Jack Johnson Heavyweight Champion of the World

TITLE: Jack Johnson / D.W.A. photo. CALL NUMBER: LOT 10816 [P and P] Check for an online group record (may link to related items), REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-USZ6-1823 (b and w film copy neg.)No known restrictions on publication., SUMMARY: Jack Johnson, boxer, full-length portrait, standing in ring, facing slightly right., MEDIUM: 1 photographic print., CREATED/PUBLISHED: [between 1910 and 1915] SUBJECTS: Johnson, Jack, 1878-1946. and Boxers (Sports)--1910-1920., DIGITAL ID: (b&w film copy neg.) cph 3d01823 hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ CARD #: 93501352

Digital ID: cph 3d01823 Source: b&w film copy neg. Reproduction Number: LC-USZ6-1823 (b&w film copy neg.) Retrieve higher resolution JPEG version (112 kilobytes)

Credit Line: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [reproduction number, LC-USZ6-1823]

MARC Record Line 540 - No known restrictions on publication.

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Jack Johnson (boxer) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Arthur Johnson (March 31, 1878 – June 10, 1946), better known as Jack Johnson and nicknamed the “Galveston Giant”, was an American boxer and arguably the best heavyweight of his generation. He was the first black Heavyweight Champion of the World (1908-1915), a feat which, for its time, was tremendously controversial. In a documentary about his life, Ken Burns said: “For more than thirteen years, Jack Johnson was the most famous, and the most notorious African-American on Earth

Jack Johnson was born in Galveston, Texas as the second child and first son of Henry and Tina “Tiny” Johnson, former slaves and faithful Methodists, who both worked blue-collar jobs to earn enough to raise six children (the Johnsons had nine children, five of whom lived to adulthood, and an adopted son) and taught them how to read and write. Jack Johnson had five years of formal education. He was later kicked out of church when he stated that God did not exist and that the church was a domination over people's lives.[citation needed]

Johnson fought his first bout, a 16-round victory, at age 15. He turned professional around 1897, fighting in private clubs and making more money than he had ever seen. In 1901, Joe Choynski, the small Jewish heavyweight, came to Galveston to train Jack Johnson. Choynski, an experienced boxer, knocked Johnson out in round three, and the two were arrested for "engaging in an illegal contest" and put in jail for 23 days. (Although boxing was one of the three most popular sports in America at the time, along with baseball and horse-racing, the practice was officially illegal in most states, including Texas.) Choynski began training Johnson in jail but did not get arrested.

Johnson's fighting style was very distinctive. He developed a more patient approach than was customary in that day: playing defensively, waiting for a mistake, and then capitalizing on it. Johnson always began a bout cautiously, slowly building up over the rounds into a more aggressive fighter. He often fought to punish his opponents rather than knock them out, endlessly avoiding their blows and striking with swift counters. He always gave the impression of having much more to offer and, if pushed, he could punch quite powerfully. Johnson's style was very effective, but it was criticized in the white press as being cowardly and devious. In contrast, World Heavyweight Champion "Gentleman" Jim Corbett, who was white, had used many of the same techniques a decade earlier, and was praised by the white 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 "Denver" 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 heavyweight championship was such a respected and coveted position in America that blacks were not deemed worthy to compete for it. Johnson was, however, able to fight former champion Bob Fitzsimmons in July 1907, and knocked him out in two rounds.

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, taunting him in the press for a match. 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, punishing him more. The camera was stopped just as Johnson was finishing off Burns, so as not to show Burns' defeat.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article, Jack Johnson (boxer)

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