undoubtedly the venue’s finest hour, a Royal Command Performance.  

The popularity of boxing started to wane a little by the mid 1930s and ‘The Ring’ started to hold regular wrestling events, as well as the usual boxing shows and on May 22nd 1939 the last boxing show was held there. War broke out shortly afterwards and the Luftwaffe finally did for the old venue in October 1940.