Jack Johnson: Greatest Boxer Ever?
Del Sellers
Issue date: 2/9/05 Section: Sports
John Arthur Johnson (March 31, 1878 - June 10, 1946), better known as Jack Johnson, was arguably the best heavyweight of his generation. He was the first black Heavyweight Champion of the World, 1908-1915. He had a record of 113 fights with 79 victories and only eight losses, 12 draws and 14 no-decisions at a time when fighting for 24 rounds was not an absurdity.
He won his first title on February 3, 1903, beating 'Denver' Ed Martin over twenty rounds for the Colored Heavyweight Championship. His efforts to win the full title were thwarted as white champions refused to face him. He eventually won the World Heavyweight Title on December 26, 1908 when he fought the World Heavyweight Champion, Canadian Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia. He had chased Burns for a year taunting him at every fight, goading him into giving Johnson a title shot. The fight lasted fourteen rounds before being stopped by the police. The title was awarded to Johnson on a referee's decision as a T.K.O but he had severely beaten the champion. The camera was stopped just as Johnson was finishing off Burns so that nobody could actually see Johnson becoming the champion.
As title holder, Johnson had to face a series of fights with "great white hopes." White promoters determined to return the title to "the rightful owners" threw everyone they could at him. On July 4, 1910 he defeated James J. Jeffries, a champion who had earlier turned him down, with a K.O. in the fifteenth round in front of 22,000 people, earning Johnson $115,000. His victory sparked race riots and certain states banned the filming of Johnson's victories over white fighters.
Jack Johnson received bad publicity by the press for his two marriages, both to Caucasian women. Due to the racist attitudes of the times, interracial marriages were prohibited in most of America. Johnson was convicted in 1912 of violating the Mann Act which outlawed the transportation of women in interstate commerce for the purpose of immoral acts, the woman in question was his fiance and was sentenced to a year in prison. While out on appeal Jack Johnson escaped the country fearing for his safety. Jack Johnson would remain a fugitive for seven years. Johnson defended his heavyweight championship three times in Paris before his fight to Jess Willard in Havana, Cuba where he would lose his title in the 26th round.
He returned to the US on July 20, 1920 and surrendered to Federal agents. Johnson was sent to Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas to serve his sentence of one year and was released on July 9, 1921. Johnson was always a controversial fighter. As a black man, he broke a powerful taboo in consorting with white women. Johnson was flashy. He raced cars, had gold teeth, and partied with the best of them, yet he was also an inventor, author and cellist. He lived a fast and wild lifestyle and would eventually die in an automobile accident near Raleigh, North Carolina, in June 1946.
Currently Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., documentary filmmaker Ken Burns along with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., former New York City Mayor David Dinkins, boxers Sugar Ray Leonard and Vernon Forrest and actor Samuel L. Jackson are seeking a Presidential Pardon of Johnson for his conviction of violating the Mann Act.
He won his first title on February 3, 1903, beating 'Denver' Ed Martin over twenty rounds for the Colored Heavyweight Championship. His efforts to win the full title were thwarted as white champions refused to face him. He eventually won the World Heavyweight Title on December 26, 1908 when he fought the World Heavyweight Champion, Canadian Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia. He had chased Burns for a year taunting him at every fight, goading him into giving Johnson a title shot. The fight lasted fourteen rounds before being stopped by the police. The title was awarded to Johnson on a referee's decision as a T.K.O but he had severely beaten the champion. The camera was stopped just as Johnson was finishing off Burns so that nobody could actually see Johnson becoming the champion.
As title holder, Johnson had to face a series of fights with "great white hopes." White promoters determined to return the title to "the rightful owners" threw everyone they could at him. On July 4, 1910 he defeated James J. Jeffries, a champion who had earlier turned him down, with a K.O. in the fifteenth round in front of 22,000 people, earning Johnson $115,000. His victory sparked race riots and certain states banned the filming of Johnson's victories over white fighters.
Jack Johnson received bad publicity by the press for his two marriages, both to Caucasian women. Due to the racist attitudes of the times, interracial marriages were prohibited in most of America. Johnson was convicted in 1912 of violating the Mann Act which outlawed the transportation of women in interstate commerce for the purpose of immoral acts, the woman in question was his fiance and was sentenced to a year in prison. While out on appeal Jack Johnson escaped the country fearing for his safety. Jack Johnson would remain a fugitive for seven years. Johnson defended his heavyweight championship three times in Paris before his fight to Jess Willard in Havana, Cuba where he would lose his title in the 26th round.
He returned to the US on July 20, 1920 and surrendered to Federal agents. Johnson was sent to Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas to serve his sentence of one year and was released on July 9, 1921. Johnson was always a controversial fighter. As a black man, he broke a powerful taboo in consorting with white women. Johnson was flashy. He raced cars, had gold teeth, and partied with the best of them, yet he was also an inventor, author and cellist. He lived a fast and wild lifestyle and would eventually die in an automobile accident near Raleigh, North Carolina, in June 1946.
Currently Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., documentary filmmaker Ken Burns along with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., former New York City Mayor David Dinkins, boxers Sugar Ray Leonard and Vernon Forrest and actor Samuel L. Jackson are seeking a Presidential Pardon of Johnson for his conviction of violating the Mann Act.
