Encyclopedia
John Arthur Johnson , 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.
Biography
Early life
Jack Johnson was born in
Galveston, Texas to Henry and Tiny Johnson, former
slaves, who both worked blue-collar jobs to earn enough to raise six children and teach them how to read and write. Jack Johnson had five years of formal schooling.
Boxing career
Johnson fought his first bout, a 16-round victory, at age 15. He turned professional around 1897, fighting in private clubs, and by age 18 was earning more in one night than his father earned in an entire week.
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. Choynski began training Johnson in jail.
Johnson developed a more patient style than was customary in that day: playing defensively, waiting for a mistake, and then capitalizing on it. It was very effective, but it was criticized in the press as being cowardly and devious.
By 1902, Johnson had won at least 27 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 "Colored Heavyweight Championship".
He eventually won the World Heavyweight Title on December 26 1908, when he fought the World Heavyweight Champion,
Canadian Tommy Burns in
Sydney, Australia. The fight lasted 14 rounds before being stopped by the police. The title was awarded to Johnson on a referee's decision as a
T.K.O.. Despite being severely beaten many thought Burns was improving as the fight wore on, and that the fight should not have been stopped.
As title holder, Johnson avoided many of his most dangerous challengers. He "ducked" black fighters such as Sam Langford, Joe Jeannette, and Sam McVey . In 1909 he fought Victor McLaglen in a six-round no-contest bout. That same year he fought Jack O'Brien, Tony Ross and Al Kaufman.
His fight with "Philadelphia" Jack O'Brien was a disappointing one for Johnson. Scaling 205 pounds to O'Brien 161, he could only achieve a 6 round draw with the great middleweight.
He also fought the middleweight champion Stanley Ketchel. According to Johnson this match was "worked" with the intention of prolonging it, and making it into a no-decision. Of this there is no reliable evidence and it appears to have been a legitimate fight. The fight itself was keenly fought by both men until the 12th and last round. Ketchel threw a right to johnson's head, knocking him down, slowly regaining his feet Johnson threw a straight to Ketchel's jaw knocking him out.
On July 4 1910 in front of 22,000 people at a ring built just for the occasion in downtown Reno, Nevada, he defeated
James J. Jeffries, with a K.O. in the 15th round. Jeffries had not fought in 6 years and had to lose around 100 pounds to try to get back to his championship fighting weight. The "Fight of the Century" earned Johnson $115,000 and silenced critics, who had belittled Johnson's previous victory over Tommy Burns as empty, claiming Burns was a false champion since Jeffries had retired undefeated. His victory sparked race riots among his black fans and certain states banned the filming of Johnson's victories over white fighters. In 2005, the
United States National Film Preservation Board deemed the fight "historically significant" and put it in the National Film Registry.
On April 5 1915
Johnson lost his title to Jess Willard, a working cowboy who did not start boxing until he was almost thirty years old. With a crowd of 25,000 at the Vedado Racetrack in
Havana, Cuba, Johnson was K.O.'d in the 26th round of the scheduled 45-round fight, which was co-promoted by Roderick James "Jess" McMahon and a partner. Johnson found that he could not knock out the giant Willard, who fought as a counterpuncher, making Johnson do all the leading. Johnson began to tire after the 20th round, and was visibly hurt by heavy body punches from Willard in rounds preceding the 26th round knockout. Johnson spread rumors that he took a dive, but Willard is widely regarded as winning fairly. Willard said, "If he was going to throw the fight, I wish he'd done it sooner." Johnson circulated a photo of himself with his hand above his head, claiming that the floor was too hot to the touch and he was shielding the sun from his eyes, as "proof" that he was not knocked out. It did not show his arm rolling off his face on to the canvas
He fought a number of bouts in
Mexico before returning to the U.S. on July 20 1920 and surrendering to Federal agents for allegedly violating the Mann Act against "transporting women across state lines for immoral purposes" by sending his white girlfriend, Belle Schreiber, a railroad ticket to travel from
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to
Chicago, Illinois. This is generally considered an intentional misuse of the Act, which was intended to stop interstate traffic in
prostitutes. He was sent to the United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth to serve his sentence of one year and was released on July 9 1921. There have been recurring proposals to grant Johnson a posthumous Presidential pardon.
