Andy Bowen’s 110-Round Marathon: A Boxing Match
On April 6, 1893, Andy Bowen and Jack Burke fought 110 rounds in New Orleans in a contest lasting approximately seven hours and nineteen minutes. The extraordinary match became a benchmark for the long contests permitted before modern round limits.
Guinness World Records lists the gloved contest as lasting seven hours and nineteen minutes. It was initially declared a no contest and later treated as a draw. Guinness: longest boxing match.
The bout remains central to accounts of boxing before modern round limits. AFP’s historical fact-check also warns that a widely circulated photograph said to show Bowen and Burke actually depicts Dick Hyland and Ray Campbell after a different fight in 1913.
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A contest that continued into the next morning
The fight took place at the Olympic Club in New Orleans. Guinness gives its start time as 9:15 p.m. and its ending as 4:34 a.m., meaning the contest crossed from April 6 into April 7. The 110 rounds and seven-hour duration describe the same event, including the intervals between rounds.
An International Boxing Research Organization newsletter preserves a contemporary newspaper account identifying Bowen as the local boxer and Burke as a Texan. The report describes a contest for the lightweight championship of the South with a purse of $2,500.
That regional billing is an important detail. The bout’s lasting historical distinction comes from its extraordinary duration, rather than an undisputed world championship changing hands. Neither man emerged with a victory in the recorded result.
Reading the historical record
The initial no-contest ruling and later draw designation explain why different summaries may describe the ending differently. When revisiting this match, the central facts remain consistent: Bowen and Burke fought with gloves in New Orleans for 110 rounds, and the contest extended through most of the night. Those details place it among boxing’s most unusual documented endurance contests.
The 110-round Bowen–Burke bout belongs to an era when professional boxing had no modern round limit and fights could continue until one man could no longer go on. The duration—more than seven hours—helps explain why the contest is remembered as a record rather than simply an unusually long decision. Contemporary accounts treated its outcome differently: it was declared a no contest at first, then later recognized as a draw. The difference reflects how officials and records were still developing in the late nineteenth century (Guinness World Records).
Bowen’s place in the story is also a reminder to check historical imagery carefully. A photograph often circulated as showing the aftermath of Bowen and Burke’s marathon actually depicts Dick Hyland and Ray Campbell after a separate 1913 fight, according to AFP’s fact-check. The 1893 contest predates surviving boxing film, making contemporaneous written accounts especially important to its history. The confirmed details—the date, New Orleans setting, duration and disputed result—remain the strongest basis for describing Bowen’s best-known bout.
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Andy Bowen, Boxing, Boxing History, Championship Results
