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Jack Johnson was born in Galveston, Texas as the third child and first son of Henry and Tina "Tiny" Johnson, former slaves and faithful Methodists, who both worked blue-collar jobs to earn enough to raise six children (the Johnsons had nine children, four of whom survived to adulthood, and an adopted son) and taught them how to read and write. Jack Johnson had five years of formal education.
Johnson fought his first bout, a 16-round victory, at age 15. He turned professional around 1897, fighting in private clubs, and by age 18 was earning more in one night than his father earned in an entire week.
In 1901, Joe Choynski, the small Jewish heavyweight, came to Galveston to fight Jack Johnson. Choynski, an experienced boxer, knocked Johnson out in round three, and the two were arrested for "engaging in an illegal contest" and put in jail for 23 days. (Although boxing was one of the three most popular sports in America at the time, along with baseball and horse-racing, the practice was officially illegal in most states, including Texas.) Choynski began training Johnson in jail.
Johnson developed a more patient style than was customary in that day: playing defensively, waiting for a mistake, and then capitalizing on it. It was very effective, but it was criticized in the press as being cowardly and devious. (World Heavyweight Champion "Gentleman" Jim Corbett, who was white, had used many of the same techniques a decade earlier and was praised by the press as "the cleverest man in boxing.")
By 1902, Johnson had won at least 27 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 "Colored Heavyweight Championship". His efforts to win the full title were thwarted as World Heavyweight Champion James J. Jeffries refused to face him. Blacks could box whites in other arenas, but the heavyweight championship was such a respected and coveted position in America that blacks were not deemed worthy to compete for it. Johnson was able to fight former champion, Bob Fitzsimmons, in July 1907 and knocked him out in two rounds.
He eventually won the World Heavyweight Title on December 26, 1908, when he fought the Canadian world champion Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia, after following him all over the world, taunting him in the press for a match. The fight lasted fourteen rounds before being stopped by the police. The title was awarded to Johnson on a referee's decision as a T.K.O, but he had severely beaten the champion. During the fight, Johnson had mocked both Burns and his ringside crew. Every time Burns was about to go down, Johnson would hold him up again, punishing him more. The camera was stopped just as Johnson was finishing off Burns.
As title holder, Johnson had to face a series of fighters billed by boxing promoters as "great white hopes", often as exhibition matches. In 1909 he beat Victor McLaglen, Frank Moran, Tony Ross, Al Kaufman, and the middleweight champion Stanley Ketchel. The fight with Ketchel was keenly fought by both men until the 12th and last round. Ketchel threw a right to Johnson's head, knocking him down; slowly regaining his feet, Johnson threw a straight to Ketchel's jaw, knocking him and several of his teeth out. His fight with "Philadelphia" Jack O'Brien was a disappointing one for Johnson: scaling 205 pounds to O'Brien's 161, he could only achieve a 6 round draw with the great middleweight.
Johnson's fighting style was very distinctive. He always began a bout cautiously, slowly building up over the rounds into a more aggressive fighter. He often fought to punish his opponent rather than knock him out, endlessly avoiding their blows and striking with swift counters. He always gave the impression of having much more to offer and, if pushed, he could punch quite powerfully.
Johnson's fight against Jeffries, 1910.In 1910 former champion James J. Jeffries came out of retirement and said, "I am going into this fight for the sole purpose of proving that a white man is better than a Negro." [1] At the fight, which took place on July 4, 1910 in front of 22,000 people at a ring built just for the occasion in downtown Reno, Nevada, the ringside band played, "All coons look alike to me". The fight had become a hotbed of racial tension. The promoters incited the all-white crowd to chant "Kill the ******".[2] Johnson, however, proved nimbler and stronger than Jeffries. In the 15th round, after being twice knocked down for the first time in his career, Jeffries' people called it quits to prevent Johnson from knocking him out.
Jeffries had not fought in 6 years and had to lose around 100 pounds to try to get back to his championship fighting weight. The "Fight of the Century" earned Johnson $115,000 and silenced critics, who had belittled Johnson's previous victory over Tommy Burns as empty, claiming Burns was a false champion since Jeffries had retired undefeated. His victory sparked race riots across the US – in llinois, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Texas and Washington, D.C. News of Jeffries' defeat led to numerous incidents of whites attacking blacks. Black poet William Waring Cuney highlighted the African American reaction in his poem, "My Lord, What a Morning". Certain states banned the filming of Johnson's victories over white fighters. In 2005, the United States National Film Preservation Board deemed the fight "historically significant" and put it in the National Film Registry.
Johnson married Etta Duryea in late 1910 or early 1911. She committed suicide in September of 1911, and Johnson quickly remarried, to Lucille Cameron. Both women were white, a fact that caused considerable controversy at the time. The couple fled to France soon after their marriage.