Later days
He continued fighting, but age was catching up with him. After two losses in 1928 he participated only in exhibition bouts. He opened a night club in
Harlem, which later became the Cotton Club. His wife, Lucille Cameron, divorced him in 1924 on the grounds of infidelity. Jack Johnson then married an old friend named Ms. Irene Pineau.
Jack Johnson died in a car crash near
Raleigh, North Carolina in 1946, aged 68, and was buried next to Etta Duryea in
Graceland Cemetery, in
Chicago, Illinois. He was inducted to the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1954.
Controversy
Johnson was a womaniser and had many relationships, a number of them with prostitutes and brothel-keepers. He was married three times. His first wife, Etta Duryea, committed suicide in September 1911, nine months after their wedding. Johnson quickly remarried, to Lucille Cameron; the speed of the courtship and the fact that Lucille was white caused a scandal and their premarital relationship led to his indictment and prosecution under the Mann Act . He was sentenced to one year in prison. The couple fled to
France soon after their marriage. Lucille sued for divorce in 1924, citing her husband's adultery; he did not contest her suit. Johnson married his third wife, Irene Pineau, in 1925; she outlived him. All three of Johnson's wives were white, a fact that caused considerable controversy at the time. He had no children.
Johnson was an early example of the celebrity athlete, appearing regularly in the press and later on radio and in motion pictures. He earned considerable sums endorsing various products, including
patent medicines, and indulged several expensive hobbies, including automobile racing and the purchase of jewellery and furs for his wives.
Legacy
His fighting style was very distinctive. He always began a bout cautiously before slowly building up over the rounds into a more aggressive fighter. He often fought to punish his opponent rather than knock him 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 is also a member of the modern International Boxing Hall of Fame, which was established in 1990 at Canastota, New York.
Johnson flouted conventions regarding the social and economic "place" of African Americans. As a black man, he broke a powerful taboo in consorting with white women, usually prostitutes, and would verbally taunt and otherwise bully men both inside and outside the ring. Once, when he was pulled over for a $50 speeding ticket, he gave the officer a $100 bill, telling the officer he should keep the change as he was going to make his return trip at the same speed.
Johnson's skill as a fighter and the money that it brought him made him unable to be ignored by the white establishment. In the short term, the boxing world reacted
against this legacy. It took
Joe Louis to improve the image of the black fighter by conducting himself well, inside and outside of the ring. But Johnson foreshadowed, in many ways, perhaps the most famous boxer of all time,
Muhammad Ali. In fact, Muhammad Ali often spoke of how he was influenced by Jack Johnson. He identified with him because he felt white America ostracized him in the same manner because of his opposition to the war in Vietnam.
Muhammad Ali in his autobiography relates how he and Joe Frazier agreed that Johnson and
Joe Louis were the greatest boxers of old.
In a documentary about his life by
Ken Burns, called
"Unforgivable Blackness", Burns said: "For more than thirteen years, Jack Johnson was the most famous, and the most notorious, African-American on Earth".
Other interests
Johnson was also interested in
opera , history , and
automobile racing.
Quotes
Asked the secret of his staying power by a reporter who had watched a succession of women parade into, and out of, the champion's room, Johnson supposedly said, "Eat jellied eels and think distant thoughts."
Popular culture
Southern
punk rock band
This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb has a song about Jack Johnson. It appears on both their Three Way Tie for a Fifth CD and split seven inch with Carrie Nations. Several hip-hop artists have also reflected on Johnson's legacy, most notably "New Danger", by
Mos Def, in which songs like "Zimzallabim" and "Blue Black Jack" are devoted to the artist's pugilistic hero.
Miles Davis and
Wynton Marsalis both have done soundtracks for documentaries about Jack Johnson. There are also several references to Jack Johnson, made by the main character Ron Burgundy, in the movie .
Jack Johnson's story is the basis of the play and subsequent 1970 movie,
The Great White Hope, a Pulitzer Prize [i]-winning and Tony Award [i]-winni ...
, starring
James Earl Jones as Johnson , and Jane Alexander as his love interest.
See also
- Lineal heavyweight champions
- List of heavyweight boxing champions
- List of male boxers
Miles Davis's 1970 album "
A Tribute to Jack Johnson" was inspired by Johnson. The end of the record features the actor
Brock Peters saying:
"I'm Jack Johnson. Heavy weight champion of the world. I'm black. They never let me forget it. I'm black all right! I'll never let them forget it!".
References
External linkS
- , a 2 part film by Ken Burns and 2005.
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