Austin Rice pugile

Austin Rice (December 25, 1872 – January 17, 1921) was a New London boxer who became a Featherweight Title contender on January 14, 1903, when he faced featherweight champion Young Corbett II in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Though he lost the fight, he went toe to toe with a world class competitor for eighteen rounds and would meet four more boxing champions, easily placing him among the World's top ten featherweight boxers for his era.Though just missing a world title against Young Corbett II and George Dixon, Rice fought contenders Joe Bernstein, and Benny Yanger, as well as champions Harry Harris, Dave Sullivan, and Terry McGovern.Rice was born in Waterford, Connecticut, a suburb of New London, on December 25, 1872. He may have shared Tony Nelson as a boxing coach in his youth with fellow New London boxers Mosey King, an early New England Lightweight Champion and Abe Hollandersky, a welterweight, and 1913 Panamanian Heavyweight champion.Rice got his start in boxing while drilling as a Waterford militiaman. He did some amateur bouts in New London while stationed there. One of his early boxing friends and sparring partners, Jim Gaffney, of New London, later became an important figure in the New London Police Department as well as a boxing manager. Another early opponent was Eddie Gallagher of New York. Martin and Joe Flaherty of New London worked as early managers for Rice.Rice fought Boston featherweight Dave Sullivan a total of four times, with the first bout coming on September 15, 1896, in a ten round draw in Queens, New York. They would fight a twelve round draw in November 1896 in New York at the New York Athletic Club, as well as meeting in 1902 and 1903. Sullivan would briefly hold the Featherweight Championship of the world for forty-six days from September to November 1898.On December 19, 1901, Rice fought and defeated former World Bantamweight and Featherweight Champion George Dixon in a classic twenty round match at the Grand Opera House in his hometown of New London, Connecticut. Connecticut's Meriden Weekly Republican, wrote "Mr. Pollack (referee) announced Rice the victor and the crowd cheered itself hoarse although a few crawled through the ropes to sympathize with Dixon. The decision was popular and just." Dixon held the featherweight championship of the World from 1891 until losing it only a month earlier to Abe Attell on October 28, 1901. Although Canadian born, Dixon became the first Black American World champion of the twentieth century.