Boxing

Sport that has featured many outstanding African American competitors, and the only major sport in the United States that historically has been open to both blacks and whites.

Although fighting as sport has existed in one form or another for centuries, it was not until the eighteenth century, in England, that bare-knuckle (fighting without gloves) became standardized. The sport quickly traveled to the American colonies, where many of its prime practitioners were African American slaves and ex-slaves. Bouts in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries varied considerably. Often two men or boys were pitted against each other until one of the contestants could no longer stand. Such fights sometimes lasted as long as 100 rounds.

There were also more humiliating matches, known as battles royal, in which half a dozen blindfolded slaves were placed in a ring to flail at one another until one prevailed. A few slave fighters, such as Tom Molineaux and Bill Richmond, earned their freedom through boxing or escaped most of the travails of slavery by touring abroad on boxing exhibitions. These sorts of manumission, however, were rare.

Heavyweight John Arthur “Jack” Johnson was the first African American champion to capture national attention. Johnson began his boxing career as a child in battles royal during the 1880s and 1890s. Later, as a professional in glove-fisted fighting, Johnson scored dozens of victories. Because of his race, he was at first not allowed to challenge the white champion. Eventually, however, white sportswriters pressured boxing promoters into pairing Johnson against reigning champion Tommy Burns. They fought in December 1908, and Johnson won.

Following his victory, Johnson became a hero among blacks. Whites, however, were enraged as Johnson flaunted his victories and was seen in public with white women. In the hope of returning the title to white America, promoters prodded former champion Jim Jeffries out of retirement in 1910. Johnson's easy defeat of Jeffries sparked race riots in several cities. Johnson held the heavyweight title until 1915, when he was defeated by Jess Willard, a white Kansan.

For several years after Johnson's reign, white promoters kept African Americans from competing in championship fights. Keenly aware of this opposition, the handlers for up-and-coming black fighter Joe Louis cautioned him against appearing arrogant and being seen with white women. In the 1930s Louis enjoyed both a stunningly successful amateur and professional career and wide praise from whites for his dignified, restrained personality. Allowed to fight for the championship in 1937, Louis soundly defeated James Braddock and became an icon for blacks.

Jack Johnson. The Texas-born Johnson went on to become the first African American heavyweight champion in 1908, when he defeated Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia. When Johnson beat Jim Jeffries "The Great White Hope," on 4 July 1910, whites rioted in anger throughout much of the country.

(Library of Congress.)

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In 1936 Louis lost to German Max Schmeling in a match that had been billed as a fight between American democracy and Nazi totalitarianism. When Louis, in a rematch two years later, knocked out Schmeling in the first round, he became a hero to whites as well as blacks. His inspiring victory came at a time when African Americans were barred from competing in professional Baseball and other “white” sports. Louis defended his title twenty-five times during the 1930s and 1940s. Despite financial ruin, a failed comeback, a cocaine addiction, and a mental breakdown, he remained one of America's most loved sports idols.

African American boxer Muhammad Ali, originally Cassius Clay Jr., was the next great fighter to capture the American imagination. Widely admired by white and black America for his gold medal in the 1960 Olympic Games, Ali was known for his brash, colorful self-aggrandizement and spontaneous verse. In 1964 Ali won the heavyweight title against African American Charles “Sonny” Liston. Soon after, Ali converted to Islam and changed his name, angering many whites. In 1967, as a member of the Nation of Islam, Ali refused to take part in the Vietnam War draft. He was tried and convicted for his resistance, stripped of his title, and banned from boxing.

The Supreme Court of the United States overturned his conviction, and in the early 1970s Ali was back in the ring. In 1974 he recaptured the heavyweight title in the “Rumble in the Jungle,” a widely publicized match in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) against African American George Edward Foreman. Ali also fought in several widely publicized matches against African American Joe Frazier, including the fierce, riveting “Thrilla in Manila.” Ali retired in the early 1980s, one of the world's most popular athletes.

In 1986 the brutal efficiency of twenty-year-old African American Mike Tyson made him the youngest heavyweight champion in history. Tyson also became the richest fighter in the history of the sport. In 1992 he achieved even greater notoriety when he was convicted of raping an eighteen-year-old woman. He served three years of a ten-year sentence, was released, and regained the championship before losing it to African American Evander Holyfield in 1996. In a 1997 rematch, Tyson was disqualified for twice biting Holyfield's ears, one time taking off part of the champion's right ear.

Other prominent blacks in boxing history include Sugar Ray Robinson, who dominated the middleweight class in the 1940s and 1950s and is widely regarded as the greatest fighter, pound for pound, in modern boxing. In the 1950s and 1960s Floyd Patterson controlled the middleweight and then heavyweight classes; Patterson was the first man to lose and then regain the heavyweight championship. In the 1970s and 1980s charismatic African Americans such as “Sugar Ray” Leonard and “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler reigned in the lighter weight divisions. Heavyweights Leon Spinks and Larry Holmes also enjoyed periods of supremacy in the 1970s and 1980s.

Professional women's boxing has become a growing phenomenon at the beginning of the twenty-first century, and some of the most prominent names in the sport are African Americans. Laila Ali, daughter of Muhammad Ali, dominated women's boxing in the early 2000s, compiling an undefeated record and winning the super middleweight title at the age of twenty-four. Among her opponents was Jacquiline Frazier, daughter of Muhammad Ali's great rival, Joe Frazier.

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