Talk:Jack Bartholomew (boxer)

Multiple changes

I made a few changes to this article:

1) Changed lead to remove the reference to Jack Bartholomew having been the Bareknuckle Champion of England 1797-1800. I’m not sure where this claim derives from (as no reference to back it up is provided in the article) but there is certainly no comment to that effect in the main contemporary sources such as Boxiana, etc. Similarly, when Henry Downes Miles complied his Pugilistica (1906) from all of the original sources, he didn’t describe Bartholomew as ever having been English champion, and he omits him from his list of champions from the bareknuckle period. The English title seems to have been vacant at this time, with nobody having been described as champion. If someone had been accepted as champion at that time then it would have been mentioned in sources like Pancratia, Boxiana, etc. (The same can be said for Tom Owen, who was also not recognised as English Champion – although the article here used to state incorrectly that he was champion before being beaten by Bartholomew.)

2) I removed the sentence saying that ‘Bartholomew was often described by promoters as a 'scientific' fighter who was 'fast' and 'hit hard'’. Prizefighting in this era was illegal, so it’s fairly safe to assume that there were no promoters. If there had been any promoters, we wouldn’t know how they described fighters, or how often they made particular comments. I’ve therefore replaced this sentence with a direct quote from the contemporary source Boxiana about Bartholomew’s style.

3) I’ve removed the reference to some details of Bartholomew’s personal life having been uncovered by Jan Skotnicki , as there is no evidence of what these details were on either of the references provided, indeed they only suggest that Skotnicki compiled a list of Bartholomew’s fights. Axad12 (talk) 21:14, 18 February 2023 (UTC)