(Extracted from George MacDonald Fraser's wonderful novel 'Black Ajax' published by HarperCollins, 1997, the same year as LSW's establishment) TOM MOLINEAUX died on August 4th 1818, aged probably thirty-four in the band-room of the 77th Regiment at Galway where he had been befriended by two black soldiers.  His claims to fame are his two fights with Cribb, the most celebrated bouts in the early history of the ring, and the fact that he was the first and, for all we know, the best in a long succession of great black heavyweights.   Sporting comparisons are more odious than most, for every generation loves to believe that its champions are superior to all who have gone before; in sports where achievement is measurable, the records of times and distances appear to justify them, although one can never tell how athletes of old would have performed given modern equipment and modern marks to aim at.  Boxing has no times or distances on which to base comparison, and its rules and conditions have changed greatly, but anyone who studies the history of the prize ring over its two and a half centuries must surely doubt whether any modern champion, unskilled in wrestling, used to three-minute rounds, unaccustomed to being hit repeatedly by bare fists calloused to a degree unknown today, and, most vital of all, depending on heavily-padded gloves to protect his hands, could endure for long the savage exchanges of the golden age of bare-knuckle fighting.  But talk of ‘the greatest’ is always futile.  Molineaux has his place in social as well as in sporting history, and he did his profession and his people good service.  BILL RICHMOND moved from the Horse and Dolphin to rooms in Whitcomb Street, Haymarket, which were ‘highly patronised by the nobility’, including his friend Byron.  A popular and respected figure, noted for his pleasant manners and excellent conversation, he remained a sought-after instructor, second, and master of ceremonies, was a first-class cricketer, and still a formidable boxer well into his later years; at the age of fifty-three he beat Jack Carter, an old antagonist of Molineaux, in three rounds.  In 1821 Richmond was one of Gentleman Jackson’s security ‘heavies’ at the coronation of George IV.  They also included Cribb, Carter and the then Champion, Tom Spring, all dressed as royal pages.  Richmond died on December 28 1829.  He was sixty five.  PADDINGTON JONES’ long and active career began in 1786 when, at the age of twenty, he beat one Jack Holmes for the stake of half a crown.  He became champion at what would now be called ‘welter-weight’, but frequently fought the heaviest men of his day.  Jones, who was credited with having fought more bouts and seconded more boxers than anyone before him, died at his birthplace in Paddington in 1833, aged sixty seven.  TOM CRIBB, the most famous of bare-knuckle boxers, never fought again after his contest with Molineaux, although he continued to be recognised as champion until his formal retirement in 1822 in favour of Spring; he had held the title for fourteen years.  By all accounts a superb boxer and a genial and kindly if uncommunicative man, it was Cribb’s extraordinary courage and refusal to admit defeat that endured him not only to the Fancy but to a far wider public; he may fairly be called the first superstar in the history of sport.  In 1814 he was the main attraction at an exhibition given before crowned heads, including the Tsar of Russia, and other allied leaders visiting London to celebrate the peace, ‘and the veteran Blucher eyed him with more than common attention’.  His later life was marred by business setbacks and domestic troubles, and he died after a long illness at the home of his son in Woolwich on Mary 11, 1848 at the age of sixty-seven.  An imposing monument in the form of a stone lion was erected over his grave in Woolwich Churchyard.