Brass Boxing Snuff Box – Depicting Bare Knuckle Champion Tom Spring v John Langen. The most famous of his fights was with John Langan, an Irishman who was much heavier than Spring and also slower in the ring. Some 30,000 spectators turned up for their first match at Worcester Racecourse in 1824, but unfortunately the grandstand was not up to the task and many people were injured when it collapsed. The fight itself went on for a crippling seventy seven rounds, and finally even the bloodthirsty crowd were sickened and bade for it to be ended. Spring’s hands were badly injured, and Langan was a complete mess! A few months later they met again in Chichester, although Spring’s left hand was still virtually useless he gave Langan another pasting – it was a testament to his kind character that instead of flattening Langan when he was done for, he merely pushed him to the ground.