John L. Sullivan   One of the all time greats, John L. Sullivan was the premier fighter of his time.

Alf fought him twice during a trip to the US in 1884 - 1885 and they became good friends after being arrested at the first fight. The case against them was dismissed after the police who stopped "the spar" testified that it was a very mild set to; nothing but a "hugging match". 

The gloves and colours used in the spar are reported to be displayed at the Swan by the Sporting Life of April 4th 1885.

Sullivan came to England in 1887 and together they put on two shows at the Bingley Hall, where Sullivan displayed his gold and silver £1,500 belt, the show was attended by 10,000 people each time.

 

  
   
Jem Smith   Fought Alf for the championship of England on 16th February 1886; the bare knuckle fight was declared a draw after 13 rounds (55 minutes) when the crowd invaded the ring.

 

  
   
Charlie Mitchell   Mitchell also fighting out of Birmingham appears to have been a local rival but they never met in a competitive bout.

Prior to an exhibition fight at the Bingley Hall on February 26th, 1883 Alf was presented with a silver belt by Mitchell's backer Billy Madden (of USA).

In later years Mitchell claimed two wins over Alf and at the time of Alf's death the above fight was recorded as a win to Mitchell.  However the two only met once at that was an exhibition fight.

 

 
   
Jack Knivton  

Alf never actually met Knivton in the ring although several fights were planned. On August 9th 1884 the Sporting Life reported that Alf would meet Jack Burke or Knivton before his trip to America. Then on the 5th September the Life reports that the match was postponed while Alf made a tour of the country. Alf was also reported as offering to cancel planned fights in the US for a fight with Knivton for £100 a-side.

By October the hype was in full flow with Alf accusing Knivton of avoiding him by offering the fight so close to Alf's departure for the US and Knivton offering to follow Alf to the States to settle the matter.

When Alf lands in the US he offers Knivton a fight for £200 a-side as long as it takes place in America.

During Alf's absence Knivton claimed the English title.