35 years ago, I saw a photograph of Jack Johnson and was so impressed with his physique that I was inspired to buy a punching bag. I’ve been banging on the heavy bag for 4 5-minute rounds twice a week ever since. For some stupid reason (I don’t know why) punching the bag gave me more confidence than tennis or weight-training–2 other physical activities with which I was fairly proficient. I was surprised to recently learn that neither my wife nor my sister had ever heard of Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion of the world. He won the championship in 1908 when roughly 10% of the U.S. population belonged to the KKK, and this hate group was mainstream, not like today when it’s just an organization for a few hateful losers. The heavyweight boxing champion was the most famous celebrity in sports throughout the entire 20th century, and boxing was 1 of the most popular sports in 1908, ranking behind baseball, horse racing, and maybe bicycle racing. (Football was in its infancy. The forward pass had just been legalized.) Today, most people aren’t aware of the heavyweight champion (Olexander Usyk from Ukraine), and I (a boxing fan) even had to look his name up to remind myself of who the current champion is. It was a big disaster for white supremacists and racists when a black man won this coveted title near the turn of the last century. Here is a brief history of Jack Johnson’s life.

Johnson was born in Galveston, Texas during 1908. His parents were former slaves who worked their way into a respectable middle-class standard of living. His father was a janitor, and his mother washed other people’s clothes. His family included 8 natural brothers and sisters and an adopted brother. Nevertheless, his parents managed to buy a nice house that was later destroyed by the famous Galveston Hurricane of 1900. Galveston was a port city with many different types of people, and it was less viciously racist than most other cities of the time. Jack’s best childhood friend was white. To make money as a child, Jack held on to the milkman’s horse when he took bottles to people’s front doors.

Jack didn’t like working on the docks as a teenager, and he started boxing for money. He hoboed on a train and went to Chicago for his first fight where he met Jack Curley, the promoter who transmogrified pro wrestling into the pre-arranged spectacle that it is today. Curley would later promote Jack’s fight with Jess Willard. Jack’s first fight was a battle royale, an event where a group of black men wearing blind folds swung at each other, and the last man standing was the winner and would get a few bucks. White spectators thought these events were hilarious. Jack was the winner. Jack worked a little while as a sparring partner in New Jersey, then returned to Galveston and beat the local heavyweight champion. His first notable fight was against the Jewish boxer Joe Choynski, an experience fighter who had had bouts with 5 different champions. (Choynski was the first boxer ever to get hit by a left hook, a punch invented by Gentleman Jim Corbett during his 26-round fight against Choynski on an offshore barge. Corbett had broken his hand but it hurt less to land a hook. Corbett won the fight but had to be told he won because he was senseless himself.) Boxing was illegal in Texas, so the bout between Johnson and Choynski was billed as a physical education exhibition. Choynski knocked Johnson out in the 3rd round with a sudden left hook to the eye, and as soon as the fight was over, 6 Texas Rangers entered the ring and arrested the fighters. The judge told Choynski he should be ashamed of himself for beating up a poor black kid who didn’t know anything about boxing, and he sentenced the 2 of them to spend their days in jail, though at night Choynski went to a hotel and Johnson went home. They sparred for the guards and reporters while in jail and became good friends. Choynski advised Johnson to become a more defensive fighter, and this change in tactics made him more successful. The judge released them, and Johnson headed to California where boxing was legal and popular.

Johnson’s physique inspired me to buy a heavy punching bag 35 years ago, and I’ve been banging on it ever since. His bout with Ketchel was semi-fixed, but Ketchel sucker punched Johnson who got up and really knocked Ketchel out.

Johnson and Choynski were arrested after their fight in Texas because boxing was illegal there. Choynski advised Johnson to become a defensive fighter and the counseling made him a better fighter.

Johnson’s 1st legal wife. She was an actress who killed herself. Johnson was reviled by both black and white for marrying white women.

