| Charley Mitchell | |
| Real Name: | Charles Watson Mitchell |
| Birth Date: | 24 November, 1861 |
| Birth Place: | Birmingham, England |
| Death Date: | 3 April 1918 |
| Death Place: | Hove, East Sussex, England |
Charles Watson Mitchell (24 November 1861-3 April 1918) was an English world heavyweight boxing title contender and lightweight champion.
Mitchell was born on 24 November, 1861 in the city of Birmingham, England. Mitchell had exceptional ability at using London Prize Ring Rules to his advantage. During his career, he engaged in over 100 fights with both gloves and bare-knuckles, using the London Prize Ring Rules as well as the Queensberry Rules. He often fought men who outweighed him by 30 to 40 pounds. Mitchell took on all comers in London, often fighting as many as four bouts in one night.
In 1880 he became the boxing instructor for the International Athletic Club at the "White Rose" in London, and opened a boxing school at the "Palais Rubens" in Antwerp, Belgium.
In 1882 Billy Madden, the former tutor and backer of John L. Sullivan, put on an openweight boxing tournament in England, in order to find a challenger for John L. Sullivan. This was a professional tournament, held under amateur rules, consisting of 3 3 minute rounds, with an extra 2 minute round being fought in the case of draws, A number of prominent boxers including Jem Goode and Jack Knifton entered. Despite being both the youngest and lightest of the 21 competitors, Mitchell won the tournament. [1] [2]
Mitchell toured the United States and Canada with Jake Kilrain, and later Frank "Paddy" Slavin, putting on exhibitions, sometimes daily and sometimes on the same day as one of his fights. Mitchell was in Kilrain's corner on 8 July 1889 when he fought John L. Sullivan for the world heavyweight boxing championship.
Mitchell fought John L. Sullivan in 1883, knocking him down in the first round before the police halted the contest in the third round. Their second[3] meeting took place in 1888 on the grounds of a chateau at Chantilly, France in driving rain. It went on for more than two hours, at the end of which both men were unrecognisable and had suffered much loss of blood; neither could lift his arms to punch and the contest was considered a draw.
The local gendarmerie arrived at this point and managed to arrest Mitchell, who spent the next few days in a cell and was later fined by the local magistrate, boxing being illegal in France at that time. Sullivan managed to evade the law, swathed in bandages, and was taken back across the English Channel to spend the next few weeks convalescing in Liverpool. Mitchell acted as Sullivan's corner man for many years after.
In 1894 Mitchell fought in his most noteworthy bout, against James J Corbett for the world heavyweight championship. Corbett won by KO in the 3rd round, winning $20,000.
Mitchell died on 3 April 1918 in Hove at age 56.
Mitchell was inducted into the Ring Magazine's Boxing Hall of Fame in 1957, and inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame (2002).
| Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 49 | ND | 26–3–10 | Steve O'Donnell | ND | 3 | May 25, 1896 | ||
