How Arthur Conan Doyle Plotted Against Sherlock Holmes

How Arthur Conan Doyle Plotted Against Sherlock Holmes

Larry Holzwarth - October 15, 2020

How Arthur Conan Doyle Plotted Against Sherlock Holmes
Invited to referee a heavyweight championship fight, Doyle regretfully declined. Library of Congress

18. Holmes as an amateur boxer

Arthur Conan Doyle was a noted sportsman throughout much of his life. He was devoted to cricket, enjoyed golf, and once entered the English Amateur Billiards Championship. His favorite sport however was boxing. In his younger days he boxed in several amateur events, and after his active days in the ring ended he remained a devoted fan of the sport. His knowledge of boxing and love of the sport was well-known to the point he was once invited to referee a world-championship bout between heavyweights Jack Johnson and James Jeffries, in Reno, Nevada. “I was much inclined to accept”, he later wrote, but his schedule was such that he was forced to decline.

Doyle imbued boxing skills in his creation, which first appeared in The Sign of the Four, and in later references in the short stories. Although Holmes also possessed self-defense skills which included fencing, baritsu, the use of a walking stick as a weapon, as well as the use of a riding crop, he did not exhibit much interest in sporting events. He once referred to a riding crop as his favorite weapon, though there are few instances of his riding on horseback in the stories. Nearly all of his travel is by railroad, cabs, and carriages.

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