Johnson developed into a great defensive fighter with a terrific right uppercut. The uppercut was an effective punch for the style of fighting then that involved much clinching and infighting. (I can’t really analyze his fights because the ancient film quality is so poor I can’t determine if punches land.) Early during his career he had a hard time with Klondike Smith, another black fighter with a defensive style, but he fought him 5 times and eventually beat him. Johnson’s first manager was Frank Carillo, a saloon-owner who had financial interests in racehorses as well. Carillo was the kind of unscrupulous crook who would set up illegal cock fights, call the police on the participants, and loan bail money to the people in jail at exorbitant interest rates. Sportswriters first took note of Johnson when he was Kid Carter’s sparring partner, and he was beating him. Johnson won the “colored” heavyweight championship in 1903 and fired Carillo for stealing his money. In another important bout he defeated Ed Martin in a 20-round fight, knocking him down 3 times despite being outweighed by 70 pounds. Next, he destroyed the former heavyweight champion Bob Fitzimmons–an easy 3 round knockout. Johnson began campaigning to fight the white heavyweight champion, Jim Jeffries, but Jeffries refused to give a black man the chance to win the heavyweight championship for blatantly racist reasons. Jeffries retired after wiping out all the white contenders. Tommy Burns won a tournament to replace Jeffries as champ, and he promised Johnson his turn, but first he took on all the top white contenders. Johnson even followed Burns to Australia to challenge him. Eventually, Burns agreed to the fight, though he earned 6 times more money than Johnson for the bout. Burns was only 5’7″, but he was a good fighter often beating much larger opponents. Johnson’s skill had him outclassed. His rushing style was tailor made for Johnson’s defensive style. Johnson knocked him out in the 15th round. Racist white people were appalled. Newspapers referred to Johnson with every racist epithet I’ve ever heard, and some I haven’t. Southerners offered to lynch him.

Johnson’s first notable defense after a couple of exhibitions was a fight with the middle weight champion Stanley Ketchel, the first “Great White Hope.” (All the white fighters who challenged Johnson were the hope of racists.) The fight was semi-fixed. (It may have been so they could sell film rights for a long bout, but no one really knows why.) Johnson was supposed to carry Ketchel for 20 rounds and get the decision. Ketchel had a rushing style, also tailer made for Johnson. However, Ketchel double crossed Johnson and sucker punched him, knocking him down. Johnson got up and knocked Ketchel out with a blow so hard it knocked 4 of his teeth out which stuck in Johnson’s glove. Now, the public demanded Jeffries come out of retirement to save the honor of the white race. Nat Fleischer, founder of Ring Magazine, saw every heavyweight champion from Gentleman Jim Corbett to Muhammad Ali, and he claims Jeffries was the best in his prime. Jeffries was no longer in his prime by the time he agreed to fight Johnson. He had been retired for 5 years, was drinking heavily, smoked 6-7 packs of cigarettes a day, and had ballooned up to 300 pounds. He did get back into shape, and the fight took place in 1910. It was by far the biggest most anticipated sporting event of the 20th century up to that point. Jeffries might have won a few early rounds, but Johnson outboxed him and knocked him out in the 15th round. The overtly racist crowd attending the fight was stunned silent. As a result of the fight, race riots across the country led to the deaths of 11 people. Scores more were wounded.

Jack Johnson defeated Jim Jeffries in 1910. A sea of white people were stunned silent by the result.

Johnson went to Europe due to legal difficulties which I will discuss below. There, he beat overmatched competition in exhibitions simply for pocket money, including the first all-black heavyweight championship bout (for the real title) against Battling Jim Johnson. His next big fight was in 1915 in Havana, Cuba against Jess Willard, an ex-bronco buster who was as big as modern heavyweights at 6’7″ and 230 pounds. By now, Johnson was not training hard and was overconfident. He agreed to a 45 round fight and easily outboxed Willard for most of 20 rounds. If it would have been like a modern 12 or 15 round fight, he would have easily retained his crown by decision. Instead, it was very hot, and Willard used his weight to wear Johnson out. Finally, he knocked Johnson out in the 26th round. Years later, Johnson claimed he threw the fight, but evidence suggests this was not true, and he was trying to sell a phony story for money. It was over 90 degrees F, and it doesn’t make sense that he would toil so hard in that heat, if he was planning on taking a dive. Johnson continued to fight exhibitions for money but never fought a top contender after losing his crown. He wanted to fight Jack Dempsey who destroyed Willard in 1919 to win the heavyweight crown, but Dempsey’s promoter wouldn’t let him fight black boxers. Though Dempsey’s aggressive style was tailor made for Johnson, he was much younger and in much better shape. Dempsey likely would have won. Johnson fought well into his sixties because he was always nearly broke. Until he was 48 he won against overmatched competition and made top contender Firpo look bad in sparring, but in his late 40s he even started losing to lesser opponents.

