Burke, James "Deaf"

Born deaf at Westminster, London and orphaned in early childhood, becoming a homeless street child, never educated. At age 16, he wandered into a tavern one day, and a prize fighter there saw promise in the boy, training him in bare-knuckle boxing. He fought his first match at age 19, and went on to a very successful boxing career. At one time, he rescued several persons from a house fire, going into the flames again and again and bringing out one person each time. He then had a 10-year winning streak, and claimed the world championship after the then-current champion retired in 1833. Simon Byrne, who had previously fought Burke and lost, challenged Burke again in a bare-knuckle match that lasted 3 hours 16 minutes (still a world record for a championship fight). Byrne lost again and later died of his injuries. Acquitted of charges of manslaughter, Burke nevertheless left Britain, going to America for a new start. He introduced prize ring fighting to the U.S. The crowd at a match in New Orleans got out of control and Burke was forced to flee. He fought in New York for a while, then in 1837 returned to England, where he lost his world title. He reclaimed it when the new champion retired, but lost it again for good when the crowd again broke into the ring in an 1840 match. He never fought again and was a minor stage actor for a time before entering a dissolute lifestyle, dying of tuberculosis in London.