Lonsdale
Lonsdale London first established itself as the quintessential boxing and sports brand in the early 1960’s, however its roots and history go back even further. In 1891, the fifth Earl of Lonsdale Hugh Lowther, President of the National Sporting Club was the first to introduce boxing gloves after the deaths of three boxers in bare knuckle fights. In 1909 to promote boxing, Lord Lonsdale started donating the ‘Lonsdale Belt’ to each professional boxer who won his British National Championship and successfully defended it twice, thus starting the tradition that a boxer was not regarded as a true champion until he earned a Lonsdale Belt. In 1929 Lord Lonsdale became the first President of the British Boxing Board of Control. He passed away in 1944 at the age of 87. Evander Holyfield, Marvin Haggler, Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson and Ricky Hatton are amongst the world champions who have trained and fought in Lonsdale. Australian boxer Vic Darchinyan is the current WBA, WBC and IBF Undisputed Super Flyweight World Champion and has been a proud Lonsdale supporter. Current boxer’s part of the Lonsdale team includes Billy 'The Kid' Dib and Lovemore Ndou as well as our first female boxer Lauryn Eagle.
