Isaac Haim Bitton, sometimes Bittoon, (29 June 1779 – 27 January 1839) was a Dutch Jewish bare-knuckle boxer who is most famous for a fight with George Maddox that lasted 74 rounds. Early life and career Bitton was born in Amsterdam to Abraham and Rachel, a family of poor Jewish street hawkers. Due to difficult economic circumstances in Holland, he moved to London with his father at the age of ten. Isaac was a fencer, before he took up boxing at the age of 22. As seen at right, he was described as a stout man with a pudgy belly but a powerful build. A student of the great English heavyweight champion Daniel Mendoza, Bitton used Mendoza's new scientific style of "boxing", which included careful parrying of opponent's blows borrowed from the sport of fencing, and adopted a stance, as shown at right, with both fists raised to allow both a quick jab with one arm and a ready block of oncoming punches with the other. Tom Jones and George Maddox, 1801-2 On 31 July 1801, in an historic victory, Bitton defeated Paddington Tom Jones, a skilled and well known boxer of the period, at Wimbledon Common. Bitton won the contest by knockout. According to one source, Mendoza was present at the fight, and seconded his protégé Bitton. Jones, seconded by champion Jem Belcher who also helped arrange the bout, was around 32, to Bitton's youthful 22. According to Puglistica, Bitton was the larger and stronger combatant. Jones was said to have the best of it in the early rounds, but Bitton came from behind and won the match, though Jones led the betting by 3-1, as a result of strong backing by wealthy patrons. Jones was unable to continue the match and resume the contest after being knocked nearly senseless after 20 minutes of fighting. The purse was a substantial 40 guineas. According to one account, a riot occurred after Bitton defeated Jones, between the large Jewish audience and the wealthy and largely Christian backers of Jones and his second Jem Belcher. He next fought George Maddox to a draw at Wimbledon on 13 December 1802, the match lasting an incredible seventy-four rounds. Bitton had Maddox down repeatedly in the first three rounds, but his opponent exhibited an uncommon toughness in coming back to deliver his own punishment. From the 68th to the 73rd round, Bitton recovered much of