Before Mendoza, boxers generally stood still and merely swapped punches. Mendoza's style consisted of more than simply battering opponents into submission; his "scientific style" included much defensive movement. He developed an entirely new style of boxing, incorporating defensive strategies, such as what he called “side-stepping”, moving around, ducking, blocking, and, all in all, avoiding punches. At the time, this was revolutionary, and Mendoza was able to overcome much heavier opponents as a result of this new style. Though he stood only 5'7" and weighed only 160 pounds, Mendoza was England’s sixteenth Heavyweight Champion from 1792 to 1795, and is the only middleweight to ever win the Heavyweight Championship of the World. In 1789 he opened his own boxing academy and published the book The Art of Boxing on modern "scientific" style boxing which every subsequent boxer learned from.
Mendoza was so popular that the London press reported news of one of his bouts ahead of the storming of the Bastille which marked the start of the French Revolution. He transformed the English stereotype of a Jew from a weak, defenceless person into someone deserving of respect. He is said to have been the first Jew to talk to the King, George III.
In Scene 5, of The Scarlet Pimpernel, Sir Percy defends himself before his wife by stating: "Afraid, ha! I don't patronize the ring for nothing! I've put up fists with Mendoza before now, and he did not get it all his own way." Baroness Orczy references Mendoza and his unusual fighting style in The Redemption of Chauvelin. Sir Percy certainly will need those boxing skills for later scenes in our play as he uses all of his skills and bravery to face the difficult task set out for him in our play. No matter what - it will be a scene that would even impress Rocky Balboa.
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