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James Figg

Era - Late 1710s / 1720s - Boxing - Heavyweight

The original Heavyweight champion in the English lineage, James Figg was one of the most important pioneers in the history of boxing, popularizing the sport and teaching it.

Figg was born in Thames in Oxfordshire, England in 1684, son to a family of poor farmers. He became a skilled fencer from a young age, and looked to add boxing, cudgel and quarterstaff to his repitoire. It was Figg who first called his martial arts the "Manly Art of Self-Defense," and also may have been the person to have first referred to a referee as the "third man in the ring."

The boxing of the era was closer to what today would be called Vale Tudo, with grappling, throws, stomps, headbutts and gouges all part of the game. Figg himself was a well rounded competitor, able to take advantage of a one-dimensional foe, punching the grapplers, grappling the punchers. Sponsored by the Earl of Peterborough, who helped finance Figg's Amphitheatre, the venue which Figg would showcase his fights and train his students in what was often called "Figg's Fighting" at the time.

In 1719, Figg was crowned the Champion of England, the first noted Heavyweight champion, and drew crowds from across the nation, including Prime Minister Wapole and various celebrities and nobles of the age. He was said to have fought over two hundred and seventy fights, often engaging in three round bouts.

These started with a fencing round that ended in first blood, moved on to bare knuckle combat for the second, and for the third, cudgels were the weapon of choice, with Figg being a master at ending a fight with a hard shot to the leg. The one loss in Figg's career was to Ned Sutton, a pipe maker who was tall for the times and known for his ability with the sword. This, however, was avenged in due time, with Figg eventually smashing his knee in a cudgel round.

As with all my edits, full AI-Moveset-Parameters are set.

Attire:
1. Black top and red tights
2. White belt and yellow tights
3. White top and tan tights with anachronistic "pillows" (The use of boxing gloves was not yet innovated in Figg's time, but I figured it made sense to give him at least one attire where he could go up against the gloved era)
4. Wig, black top and tan pants