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WAR FURY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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A day late, but...
http://allfunkedup.sportsblog.com/po...e_in_1908.htmlOn December 26, 1908, a significant first took place in heavyweight boxing history. It was on this day that Jack Johnson became the first African-American to win the World Heavyweight Championship in boxing by defeating Tommy Burns.
The title bout took place at Sydney Stadium in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. In 1908, the stadium was built and intended to be a temporary venue. The first event held at the venue was Burns successfully defending his title against Australian fighter Billy Squires. This fight between Burns and Johnson was at the time the biggest sporting event in Australia***8217;s history with 20,000 fans on hand to witness this historic bout.
In 1905, James J. Jeffries retired as heavyweight boxing champion. To decide the new champion, Marvin Hart defeated Jack Root for the vacated title with Jeffries as referee. Before Hart became champion, he defeated Jack Johnson by points. Hart later defended the title against Burns and lost by points in a 20-round fight in 1906.
Burns was born Noah Brusso in Canada before taking the name Tommy Burns after his boxing career started. Burns was only 5***8217;7***8221; in height(still the shortest heavyweight champion ever), but that didn***8217;t stop him from becoming champion and challenging all comers for his title. In fact, he was a 2-1 underdog in the fight against Hart. Burns defended his title against anyone regardless of race. He defended the title anywhere boxing was legal including the USA, England, France, Ireland, and Australia.
At the time, all previous heavyweight champions refused to fight African-Americans as they followed the ***8220;color line***8221;. Before his fight with Johnson, Burns fought six African-American fighters, one ***ish boxer(Burns was the first to offer a heavyweight title shot to a ***ish boxer), and one Native American. However, Burns refused to fight Johnson until he was offered a sum of $30,000 by Australian promoter Hugh D. McIntosh.
Johnson, known as the Galveston Giant, was 6***8217;0***8221; in height, and had worked his way up the ranks after beginning his career in the middleweight division in 1897. His first several bouts were fought mainly in his hometown of Galveston, Texas. He would later win his claim of the World ***8220;Colored***8221; Heavyweight title from Ed Martin in 1903. Johnson defended the title 17 times, and held it until after his bout with Burns.
Before the fight, Johnson taunted Burns at his fights after following him everywhere he fought in the world. It shook Burns and Johnson had gotten to him. The National Sporting Club in London originally wanted this fight, but they didn***8217;t meet the demand Burns wanted. So McIntosh made Burns an offer he couldn***8217;t refuse, and he refereed the fight between the two at the insistence of Johnson who felt he was the only person he could trust to do the job.
Johnson wanted to dictate the pace of the fight early on and his reach advantage played a big role in that. Early in the opening round of the fight, Johnson hit Burns with a right-hand cross that knocked the champion down. Burns was able to get up at the count of eight, but Johnson had already won the fight at this point.
Johnson kept up the tone of this fight in much of the same manner when he taunted Burns all over the world before this fight. Johnson would grin at Burns inviting him to hit him. Johnson let himself get hit at times, but it didn***8217;t stun him at all. This would go on throughout the fight until Johnson wanted to end it.
In the 14th Round, Johnson punched at will on Burns with every punch you could think of. Even the crowd thought the fight should***8217;ve stopped and police did end up stepping in that round to stop it. After dominating the fight, Johnson was awarded the title on the spot.
After his win, Johnson arrived in Vancouver where Burns was from. He gave Burns credit for being the first heavyweight to give an African-American a shot at the title.
"Let me say of Mr. Burns, a Canadian and one of yourselves, that he has done what no one else ever did, he gave a black man a chance for the championship. He was beaten, but he was game***8221; said Johnson.
Burns would continue with his boxing career, but would never be the same again nor would he get another title shot. He would later serve for the Canadian Army in World War I as a fitness instructor while occasionally fighting until retirement in 1920.
Because of Johnson***8217;s win over Burns, animosity among whites built up so bad that they wanted a ***8220;Great White Hope***8221; to take down the new champion. This led to a series of fights for Johnson that was built up as ***8220;great white hopes***8221;. They even pressured Jeffries to come out of retirement to stop Johnson, and he relented at first until giving in after hearing about it enough.
But Jeffries was nearly six years removed from being in the ring in 1910, and Johnson was in the prime of his career and in tremendous shape.
Johnson dominated the fight against Jeffries.
The fight did help solidify Johnson as a strong champion because many believed Burns was not a strong champion himself after he won the title not long after the first Jeffries retirement. However, the race riots only intensified as Jeffries didn***8217;t muster much of a challenge to Johnson.
In October 1912, Johnson was arrested for violating the Mann Act meaning he transported women across state borders for immoral purposes. He was arrested again a month later for the same violation and was to stand trial. He was convicted by an all-white jury and sentenced to a year and a day in prison though the incidents in question took place before the law was passed. He fled the country after skipping bail and wouldn***8217;t return to the U.S. until 1920 when he finally served his sentence.
Johnson successfully held the title for nearly six years. He fought mainly white challengers for this title, but did fight another African-American for the title in 1913. He lost the title in April 1915 in Havana, Cuba to Jess Willard in a bout that lasted 26 rounds. It***8217;s largely speculated(but unproven) that he took a dive to Willard in order to gain entry back into the U.S., but it would be five more years before he returned.Comment
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danny williams v frans botha? loooooooooolComment
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- Marius Wach is training with Ali Bashir. His return is set for March in USA.
- Charles Martin will fight Damon McCreary Jan 9 on the Showtime card.Comment
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