‘Jack Johnson’

A re-match is on, according to United States Senator John McCain and Representative Peter King, to secure a Congressional pardon for the first black heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson.

The first resolution was introduced in 2009 but President Barack Obama refused to pass the act that would pardon Johnson from his criminal conviction.

There is great significance here as Johnson became the first black heavyweight champion a century before Obama was elected the nation's first black president.

Johnson was convicted of violating the Mann Act, a law that made it illegal to transport women across state lines for the purposes of immoral acts. His flamboyant lifestyle, his world heavyweight title and his marriage to a white woman made Johnson the perfect target for a white population of the times, boiling with racial resentment.

In a written statement, Arizona Senator McCain said that he and New York Representative King, would be reintroducing the resolution to rectify this historical injustice.

McCain believes that only a full pardon would help future generations fully grasp what Johnson was able to accomplish in the face of bigotry and prejudice.

There was no comment issued by the White House.

As part of the Jack Johnson vs. Jim Jeffries centenary in Reno, Top Rank Incorporated, the Grand Sierra Resort, and Let's Get It On Promotions present an evening of professional boxing.

Added to the stellar boxing card is an eight round super-middleweight bout between Reno’s own Joey Gilbert (19-2, 15 KOs) and Bakersfield CA’s Billy “The Billy Goat” Bailey (10-8, 4 KOs). More...

On July 4, 1910, Jack Johnson and Jim Jeffries stepped into a custom-built boxing ring in Reno, Nevada, with over 20,000 fight fans from across the country and around the world on-hand to witness what had been hyped as the “Battle of the Century.”

Johnson, an intimidating boxer and the first African American to hold the World Heavyweight Championship, was a pariah amongst white America because of his refusal to live his life according to the bigoted social norms prevalent during his day. More...

In July of 2009, the US Congress approved a resolution to pardon Jack Johnson. The House passed the resolution by voice vote a month after the Senate approved it. Yet, when it came time for President Barack Obama to issue a presidential pardon that even his fiercest political rivals agreed was long overdue, he declined to do so.

The question then remains who was Jack Johnson and why is this pardon so important?

On December 26, 1908 Johnson became the first African American heavyweight champion of the world by defeating Tommy Burns at Rushcutters’s Bay in Sydney, Australia. It was a controversial fight because Johnson was constantly being denied his chance to fight for the title due to his race.

This was also a time in history when black athletes were forbidden to compete against white athletes. From that day on, Johnson became a wanted man; promoters all over the world looked for the “Great White Hope” to dethrone the newly crowned black heavyweight champion of the world.

What makes this story even more compelling is that Johnson was born to a former slave on March 31, 1878 in Galveston, Texas. At that time in U.S. history, it was illegal for blacks to walk down the same side of the street as white people.

After his win in Australia, Jack Johnson had become legendary taking on the greatest fighters in the world. Along with being the first black heavyweight champion, Johnson’s escapades and marriages to white women turned a large part of the US public against him. More...

On July 4, 1910, the fight of the 20th century took place in Reno, NV. The reining heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson, and former undefeated heavyweight champion, James J. Jeffries, squared off in Reno for a bout that transcended professional sports. More was on the line than just the Heavyweight Crown on that day. More...

For some considerable time I have wanted to write a technical appraisal of the magnificent and timeless Jack Johnson. I have refrained from doing so because Jack, the great Lil’ Arthur as he was known, comes with so much historically vital yet distracting baggage. His story – and ye gods, it is some story even now – is so crammed with political intrigue and controversy that his immense boxing skills are nearly always shoved onto the back burner and mentioned in passing.

Johnson was a giant of a man in every way, but the prime objective here is to demonstrate his wonderful knowledge and mastery of something we used to call the Noble Art. Quite simply, it was the art of hitting without being hit. It was about utter dedication and devotion to an astonishingly difficult and slippery discipline. If you have ever stepped into a boxing ring, even for nothing more than a light-hearted session with a pal, you will know how infernally hard it is to avoid being struck.

I have talked to many young and eager amateurs who have nurtured dreams of stepping up in class. Armed with the firm conviction that their defence is as sound as the good old dollar used to be, they have reeled from sparring sessions with modest professionals in a state of shock and disarray after being clobbered hither and yon. More...