GALVESTON, TX – The Galveston County Daily News recently published a rare photo of a young local heavyweight boxer named Jack Johnson who went on to become the first black heavyweight champion of the world and one of the most controversial figures in sports history.
Through the Rosenberg Collection at the Galveston Museum, the authenticated 1901 photograph of Johnson and boxer Joe Choynski of La Grange, IL, after being held in the Galveston jail for 24 days, shows a relaxed Johnson behind bars who went on to be nicknamed “The Galveston Giant” and held the world heavyweight championship between 1908 – 1915.
“Chrysanthemum Joe” Choynski knocked Johnson out in only the third round of a scheduled 20 round fight. The two men were arrested after the fight as prize fighting was illegal in Texas at the time.
The grand jury did not return an indictment.
After winning the world title and beating “Great White Hope” Jim Jeffries in an early title defense, Johnson fled the country and fought in Europe while trying to avoid alleged trumped up charges regarding the Mann Act, for assisting in the travel of white women across state lines for immoral purposes (which he denied).
Johnson retired with a record of 73-13-9 (40 KO’s) and died in a traffic accident in North Carolina in 1946 at the age of 68.
The photo was one donated to the Rosenberg Museum’s Galveston and Texas History Center.