| 48 | Loss | 26–3–10 | James J. Corbett | KO | 3 (?) | Jan 25, 1894 | ||
| 47 | ND | 26–2–10 | Jim Hall | ND | 3 | Oct 4, 1893 | ||
| 46 | ND | 26–2–10 | Jim Hall | ND | 3 | Sep 29, 1893 | ||
| 45 | ND | 26–2–10 | Frank Slavin | ND | 3 | Mar 7, 1892 | ||
| 44 | Win | 26–2–10 | Arthur Upham | PTS | 4 | Mar 2, 1892 | ||
| 43 | ND | 25–2–10 | Frank Slavin | ND | 4 | Mar 2, 1892 | ||
| 42 | ND | 25–2–10 | Frank Slavin | ND | 3 | Apr 30, 1891 | ||
| 41 | ND | 25–2–10 | Frank Slavin | ND | 3 | Apr 9, 1891 | ||
| 40 | Win | 25–2–10 | Jem Mace | PTS | 4 | Feb 7, 1890 | ||
| 39 | Win | 24–2–10 | Reddy Gallagher | PTS | 6 | Aug 28, 1887 | ||
| 38 | Draw | 23–2–10 | Patsy Cardiff | PTS | 5 | Jun 11, 1887 | ||
| 37 | Draw | 23–2–9 | Jack Burke | PTS | 10 (8) | May 10, 1886 | ||
| 36 | Draw | 23–2–8 | Jack Burke | PTS | 6 | Jun 29, 1885 | ||
| 35 | Draw | 23–2–7 | Mike Cleary | PTS | 4 | May 22, 1885 | ||
| 34 | Win | 23–2–6 | John Scholes | PTS | 4 | Feb 23, 1885 | ||
| 33 | Win | 22–2–6 | Jim Brady | KO | 3 (?) | Dec, 1884 | ||
| 32 | ND | 21–2–6 | Jack Burke | NC | 3 (8) | Nov 24, 1884 | ||
| 31 | Draw | 21–2–6 | Jack Burke | PTS | 4 | Oct 21, 1884 | ||
| 30 | Loss | 21–2–5 | Dominick McCaffrey | PTS | 4 | Oct 13, 1884 | ||
| 29 | Win | 21–1–5 | Billy Edwards | KO | 3 (?) | May 12, 1884 | ||
| 28 | Draw | 20–1–5 | Jake Kilrain | PTS | 4 | Mar 26, 1884 | ||
| 27 | Win | 20–1–4 | Joe Denning | PTS | 4 | Mar 20, 1884 | ||
| 26 | Win | 19–1–4 | Tug Wilson | KO | 3 (?) | Nov 15, 1883 | ||
| 25 | Draw | 18–1–4 | William Sherriff | PTS | 7 (6) | Oct 2, 1883 | ||
| 24 | Draw | 18–1–3 | Herbert Maori Slade | PTS | 3 | Oct, 1883 | ||
| 23 | Win | 18–1–2 | Herbert Maori Slade | KO | ? | Sep 18, 1883 | ||
| 22 | ND | 17–1–2 | Billy Lynn | ND | 4 | Jul 8, 1883 | ||
| 21 | 17–1–2 | Denis Ike Hayes | ND | 4 | Jul 6, 1883 | |||
| 20 | Win | 17–1–2 | Davis | KO | 1 (?) | Jul, 1883 | ||
| 19 | Win | 16–1–2 | Garrett | KO | 1 (?) | Jun, 1883 | ||
| 18 | Loss | 15–1–2 | John L. Sullivan | TKO | 3 (?) | May 14, 1883 | ||
| 17 | Win | 15–0–2 | Mike Cleary | TKO | 3 (?) | Apr 9, 1883 | ||
| 16 | Win | 14–0–2 | Jack Clarke | TKO | 1 (?) | Feb 17, 1883 | ||
| 15 | Win | 13–0–2 | Joe Stubbins | PTS | 3 | Dec 23, 1882 | ||
| 14 | Win | 12–0–2 | W. Heal | PTS | 3 | Dec 23, 1882 | ||
| 13 | Win | 11–0–2 | Dick Roberts | PTS | 3 | Dec 23, 1882 | ||
| 12 | Win | 10–0–2 | Bill Springhall | PTS | 3 | Dec 22, 1882 | ||
| 11 | Win | 9–0–2 | Bill England | PTS | 3 | Dec 21, 1882 | ||
| 10 | Win | 8–0–2 | George Cox | PTS | 3 | Dec 21, 1882 | ||
| 9 | Win | 7–0–2 | Roger Wallis | PTS | ? | May, 1882 | ||
| 8 | Win | 6–0–2 | Bill Harnetty | PTS | 4 | Apr 3, 1882 | ||
| 7 | Win | 5–0–2 | Pat Condon | PTS | 3 | Mar 29, 1882 | ||
| 6 | Draw | 4–0–2 | Tom Tully | PTS | 6 | May 16, 1881 | ||
| 5 | Win | 4–0–1 | W. Caradoff | PTS | 4 | Feb 1, 1881 | ||
| 4 | Draw | 3–0–1 | Young Bill Kennedy | PTS | ? | Jan, 1879 | ||
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Chelsea Pride | KO | 2 (?) | Mar, 1877 | ||
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Hutchinson | PTS | ? | Feb, 1877 | ||
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Andy Gray | PTS | ? | Jan, 1877 | ||