To be honest, when I think of famous African American athletes, I seldom think about African American boxers. Do you? I doubt it. Well today is the day that you will think of and remember Jack Johnson. Jack who?... Ssshhh! Just read the dang blog.Arthur John Johnson was born on March 31, 1878 and died June 10, 1946. To his freinds and family, he was better known as Jack Johnson and nicknamed the “Galveston Giant”. Jack was an American boxer and arguably the best heavyweight of his generation. He was the first black Heavyweight Champion of the World from 1908-1915. For a time, Jack Johnson was the most famous and the most notorious African-American on Earth. So why haven't I ever heard of him?Jack Johnson was born in Galveston, Texas, the second child of Henry and Tina "Tiny" Johnson, former slaves, who both worked back-breaking jobs six children and taught them how to read and write. Jack only had five years of formal education.Johnson's boxing style was very distinctive. He was patient which was unusual in those days. By playing defensively and waiting for a mistake, he siezed his opportunity to strike. He would slowly build up over the rounds into a more aggressive fighter. He often fought to punish his opponents rather than knock them out, avoiding their blows and striking with strong counters.Johnson's style was very effective, but it was criticized in the white press as being "cowardly and devious" even though the World Heavyweight Champion Jim Corbett, who was white, had used the same techniques ten years earlier and was praised by the press as "the cleverest man in boxing".By 1902, Johnson had won at least 50 fights against both white and black opponents. Johnson won his first title on February 3, 1903, beating Ed Martin over 20 rounds for the World Colored Heavyweight Championship. His efforts to win the full title were thwarted as world heavyweight champion James J. Jeffries refused to face him. Blacks could box whites in other arenas, but the world heavyweight championship was such a respected and coveted position in America that blacks were not deemed worthy to compete for it.He eventually won the world heavyweight title on December 26, 1908, when he fought the Canadian world champion Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia, after following him all over the world. The fight lasted fourteen rounds before being stopped by the police in front of over 20,000 spectators. The title was awarded to Johnson on a referee's decision as a T.K.O, but he had severely beaten the champion. During the fight, Johnson had mocked both Burns and his ringside crew. Every time Burns was about to go down, Johnson would hold him up again,punching him more. The camera was stopped just as Johnson was finishing off Burns, to not to show Burns' defeat.After Johnson's victory over Burns, racial animosity among whites ran so deep that even a socialist like Jack London called out for a "Great White Hope" to take the title away from Johnson. In 1910, former heavyweight champion James J. Jeffries came out of retirement and said "I am going into this fight for the sole purpose of proving that a white man is better than a Negro". Jeffries had not fought in six years and had to lose about 100 pounds just to try to get back to his championship fighting weight.The fight, July 4, 1910 in front of 22,000 people, was at a ring built just for the match in Reno Johnson was stronger and more nimble than Jeffries. In the 15th round, after Jeffries had been knocked down twice for the first time in his career, his people called it quits to prevent Johnson from knocking him out. The "Fight of the Century" gavve Johnson $225,000 and silenced the critics.Johnson continued to fight over the years and ended his career in 1938. Johnson died in a car crash at the age of 68 on a bridge after driving angrily away from a diner that refused to serve him. He is buried in Chicago with an unmarked grave that only says "Johnson"To me, Johnson sounds like a tough cookie. He never gave up and tragically fell into the lime light. Today I honor Jack Johnson for Black History month.
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