John Arthur ("Jack") Johnson (March 31, 1878 – June 10, 1946), nicknamed the “Galveston Giant”, was an American boxer, the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion (1908–1915).
By 1902, Johnson had won at least 50 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 World Colored Heavyweight Championship. His efforts to win the full title were thwarted, as world heavyweight champion James J. Jeffries refused to face him then as the world heavy weight championship was then off limit to African Americans.
Johnson finally won the world heavyweight title on December 26, 1908 after beating the reigning world champion, Tommy Burns, which came after stalking Burns around the world for two years and taunting him in the press for a match.
In 1910, former undefeated heavyweight champion James J. Jeffries came out of retirement to fight Johnson. The "Fight of the Century" took place on July 4, 1910 in front of 20,000. In the 15th round, after Jeffries had been knocked down twice for the first time in his career, his people called it quits to prevent Johnson from knocking him out, Johnson earned $65,000 and silenced critics.
Johnson was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1954, and is on the roster of both the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the World Boxing Hall of Fame. In 2005, the United States National Film Preservation Board deemed the film of the 1910 Johnson-Jeffries fight "historically significant" and put it in the National Film Registry.
Muhammad Ali often spoke of how he was influenced by Jack Johnson. Ali identified with Johnson because he felt America ostracized him in the same manner because of his opposition to the Vietnam War and affiliation with the Nation of Islam.
by @Jetsetting_Ju
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