George Dawson was a 19th-century Lightweight Bare-knuckle boxing champion, said to have developed the kidney punch.
[1][2] Dawson was born on 7 October 1867 in the village of Dark Corner, New South Wales during the Australian Gold Rush.
[3] His parents George and Elizabeth had immigrated from Wrawby, England on the ship Emperor in 1851 to join the Australian gold rushes.
Following the deaths of his parents through his childhood, he had itinerant employment through New South Wales, until a chance meeting with a boxing trainer, who encouraged him to try the sport.
He immigrated to the United States in 1892[6][7] arriving in San Francisco on the steamer, Alameda.