Fighting in England, at the height of his career between 1860 and 1866, he won the English Welterweight, Heavyweight, and Middleweight Championships and was considered one of the most scientific boxers of the era.

[6] During the same period and earlier, Mace completed what might be considered an apprenticeship in the boxing booth of former English middleweight champion Nat Langham, where he fought many talented amateurs, and a few men with the skills of professionals, touring and often performing at county fairs.

He would continue to supplement his income by performing exhibitions and giving sparring and training sessions for Langham's boxing club in London's Westminster through the early 1860s.

[7] In one of his early bouts, at the age of 24, Mace defeated Bob Slack decisively on 2 October 1855 in Mildenhall, northeast of Cambridge, winning in nine rounds and only 14 minutes.

Their boxing match was for £50 a side, and they first fought six rounds off the Thames at the North Kent Marshes and then, after the police intervened, they moved to a second location which was closer to, but still to the southeast of London.

Having had the better of the match, Mace finally won on a foul that occurred in the 57th round, when Travers appeared to intentionally throw himself on the ground to avoid his blow after one hour, thirty-one minutes of fighting.

Though Hurst was as much as 50 pounds heavier, and at least three inches taller, he may have been better schooled and experienced in wrestling, and had broken his leg the year before, likely affecting his speed and form.

[9][5][10] His victory over Hurst led to his first defence of the English heavyweight title against Tom King on a cold and rainy 28 January 1862 for £200 a side, before a crowd of around 400.

This first title defence, staged in Godstone, England, was fought bare knuckle under London Prize Ring Rules and lasted for 43 rounds and 68 minutes.

In the 43rd and final round, Mace landed another uppercut to the jaw or throat prior to several close in blows, and then threw King who collapsed and was unable to rise.

The trophy, said to contain 100 ounces of gold, was presented at Westminster's Leicester Square not far from Nat Langham's Cambrian Stores tavern and was considered to be worth £80,000 in modern currency.

[7][18][19] He regained the English heavyweight championship against Goss in a 21-round victory on 6 August 1866 between Purfleet, Essex, and Gravesend on the North bank of the Thames, 20 miles East of London.

Mace deftly avoided Goss's strong rushes with a shift of his shoulders or a bob of his head, showing great flexibility and speed.

In the final round, Goss's seconds threw up the sponge ending the fight when their boxer staggered in his attempt to land a blow on Mace, who defended himself by merely stepping aside.

[1] In what should be considered his most significant victory, on 10 May 1870, he defeated the English-born American boxer Tom Allen for a purse of $2500 a side or roughly the impressive sum of £3080, in a ten-round bout lasting around 45 minutes in Kennerville, Louisiana.

He defended the heavyweight title in one of his last significant fights against Joe Coburn on 30 November 1871 in a ten-round draw at Bay, St. Louis, Mississippi, 40 miles from New Orleans.

At the request of the referee, the fighters agreed to call it a draw in the 12th round, as neither was inclined to strongly engage the other, largely due to their injured hands.

On the evening of 16 December 1876, he was back in America, this time as a glove boxer, and in an historic early clash for a purse of $100 under Queensberry Rules, he defeated Bill Davis at National Guard Hall at Virginia City, Nevada.

[32] At the age of 58, on 7 February 1890, he fought a match with the much younger boxer Charlie Mitchell of Birmingham in Glasgow, Scotland for the vacant English heavyweight title, but lost in four rounds.

[34] On 10 February 1883, Mace returned to England after the death of his son Edward Albert from drowning in the Thames, and resumed his English exhibitions by April of that year with Herbert Slade.

[1][35] In December 1896, returning to New York City to fight Mike Donovan in a brief exhibition, he was acclaimed by world heavyweight champion James J. Corbett as "the man to whom we owe the changes that have elevated the sport".

[1][5] On 8 March 1897, he performed a four-round exhibition with former world welterweight champion Tommy Ryan in Syracuse, New York, before returning to England that Summer.

In 1856, he was credited with playing "The Cuckoo Song", and "Black Jack Davey" on his violin at the Strand, a supper club in London, while afterwards posing shirtless.

Earlier in 1862, he had learned the trade and been well paid sparring in safe exhibitions with Tom King at Ginett's Circus, in Oxford, Portsmouth, and Exeter.

[citation needed] In 1870, Mace had a small role in the Shakespearean production of "As You Like It", on Broadway's Niblo Theatre in New York City and played several shows to crowded houses.

[5][37] In 1866, Mace became the proprietor of the Strawberry Gardens pleasure grounds at West Derby, Lancashire, near Liverpool a beautifully landscaped park which featured the sports of running, bowling, jumping, wrestling and boxing.

John Morrissey, the former boxer, Dead Rabbits criminal gang leader, and Tammany Hall politician had a bloodless dispute in Mace's saloon.

In 1871, Jimmy Haggerty, a gangster from Philadelphia, was mortally wounded in a bar fight in Mace's Saloon from a gunshot delivered by Reddy the Blacksmith, of the Bowery Boys gang.

[5] After the death of his wife, according to one source, he began to lose his fortune rapidly, and in his last years lived on the English old-age pension of five shillings (5/-) a week and the generosity of friends.

[41] Mace ended his life as a penniless street musician in Jarrow, Durham, with his death assigned to natural causes, and was buried in an unmarked grave at Anfield Cemetery, Liverpool, England.