ELIAS, SAMUEL:
English pugilist, popularly known as "Dutch Sam"; born April 4, 1775, in London; died July 3, 1816. After successful contests with Tom Jones (July 3, 1801), Caleb Baldwin (Aug. 7, 1804), and Britton of Bristol (April 27, 1805), Elias was easily beaten by James Brown (June, 1805).Of three fights with Tom Belcher of Bristol, Elias lost the first (Feb. 8, 1806); the second (July 28, 1807) was declared off; and the third (Aug. 21, 1807) Elias won in 36 rounds.
Elias followed these encounters with two other victories, defeating William Cropley, May 10, 1808, and Benjamin Medley, May 31, 1810; then he rested for four years; but he reentered the prize-ring Dec. 8, 1814, when he was defeated by William Nosworthy, of Moulsey, in 38 rounds. By his contemporaries Elias was considered the hardest hitter the prize-ring had ever seen; he originated what in pugilisim is technically known as "the upper cut," which he introduced in his fight against Caleb Baldwin. Elias retired from the ring with a ruined constitution, and died in abject poverty.
- J. B. Pancratia, A History of Pugilism, pp. 136, 144, London, 1811;
- Boxiana: Sketches of Ancient and Modern Pugilism, London, 1812;
- Miles, Pugilistica, vol. i. 193, 194, 202, London, 1880.