Johnson was already reviled for being a black heavyweight champion, but he made even more enemies by openly courting and marrying white women when miscegenation was illegal in more than half of the states. Most of the women were prostitutes who he referred to as his wife when in public. He did fall in love with the mentally unstable actress Etta Duryea, and he really married her. Johnson’s conduct was questionable. He continued seeing prostitutes behind her back, and he beat her (putting her in the hospital) at least once. She suffered from depression and committed suicide. 3 weeks later, Johnson started seeing another white prostitute, Lucille Cameron who performed in his integrated night club known as the Cafe de Champion. He married her, and her mother, with the aid of a crooked lawyer, falsely accused Johnson of forcibly holding her captive. This began Johnson’s legal troubles, eventually forcing him to live overseas as a fugitive from justice. There was a popular conspiracy theory then that Jews were kidnapping white women and forcing them to live as slaves for rich black men. As a result, Congress passed The Mann Act which expressly forbade the transportation of women across state lines for immoral purposes. (An unmarried couple who went out of state for a vacation together could be prosecuted, showing how ridiculous this law was.) Johnson tried to bribe his way out of it but was forced to flee to Canada to avoid a certain prison sentence. From there he went to England and France and performed a strong man act and acted in plays in theaters between fights. He even starred in a Spanish movie, though that film hasn’t survived the ravages of time. He spent some time in Cuba where he lost to Willard, and Mexico before crossing the border and turning himself in to authorities. The feds sent him to Leavenworth prison for 2 years, but thanks to his political connections, he was treated better than the average prisoner and put on boxing shows for inmates.

After his release from prison, Johnson performed in small theaters and boxed for small prize winnings, but he was not popular and was no longer front-page news. He stumbled from one failed money-making scheme to another, and he never saved much money. He was always a spend-thrift. He did buy a house for his mother, but he spent most of his money on fast cars, jewelry, and women. His 2nd wife divorced him. Shortly after this divorce, he married his 3rd and final wife, Irene Pineaux. She said he was charming, and she always vigorously defended his reputation.

Johnson was a reckless driver. He once spent 2 weeks in jail for repeated speeding tickets, and 1 year when he was drinking heavily, he totaled 4 cars. He drove even faster during ice storms, and some of his friends refused to be passengers in his car. On a road trip from Chicago to Texas, he and his companion stopped at a restaurant but were forced to eat behind the establishment because they didn’t serve black people. Johnson drove so angrily after this incident, he wrecked his car and died as a result of the accident. His passenger survived. Johnson was 67.

Black boxers of later generations blamed Johnson for their difficulties in getting chances to fight for titles. They thought his open defiance of social norms gave black fighters a bad reputation. Joe Louis overcame this obstacle and became the first black boxing champion who was mostly accepted by white people. Johnson had a feud with Louis and openly rooted for his opponents. Jack Blackburn was Louis’s trainer. Blackburn was a great lightweight boxer who never had a chance to fight for the title. Despite being a lightweight, he outboxed Johnson in sparring decades earlier, and they didn’t like each other. Johnson wanted Louis to fire Blackburn and hire him as his trainer. Louis’s refused to fire Blackburn, and a bitter jealous Johnson constantly belittled Louis in the press, starting a feud that never ended, while they lived. Muhammad Ali, however, always expressed his admiration for Johnson’s defiance against the racist norms of the time.

Reference:

Ward, Geoffrey

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

Vintage Books 2004

https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/1187

Tags: boxing, History, jack-johnson, sports, the-great-white-hope

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