Boxing

 

Time Tunnel: Boxing's Record on Race and Opportunity

by B. R. Bearden

19.01 - Boxing sometimes becomes the poster child for those who want to point a politically correct finger at the past. The "Great White Hope" era of Jack Johnson is brought up as the corroded example of how intolerant the sport was towards black fighters in the first quarter of the 20th Century. To dispute that many black fighters were denied chances at titles would be to lie, but to imply that all black fighters were denied, or that all white champions denied them, is also an untruth.

The truth is, boxing was the most accessible of all the major sports for black athletes. Someone once said, "Without Joe Louis, there might never have been Jackie Robinson", but it really goes back before Louis. In America, professional football didn't allow a black team member until 1945, baseball until 1947. Professional golfing didn't integrate until 1959. Yet in boxing the first black champion, not just participant, was George Dixon, who became bantamweight champion in 1890. Count 'em up; that's 55 years before football and 69 years before golf. The original Joe Walcott was welterweight champion from 1901 to 1904, Joe Gans was lightweight champ by 1902. Jack Johnson took the heavyweight title in 1908. Between the defeat of Johnson in 1915 by the only successful "Great White Hope", Jess Willard, and the coming of the great Joe Louis as champion in 1937, there were other black champions. Tiger Flowers was middleweight champion in 1926, Panama Al Brown the bantam in 1929, Kid Chocolate the Jr. lightweight in 1931, and John Henry Lewis light heavyweight belt holder in 1935.

Of course, some fighters did draw a color line and refuse to fight other men who deserved the fight. Many a great black fighter never had his chance to fight for a title because of it, and not always was the one drawing the line white. Jack Johnson refused to defend the heavyweight championship against other black men (discounting his "fight" with Jim Johnson in Paris which was a questionable exhibition more than a fight. Johnson quit on a claim of injured shoulder yet still kept his belt, which is allowed in an exhibition but not in a legit title fight). But in most cases, there were others behind the curtain who let the fighters take the blame for fights that didn't happen whether the boxer was willing or no.

Jack Dempsey is often criticized for not fighting Harry Wills, even though there is much evidence to prove Dempsey was more than willing to take the challenge. He wrote an article for the newspapers asking for some promoter to come forward and make the fight a reality. The top promoters of the time, especially Tex Rickard, refused. The promoter who did come forward tried to cheat Dempsey out of his signing fee with a check drawn on an empty bank account. Wills had already signed and received his signing fee of $50,000, but when Dempsey tried to cash his check, in the presence of the promoter, it bounced a mile high. He refused to sign until his money was also in hand; it never was because the promoter couldn't get backing to hold the fight. Those with money in the fight game didn't want the fight to happen, even the ones who called loudly for it in public.

It is not in the nature of the warrior to avoid combat and despite the "political correctness" of that earlier day, and the ready excuse to avoid a serious challenge, mixed fights did take place, and very often. Jack Sharkey fought Harry Wills, Wills fought Luis Angel Firpo, Tommy Burns fought Jack Johnson, Johnson fought Jim Jeffries, Peter Jackson and Jim Corbett fought for 61 rounds to a draw and Jackson fought Jeffries. The color line didn't keep middleweight Stanley Ketchel from challenging heavyweight champion Jack Johnson, it didn't deter Harry Greb and Tiger Flowers, Philadelphia Jack O' Brien and Joe Walcott, O'Brien and Sam Langford, Langford and Ketchel, and on and on.

They fought for what they could get and they fought where they had to, but they fought. Sometimes the fighters were arrested for having mixed race matches, such as Jack Johnson and Joe Choynski, who spent four weeks in jail because of their fight in 1901. At other times they were forced to compete in obscure places, in basements or warehouses, for as often as not, boxing itself was banned.

Even when both fighters were white, the authorities were breathing down their necks in the early days of gloved boxing. Choynski and Gentleman Jim Corbett had to fight on a barge anchored in San Francisco Bay to avoid arrest. Early rings often consisted of a piece of rope held in a circle by spectators and seconds knelt and offered a knee for the combatants to sit on between rounds rather than a stool. When the authorities arrived everyone would scatter, leaving the ring rope for the cops. The slow of foot went to jail, the fleeter boxing fans gathered another day, in another spot. As incredible as it might seem today, those who were caught risked an additional charge if one of the participants was black.

When boxing was legalized the black fighters faced another daunting obstacle; the large number of immigrants coming to America. In the scramble to survive the immigrants swarming to America in the early 20th century jostled for space, climbing over one another to gain a spot in the sun. They brought with them their rivalries and hatreds and a sure way to draw a boxing crowd was to hold a match between an Irishman and an Italian, or either of them against a Jew. The black fighters were pushed aside or climbed over because, as a rule, their supporters lacked the money for boxing tickets. A promoter could stage an Italian/Irish match and be assured of a pretty even split of ticket buying supporters from each ethnic group, but if he matched a black fighter, he could expect lower ticket sales.

Boxing was the "out" for many an impoverished young man. At a time when an Italian immigrant who could barely speak English had no hope of getting a good job, boxing was there. For those held back because of race or religion, boxing was there. Someone once said, "If I woke out of a coma after 50 years and wanted to know which ethnic group was at the bottom, I'd just ask who the heavyweight champion was."

After Jack Johnson there was a definite intent to bar black fighters from another chance at the heavyweight championship. It was the premier weight division, as it is today, as it will always be. It might also be said that it's the one division which attracts the attention of the non-boxing fan, and such might have lead to the absence of a black challenger for the crown for those 22 years between Johnson and Louis. What else explains the large number of black champions in all the other divisions, except that the movers and shakers of early 20th century American society weren't interested in, or much aware of, anything in boxing below heavyweight? Those who had an agenda of white supremacy weren't concerned with the lesser weight classes as long as the heavyweight champion was white. They weren't interested in the sport as a sport as much as they were in the heavyweight crown as a symbol.

But before we think too harshly of the people of the first quarter of the 20th Century, let us reflect on how often now we hear the call to bring the heavyweight crown back to America. Honest, well respected people are calling for it now with the same sincerity as their great grandfathers called for a Great White Hope to return the title to the white race. The focus has changed but the motivation is still the same; they want the heavyweight champion to be like them. If not the same race, then at least the same nationality. Larry Merchant and others have said, "We want an American heavyweight champion" with the same passion Jack London used when he called on Jim Jeffries to come out of retirement and whip Jack Johnson to reclaim the crown for "the white race". Isn't it funny no matter how much things change, they still remain the same?

Yet despite all the above, the racism, the competing ethnic groups, the motivations of those in power to keep the heavyweight title a white title, there were still far more opportunities in the sport of boxing than any other major sport. So the next time you hear someone knock boxing's history regarding racial equality, remind them that boxing had Joe Gans 57 years before baseball had Jackie Robinson. When black baseball players were playing in cow pastures in the Negro Leagues, Joe Louis was fighting in Madison Square Garden. And 75 years before golf had Tiger Woods, boxing had Tiger Flowers.

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