In the year 1842, at the Castle Inn in Holborn, the landlord, Tom Pring, an ex-boxer entertains his friend, Tom Cribb, a former boxing champion. An old man recounts how one of Tom Cribb's fights affected the course of his life.

In the year 1810, a country girl had two admirers, a sailor and a soldier. Unable to decide which she should marry, she declares that she will choose the man who backs the winner of a forthcoming boxing championship.

The fight between Cribb and the Negro boxer, Thomas Molyneux, takes place, anxiously watched by the girl and the two men. Tom Cribb is the winner and the soldier claims his bride.

The old man reveals that he was one of the suitors and when his listeners assume that he must have been the sailor, the old man states that to the contary, he was the soldier whose subsequent life was ruined by marriage.