Boxing always gets the most negative reaction from the media and general sports fans. But let?s not forget that although an overwhelming amount of racial prejudice existed in the game throughout the years, boxing was so much further advanced than any other major sport in allowing black boxers to compete on the world stage that there is absolutely NO comparison. As far back as 1890, when Canadian George Dixon, fighting out of Boston, became recognized as the Bantamweight Champion, blacks fought for world titles, and always have been among the most popular fighters of every era. The only way that a black man?s photo would be in the newspapers would likely be because he was a boxer?well into the 1920?s. Many well-known black fighters were also featured in the commercially packaged tobacco and gum cards popular of the period. No other sport can claim this distinction.
Although men like Peter Jackson (whose challenge to John L. Sullivan was ignored), Sam Langford, Jack Blackburn, Joe Jeannette, Sam McVea, etc. were deprived of deserving title shots, Dixon, Joe Gans, Joe Walcott, Dixie Kid and Jack Johnson all became ?world? boxing champions before 1909. In fact Johnson has been charged with drawing the ?color line? during most of his reign when he refused to defend his crown against his most prominent black challengers.
Black fighters had, up to that time, been frequent attractions at the top venues in most of the busiest northern fight towns, often facing a white opponent.
The Jack Johnson era really shut down much black activity and almost all of the champions conveniently drew the color line BUT some black fighters DID slip through and got opportunities to fight for titles – while NONE could breakthrough in the other sports.
March 10, 1909: Featherweight titlist, Abe Attell, defended his belt against Philly?s top black 122-pounder, Young Pierce in a 15-rounder at nearby Essington, right over the city line and scored a dramatic 6-round KO in front of a large enthusiastic crowd? In 1912 Harry Lewis defended his welterweight title claim by stopping the Dixie Kid?And lightweight champion Benny Leonard on September of 1917 defended his crown against ?Negro Lightweight Champion,? Leo Johnson, at the Harlem Sporting Club before a tremendous standing room only crowd, KOing Johnson in the first round and less than a week later he stopped ?another colored star,? Eddie Kid Dorsey in two rounds at Buffalo, N.Y.
In December 1923 Pennsylvania inaugurated an athletic commission and one of the first orders of business was to issue a promoter and matchmaker?s license to Jack Farrell and a judge?s license to Alec Boulden, both black men from Chester and stipulating that they were to be able to promote and judge ?mixed matches? and also fights between two white fighters as well. Charles White was appointed as Philadelphia district boxing commissioner and he was succeeded in 1929 by Robert Nelson, also black, who ruled until 1935 when Joseph Rainey, another black man, was appointed to the post. What other sport in America could claim such racial advances?
And advances for the fighters were happening as well. In 1922 the African, Battling Siki, scored a sensational KO over Georges Carpentier to win the light heavyweight championship in Paris. In 1926 middleweight champ, Harry Greb defended his crown against his leading challenger, Tiger Flowers, who outfought Greb to take the belt. Welterweight champion, Jackie Fields, successfully defended against top black contender, Young Jack Thompson, in 1929, but lost his NBA title in a rematch with Thompson at the Detroit Olympia. Thompson was to drop his crown to Tommy Freeman in Cleveland but regained it from Freeman, again at Cleveland before finally losing it against Lou Brouillard in October 1931.
Cuban flyweight sensation, Black Bill, fought speed demon, Midget Wolgast for the vacant championship at Madison Square Garden in 1930 but couldn?t keep up the pace with Wolgast and was defeated. A year later Wolgast overwhelmed New England flyweight champ, ?Dark Cloud? Ruby Bradley, in a 15-rounder at Coney Island.
After middleweight champion, Mickey Walker, vacated his throne in 1931 the powerful National Boxing Association (NBA) set up an elimination tournament to proclaim a new champ. It invited eight black contenders to participate (Rudy Marshall, Gorilla Jones, Tiger Thomas, Ham Jenkins, Angel Clivilles, Jack McVey, Roy Williams and Oliver ?Snow Flake? Wright). After the smoke had cleared William ?Gorilla? Jones became the new champion when he stopped Italian Odone Piazza in the final match.
