English champion Tom Cribb fought a bare-knuckle bout against Afro-American boxer Tom Molineaux on 28 September 1811, before 15,000 onlookers at Thistleton Gap in the county of Rutland.

It was a rematch: the two fighters had already faced off the year before.

Cribb broke Molineaux’s jaw in the ninth round and knocked out the challenger in the eleventh round, successfully defending his title in a fight that lasted 19 minutes and 10 seconds.

The first time the two fighters met was on 18 December 1810, in a bare-knuckle fight in front of 10,000 spectators at Copthorne Common in Sussex. Tom Cribb won this fight as well, defeating Molineaux in 35 rounds. But the outcome of the fight was disputed for two reasons: Molineaux was injured when the crowd pushed its way into the ring, and at one point Cribb was knocked down and appeared to take longer than the required time to return to the center of the ring.

Thomas Molineaux (23 March 1784 – 4 August 1818) was an American bare-knuckle boxer and possibly a former slave. He spent most of his career in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, where he had notable successes. He arrived in England in 1809 and started his fighting career there in 1810. His two fights against Tom Cribb, widely viewed as the champion of England, brought Molineaux fame even though he lost both contests.

Tom Molineaux was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1997 as a boxing pioneer.

Tom Cribb (8 July 1781 – 11 May 1848) was a 19th-century English bare knuckle boxer. He was the English champion from 1808 to 1822.

Tom Cribb was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991 as a boxing pioneer.