William "Bendigo" Thompson, heavyweight champion of England in the old bare-knuckle days was one of the dirtiest and most treacherous fighters ever to step into a prize ring. Yet he was so popular that a town, a racehorse and a liqueur were named Bendigo in his honor during his lifetime.Bendigo Thompson was one of triplets born in Nottingham, England, on October 11, 1811. His mother was a coarse and violent woman. However, she was apparently acquainted with the Book of Daniel, for she nicknamed her three sons Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. As a child, the latter’s name was corrupted to Bendigo.He was raised in the slums. His mother was the terror of the neighborhood. She cursed like a fishwife and fought like an outraged army. When she lost her temper-a circumstance that occurred two or three times a day-she beat up, impartially, her children, her husband and any indignant neighbor who thrust his head in the door to protest the noise. But in her own savage way she loved her fighting son and he loved her.She taught Bendigo never to lead with his right and to fight from a crouch-a boxing style which he pioneered in the ring.When he was 21 years old he had attained his full height and weight: just over 5’9" and 164 pounds. (Though no heavyweight by modern standards, in those days they didn’t bother about division classifications.) His complexion was clear and fresh, his gray eyes bright and sparkling, his manner eccentric but confident.In October of 1832 he embarked upon his professional career. When he fought one Ned Smith the following March for a purse of five pounds, he cut Smith to pieces for six rounds, and knocked him out in the seventh. Ringside sports writers described him as quick, agile and muscular, with tremendous hitting power.By the time Bendigo began to make a name for himself, the sport of boxing, once the "pride and boast of England," had come into disrepute. Brutality in the ring had caused an increasing number of deaths among fighters; critics complained the fighters accepted bribes to throw matches. The sport was attracting a great following of hoodlums and cutthroats.As might be expected, this was precisely the kind of atmosphere in which Bendigo could-and did-thrive. During the next two years, he fought eight opponents without a loss.Bendigo’s 13th fight took him out of what today would be called the "preliminary boy" classification. It was in July of 1835. His opponent was Ben Caunt. They hated each other on sight. Caunt was them 22, stood 6’3"and weighted 210 pounds. Bendigo looked like a pygmy compared with Caunt. As one baffled sports writer of the period wrote. "Bendigo is the favorite at six to four, a state of odds which seems unaccountable when the disparity of size is considered." But the odds proved correct.Bendigo enraged his gigantic opponent by his peculiar bending, weaving and crouching techniques; and the spectators roared disapproval when he "accidentally" slipped or fell (thus ending a round) whenever Caunt was getting the better of him.Caunt finally lost his head, rushed across the ring and struck Bendigo while he was seated in his comer between rounds. This foul cost Caunt the fight.Bendigo continued his unbeaten career, whipping men almost twice his size, through skill and skullduggery. Bendigo’s fame spread. A racehorse was christened for him. The gold mining town of Sandhurst, in Australia, proudly changed its name to Bendigo. A distiller put on the market a liqueur called Bendigo.Caunt, unable to tolerate the idea that Bendigo held the title, hurled challenge after challenge at him. Bendigo fought others, but ignored him.Then, in the early 1840s Bendigo severely injured his knee while turning somersaults for the amusement of his friends. At this point, he announced his retirement from the ring and devoted himself to whisky, reminiscences and the management of a London public house, The Coach and Horses, which he had bought with his winnings.With Bendigo retired, the championship went by default and eventually was won by Caunt. His repeated taunts finally brought Bendigo out of retirement in September of 1845. The fight created extraordinary excitement and the crowd that gathered for it was estimated at over 10,000. Because the police were determined to prevent the fight, the ring was moved three separate times.It proved one of the most scandalous brawls in boxing history. Both men committed every known foul and invented a good many others. Frequently one or the other was tossed out of the ring onto the ringsiders.In the 93rd round, after two hours and ten minutes, the referee declared that Caunt went down without a blow, thus forfeiting the fight to Bendigo.The scandal of it all kept London clubmen in a state of excitement for months. Nevertheless, it is generally agreed that this disgraceful match had much to do with the reforms in the ’50s and ’60s that sent boxing on the road to respectability and made it once more a favorite sport of the aristocracy.Bendigo permanently retired from the ring after defeating Tom Paddock in 1850. He returned to Nottingham where his acrobatic feats, even in his old age, were remarkable and delighted children, with whom he was kind and gentle. He spent his sober moments gardening and fishing.An egocentric braggart, Bendigo oddly refused to discuss feats about which he could have boasted with reason, such as the three separate occasions when he saved persons from drowning-at the risk of his own life. When the townsfolk proposed to reward him for his courage, he indignantly refused to accept even a farthing.Bendigo died on August 23, 1880, after falling down a flight of steps and fracturing three ribs. A bony splinter perforated one of his lungs. It is said that his last words were: "I don’t mind dying. I’ll soon join my mother in heaven. \ In Bandito’s time, the length of a fight was().

A. 5 rounds
B. 10 rounds
C. 50 rounds
D. unlimited