When the NBA stripped light heavy titlist Maxie Rosenbloom of his title for mysterious reasons they set up another tourney to decide a champ in December 1931. Six black contenders were invited to participate including Billy Jones, Roy Williams, Larry Johnson, Pettit Ferrer, Roscoe Manning and Willie Bush. Buffalo?s George Nichols was eventually proclaimed the champion after defeating Billy Jones in the semi-finals.
Things were definitely opening up for boxers of color. Kid Chocolate, the popular and exciting Cuban flash got shot at the 126-pound crown but was defeated on a disputed call against Battling Battalino in New York. But he came back the following year (1931) to capture the 130-pound belt from Benny Bass, cutting him up for a seven-round stoppage at the Baker Bowl in Philadelphia? While the elongated Panama Al Brown copped the bantamweight throne winning over Gregorio Vidal at the Garden in New York and holding on to the laurels for many years.
Social change is sometimes a slow process, in boxing it was like a leaky faucet that starts out slow, drip by drip, that eventually filled the sink until it ran over and cascaded out of control. I believe there were more ?mixed matches? in the U.S. between 1928 until the heavy war year of 1943 than anytime in boxing history. Check the records. Why do we feel the need to continue to perpetuate the myth that hardly any white fighters would tangle with the top black boxers of that era and the later ?Black Murderers Row?? The facts prove otherwise. Mickey Walker definitely sidestepped his top 160-pound threat, Harry Smith of Harlem, but in 62 recorded bouts Smith had only met five fellow black fighters eight times. When Lloyd Marshall boxed Eddie Booker on September 28, 1942, it marked only the third time in 43 matches that Marshall engaged a fellow black boxer. Booker, too, had met only 8 blacks in his previous 70 bouts of his career? In 116 fights in Al Gainor?s career he met 90 white fighters and but only 26 blacks.
Cocoa Kid boxed 153 white fighters in his 245-fight career. The overwhelming majority of Oscar Rankin?s fights were against white opponents. Most of Jack Chase?s opposition before 1943 were white. World War II changed everything. With so many white fighters serving it seemed that the promoters and managers panicked and tried to preserve what was left of the white boxers by carefully matching the dwindling numbers of most of them that were left, and with incentives like the GI Bill fewer whites ever returned to boxing for their livelihood. Before 1943, for instance, Holman Williams had fought 58 white fighters but only 9 the rest of his career. Charley Burley boxed 30 white opponents pre-war but only a few after?..
There are many great researchers and historians of boxing and it is hard to fathom that this information has been overlooked. The politically correct segment is of the impression that it is OK to trash white fighters to proclaim the greatness of black fighters. But their (blacks) exploits in the ring don?t need any embellishing or falsehoods. Their wins (and losses) against top white fighters are part of the legacy that shows why boxing and the fighters were so great during this period.
Review the records of Maxie Rosenbloom, George Nichols, Dave Shade, Lou Brouillard, Ted and Tommy Yarosz, Al Ettore, Popeye Woods, Ken Overlin, Lee Savold, Melio Bettina, Gus Dorazio, Buddy Knox, Bob Pastor, Shorty and Big Boy Hogue, Wicky Harkins, Fritzie Zivic, Lou Scozza, Joey Maxim and so many more. What black fighters did these men duck? We are doing a disservice to the brave sons of immigrants and hardened men of the Depression who sacrificed their blood and bodies to provide for their families in the toughest way possible by meeting ALL comers.
Boxing back then was heavily driven by gambling and by constant activity. Many managers and promoters were incorrigible gamblers who needed their boxers to remain active to keep the purses rolling in so there were many cases of a superior fighter being coerced by his management to go easy at times and maybe carry an inferior opponent to cover betting odds and in many cases top black fighters were asked (or ordered) to go along with this type of arrangement. The worst case scenario is probably the plight of gargantuan heavyweight, George Godfrey, who was probably the most ?handcuffed? fighter ever. Some of the concessions he had to make were shameful and outrageous against both black and white opponents in order to get decent purses. Harry Wills, between 1924 thru 1927, constantly ducked very lucrative offers to fight Godfrey (but with the handcuffs off) and reap the largest purse of his career. Wills still refused.
