Tom Cribb  Tom Cribb (8 July 1781 – 11 May 1848) was a world champion English bare-knuckle boxer of the 19th century. Cribb was born near Bristol but moved to London before starting professional fighting. He undertook a series of fights between 1805 and 1812 when he retired, becoming a coal merchant and then publican. His career has been commemorated with the name of a pub and in literature. Born in Wick near the Hanham area of Bristol, Cribb moved to London at the age of 13 and after working as a bell-hanger he sought work as a coal porter in Wapping. His first fight was with George Maddox on 7 January 1805 at Wood Green in Middlesex, now part of north London. Victory here, over Maddox followed by another a month later, over Tom Blake persuaded him to become a professional pugilist, under the supervision of Captain Robert Barclay. George Nicholls was the only fighter to defeat Cribb, on 20 July 1805. Later, the foremost prizefighting reporter, Pierce Egan, stated that he was aware that some "friends of the CHAMPION" had encouraged the myth that Cribb enjoyed an unbeaten career by "withholding the name of his vanquisher" ("Boxiana", vol. 1). In 1807 Cribb beat Jem Belcher. In October 1808 he defeated Bob Gregson in 23 rounds at Moulsey Hurst to win the English championship following John Gully's retirement. In 1810 Cribb was awarded the British title. On 18 December 1810 he fought an American, former slave Tom Molineaux, at Copthorne Common in Sussex. Cribb beat Molineaux in 35 rounds and became World champion. The fight was controversial for two reasons: Molineaux was injured when the crowd invaded the ring, and Cribb at one point seemed to have taken longer than the specified time to return to the centre of the ring. Cribb retained his title in 1811 by beating Molineaux at Thistleton Gap in Rutland in 11 rounds before a large crowd. Cribb had also beaten Molineaux's trainer Bill Richmond. In 1812, aged 31, he retired to become a coal merchant (and part-time boxing trainer). Later he became a publican, running the Union Arms, Panton Street, close to Haymarket in central London. In 1839 he retired to Woolwich in south-east London where he died in 1848, aged 66.