Queen's Cup Boxing

The Queen's Cup was a prize fighting league active in all major Elysian cities and townships between 1519 and 1579. Though the events comprised many fighting styles, the central focus of the Queen's Cup was fist-fighting or "boxing". Typically, matches were between two opponents of a similar weight class, with a pre-arranged number of 3-minute "rounds". This was a tournament-style league, its seasons consisting of a series of fights arranged by fighters and their management.

"Champions" were those that had either been victorious in the final match of a tournament series, or directly challenged and defeated an incumbent champion. In the event of a champion retiring before they could be challenged and subsequently defeated, they were declared "Undefeated", and a new tournament season would begin to determine a new "active" champion from the pool of fighters remaining.

The Queen's Cup Boxing League began with a series of smaller city events eventually organized into a national league. A rising urban population spawned numerous underground fist-fighting tournaments, many of them informed from boxing traditions far older than Elysia itself. Gradually, the desire to legitimize the sport was realized in the creation of numerous City Leagues. The Yanaka, having had their own somewhat sport-like fighting tradition, entered the foray with their own regional championships, and eventually the city leagues and Yanaka tournaments combined into the Queen's Cup.

The Queen's Cup was considered a national obsession at certain periods during its existence. Cities would compete to host major bouts between high-profile fighters, some even in remote locales such as Lodis Island and Mala Ruz. Many considered the Queen's Cup to be a distraction from the difficult economic times between the most recent war and the one before.

It was the recent war, however, that sounded the death knell for the Queen's Cup. Suffering a loss of interest from the people even prior to the war (owing to a public skeptical about the purpose of a fist-fighting match with complex fighting styles like ki and magicke available to real-life combatants], the Novari disbanded the league during the first part of the Occupation, worrying it would be a rallying point for a resisting populace.

Some efforts have been made to resurrect the Queen's Cup, or a similar league to take its place. An individual known as Kiger briefly operated an underground fighting tournament in Elysian City. Held in the catacombs of House Sparrow, it was eventually discovered and shut down by territorial Cartel interests, and Kiger, a known slave trader, barely escape with his life. Kiger has not been seen since.

A small but quickly-growing traditional boxing league now exists in Elysian City, under the stewardship of the Cartels. Though these sorts of pasttimes are typically frowned upon by the Nobility and aristocracy, working-class Elysians have shown enormous zeal for prize fighting in the past, and early estimates indicate they are beginning to apply this rigour to the fledgling re-made Queen's Cup.

Recent Queen's Cup Boxing Champions:

Spider Anansi Davis, 66-69 (Knockout in 3rd)
Quenton Smuckles, Undisputed National Champion 69-74 (Retired)
Mandal "the Mauler" Sym, Yanaka champion and National Champion 74-76 (Split decision in favour of Muwate)
Ejiofore Muwate 76-79 (Knockout in 9th round by Coria)
"Pretty Michel" de Coria (aka Lithius Kensen) 79-80 (Retired)

Fencing Challenge Champions:

Admiral Shinjo Takagawa 61-80 (Retired)

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