When Joe Louis won the heavyweight title on June 22, 1937, he became the 14th black recognized as a world champion in boxing history. In 1925 the RING magazine began publishing annual ratings of the top ten contenders in each weight division. By March of 1928 they switched to a monthly ratings format. Between their first set of rankings until the Louis title win The RING had placed 63 black battlers in their top 10 listings. This is comparable to ?making the major leagues? in baseball and football, but, of course, this wasn?t going to happen any time soon if they could help it. Some of the black boxers were ranked for as little as a month or two, while others became superstars who remained in the limelight for years, able to generate positive recognition with the general public and earn sizable purses that the other sports still denied black athletes. Others, were given shots at titles, among them the gifted Henry Woods who challenged Barney Ross for his 140-pound crown but was unsuccessful in 12 rounds at Seattle. But John Henry Lewis, managed by black entrepreneur Gus Greenlee, won the light heavy belt in 1935 beating Bob Olin in St. Louis and becoming the first black world champion managed by a black man.
Henry Armstrong performed one of the most remarkable feats ever in sports when he became champion in three weight divisions simultaneously. A true boxing ?superman.?
Joe Louis? role in social change in this country has been vastly understated in recent years by the mainstream press?who are slow to give credit to anything that concerns boxing?and long before the Jackie Robinson breakthrough in ?elitist? baseball. The most famous sporting venue in the world, Madison Square Garden, had been showcasing black boxers (and often against whites) since the late 1920?s but during the Second World War (thanks to the fame of Joe Louis) black fighters were the most popular and active headliners at the Garden. The other sports still lacked the will and courage to meekly try until 1947.
Alluding back to Joe Louis, he participated in the most important sporting event of the 20th century when he opposed Germany?s Max Schmeling for the heavyweight championship at Yankee Stadium in 1938. Louis had been previously knocked out by Schmeling in 1936 and that result helped to perpetuate the Nazi claim of ?Aryan Supremacy.? The rematch was regarded as a dress rehearsal and prelude to the coming war. The African-American, Louis? role was to represent, with ?virtually? the full support of the whole nation (North+ South, Black + White) and was presented as, all that was good and strong and righteous about America against the ?evil? (white) Nazi, Max Schmeling. By the way, that was the FOURTH time Louis had packed Yankee Stadium against a white opponent. Baseball, are you paying attention? Of course our great champion Joe Louis performed the complete devastating triumph and destroyed the notion of ?Aryan Supremacy? that would lead the allies to final victory; at least that?s what we hoped for the coming times.
By the time Jackie Robinson played his first game for the Dodgers in April 1947, the total of black boxing champions had risen to 22 (a total that would have probably been higher but for the war), with another dozen who challenged unsuccessfully for titles in their divisions. The number of black fighters who had made The RING ratings at this point had risen to 180, with countless other ?journeymen? black boxers earning a better living with their fists than society and the other sports had yet allowed them.
While a number of extraordinarily talented men like Charley Burley, Eddie Booker, Lloyd Marshall, Holman Williams, Elmer ?Violent? Ray, Cocoa Kid, Bert Lytell, Archie Moore and others were still shunned as prospective title challengers, it can be argued that their lack of having the right ?connections? were almost as responsible for their plight as the color of their skin.
The all powerful International Boxing Club of the late 40?s thru 1960 has been much criticized for its underhanded dealings in the fight game, but they really opened up the sport to blacks getting their rightful title shots?providing, of course, the boxers signed on with the IBC run ?Managers Guild.? Also under the IBC reign, Philadelphia?s Zach Clayton became the first black man to referee a world heavyweight championship match in 1952 in Philadelphia between Walcott and Charles. It would be years before other pro sports would even hire a black official to work their games, let alone their championship games.
Boxing has been called ?the cesspool of sports? but in the cesspool of racism it has traditionally shown far more fair play and acceptance than any other sports. So when people criticize boxing, let?s tell them some of the positives that the other ?more elitist? sports shamefully can?t claim.
