ABSTRACT
The author use the word resonant advisedly because the narrative structure of the fights replicates a wide array of racialized narratives in the period, in which initial reverses in British imperial policy or action are superseded by fantasies of triumphalism. In the first bout, Thomas Molineaux pushed Thomas Crib farther than any other competitor in the history of British boxing and it is clear many observers felt that Crib's victory was either suspect, due to an infraction of the rules of pugilism, or simply a matter of luck. Unlike many of its competitors, the Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser saw the public enthusiasm for boxing, and in particular the overwhelming interest in the two prize-fights between the English coal merchant Thomas Crib and the "Baltimore black" Thomas Molineaux, as an alarming sign of the "frivolity" of the British nation.
