Jack Johnson -- USA

John Arthur ("Jack") Johnson nicknamed the “Galveston Giant,” was an American boxer, and at the height of the Jim Crow era, Johnson became the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion (1908–1915).  

He is considered a boxing legend and was the first person ever to knock down James J. Jeffries in a professional boxing bout, their fight is considered a highly influential moment in boxing history.

Born in Galveston, Texas, and the second of six children to Henry and Tina "Tiny" Johnson, former slaves who worked at blue-collar jobs, taught the children how to read and write.  

Henry Johnson traced his ancestry back to the Coromantees who came from Ghana. To help support his family, Jack Johnson left school in the fifth grade to work on the port docks. 

Prize fighting was illegal when Johnson began as a teenager in "battles royal" matches, where white spectators watched black men fight and at the end of the contest tossed money at the winner.  On the 25 February 1901, Johnson fought Joe Choynski in Galveston, Choynski, was a popular and experienced heavyweight, knocked out Johnson in the third round.  They were both arrested and bail was set at $5,000 which neither could afford.  The sheriff permitted both fighters to go home at night so long as they returned to spar in the jail cell.  Large crowds gathered to watch the sessions, after 25 days in jail, their bail was reduced to an affordable level and a grand jury refused to indict them. 

Johnson's boxing style was very distinctive, he had a patient approach, playing with his opponents and often carrying on a conversation with ringsiders at the same time as he was fighting.  Johnson would begin a bout cautiously, slowly building up more aggression as the fight progressed.  When annoyed, he often brutally punished his opponents rather than knocking them out, avoiding their blows and striking with swift counters.  There are films of some of his fights where he can be seen holding up his opponent to stop them collapsing, until they recovered.  Those were the days when the (mostly white) patrons liked value for money, and it was a habit, especially for black boxers, to make the fight last a respectable time.  With the many bouts fighters contested, it was common to have fought the same opponent 10 or more times.  So it’s likely that the results of many of these fights were "prearranged," and predetermined to last a number of rounds. 

By 1902, Johnson had won at least 50 fights against white and black opponents, he won his first title on 3 February 1903, beating "Denver" Ed Martin over 20 rounds for the World Coloured Heavyweight Championship.  His efforts to win the full world heavyweight championship were futile as James J. Jeffries refused to face him.  However, Johnson did fight former champion Bob Fitzsimmons in July 1907, and knocked him out in two rounds.  It was reported that Johnson fought and KO'd Jim Jeffries' brother Jack, and taunted him about it to force a fight, but with no success.

Johnson finally won the world heavyweight title on 26 December 1908, a full six years after lightweight champion Joe Gans became the first African American boxing champion.  Johnson's victory over the reigning world champion, Canadian Tommy Burns, in Sydney Australia, came after stalking Burns around the world for two years and taunting him in the press for a match.  The fight lasted fourteen rounds before being stopped by the police in front of over 20,000 spectators and the title was awarded to Johnson on a referee's decision as a knockout.

After Johnson's victory over Burns, racial animosity among whites ran so deep that they called out for a "Great White Hope" to take the title away from Johnson.  As the title holder Johnson had to face a series of fighters, each billed by boxing promoters as a "great white hope."  In 1909, he beat Frank Moran, Tony Ross, Al Kaufman, and the middleweight champion Stanley Ketchel.  The match with Ketchel was originally thought to have been an exhibition, and in fact it was fought that way by both men, until the 12th round, when Ketchel threw a right to Johnson's head, knocking him down.  Quickly regaining his feet, and very annoyed, Johnson immediately dashed straight at Ketchel and threw a single punch, an uppercut, to Ketchel's jaw, knocking him clean out. 

Billed The "Fight of the Century" In 1910, the undefeated former heavyweight champion James J. Jeffries was eventually lured out of retirement to challenge Johnson.  He had not fought in six years and had to lose well over 100 pounds to get back to his championship fighting weight.  Jeffries remained mostly hidden from media attention until the day of the fight, meanwhile Johnson was soaking up the spotlight.  

Before the fight Jeffries said, it is my intention to go right after my opponent and knock him out as soon as possible, while Johnson commented may the best man win.  Racial tension was brewing leading up to the fight and to prevent harm to either boxer, guns and alcohol, or anyone under the influence of alcohol were prohibited within the arena.  

The fight took place on 4 July 1910 in front of 20,000 people, at a ring especially built for the fight in downtown Reno Nevada.  Jeffries was unable to impose his will on the younger champion and Johnson dominated the fight.  By the 15th round, Jeffries had been knocked down twice, for the very first time in his career, Jeffries corner threw in the towel to end the fight and prevent Jeffries from having a knock out on his record. Johnson later remarked he knew the fight was over in the 4th round when he landed an uppercut and saw the look on Jeffries face, stating I knew what that look meant, the old ship was sinking.  The "Fight of the Century" earned Johnson $65,000, and silenced the critics who had belittled Johnson's previous victory over Tommy Burns.  John L. Sullivan commented after the fight that never had a fight been so one sided and that Johnson fought fairly at all times.

The outcome of the fight triggered race riots all across the United States, Johnson's victory over Jeffries had dashed white dreams of finding a "great white hope" to defeat him.  Many whites felt humiliated by the defeat of Jeffries, on the other hand, Blacks were jubilant, and celebrated Johnson's great victory as a victory for racial advancement.  Black poet William Waring Cuney later highlighted the black reaction to the fight in his poem "My Lord, What a Morning."  All around the country, blacks held spontaneous parades and gathered in prayer meetings.  In certain cities, like Chicago, the police did not disturb the celebrations, but in other cities, the police and angry white citizens tried to subdue the revellers.  Riots occurred in more than 25 states and 50 cities, around 23 blacks and two whites died in the riots, with hundreds more were injured. Police stopped several attempts at lynching.