On April 5, 1915 Johnson lost his title to Jess Willard, a working cowboy who did not start boxing until he was almost thirty years old. With a crowd of 25,000 at the Vedado Racetrack in Havana, Cuba, Johnson was K.O.'d in the 26th round of the scheduled 45-round fight, which was co-promoted by Roderick James "Jess" McMahon and a partner. Johnson found that he could not knock out the giant Willard, who fought as a counterpuncher, making Johnson do all the leading. Johnson began to tire after the 20th round, and was visibly hurt by heavy body punches from Willard in rounds preceding the 26th round knockout. Johnson spread rumors that he took a dive, but Willard is widely regarded as winning fairly. Willard said, "If he was going to throw the fight, I wish he'd done it sooner."
Johnson fought a number of bouts in Mexico before returning to the U.S. on 20 July 1920 and surrendering to Federal agents for allegedly violating the Mann Act against "transporting women across state lines for immoral purposes" by sending his white girlfriend, Belle Schreiber, a railroad ticket to travel from Pittsburgh to Chicago. This is generally considered an intentional misuse of the Act, which was intended to stop interstate traffic in prostitutes. He was sent to the United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth to serve his sentence of one year and was released on 9 July 1921. There have been recurring proposals to grant Johnson a posthumous Presidential pardon.
While incarcerated, he found need for a tool that would help tighten loosening fastening devices, and modified a wrench for the task. He patented these improvements on 18th April 1922, as US Patent 1,413,121.
He continued fighting, but age was catching up with him. After two losses in 1928 he participated only in exhibition bouts. He opened a night club in Harlem, which later became the Cotton Club.
His wife, Lucille Cameron, divorced him in 1924 on the grounds of infidelity. Jack Johnson then married an old friend, Irene Pineau, in 1925. She outlived him. Johnson had no children.
He died in a car crash near Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1946, aged 68, and was buried next to Etta Duryea in Graceland Cemetery, in Chicago. He was inducted to the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1954.
Johnson fought his first bout, a 16-round victory, at age 15. He turned professional around 1897, fighting in private clubs, and by age 18 was earning more in one night than his father earned in an entire week.
In 1901, Joe Choynski, the small Jewish heavyweight, came to Galveston to fight Jack Johnson. Choynski, an experienced boxer, knocked Johnson out in round three, and the two were arrested for "engaging in an illegal contest" and put in jail for 23 days. (Although boxing was one of the three most popular sports in America at the time, along with baseball and horse-racing, the practice was officially illegal in most states, including Texas.) Choynski began training Johnson in jail.
Johnson developed a more patient style than was customary in that day: playing defensively, waiting for a mistake, and then capitalizing on it. It was very effective, but it was criticized in the press as being cowardly and devious. (World Heavyweight Champion "Gentleman" Jim Corbett, who was white, had used many of the same techniques a decade earlier and was praised by the press as "the cleverest man in boxing.")
By 1902, Johnson had won at least 27 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 "Colored Heavyweight Championship". His efforts to win the full title were thwarted as World Heavyweight Champion James J. Jeffries refused to face him. Blacks could box whites in other arenas, but the heavyweight championship was such a respected and coveted position in America that blacks were not deemed worthy to compete for it. Johnson was able to fight former champion, Bob Fitzsimmons, in July 1907 and knocked him out in two rounds.
He eventually won the World Heavyweight Title on December 26, 1908, when he fought the Canadian world champion Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia, after following him all over the world, taunting him in the press for a match. The fight lasted fourteen rounds before being stopped by the police. The title was awarded to Johnson on a referee's decision as a T.K.O, but he had severely beaten the champion. During the fight, Johnson had mocked both Burns and his ringside crew. Every time Burns was about to go down, Johnson would hold him up again, punishing him more. The camera was stopped just as Johnson was finishing off Burns.
As title holder, Johnson had to face a series of fighters billed by boxing promoters as "great white hopes", often as exhibition matches. In 1909 he beat Victor McLaglen, Frank Moran, Tony Ross, Al Kaufman, and the middleweight champion Stanley Ketchel. The fight with Ketchel was keenly fought by both men until the 12th and last round. Ketchel threw a right to Johnson's head, knocking him down; slowly regaining his feet, Johnson threw a straight to Ketchel's jaw, knocking him and several of his teeth out. His fight with "Philadelphia" Jack O'Brien was a disappointing one for Johnson: scaling 205 pounds to O'Brien's 161, he could only achieve a 6 round draw with the great middleweight.
Johnson's fighting style was very distinctive. He always began a bout cautiously, slowly building up over the rounds into a more aggressive fighter. He often fought to punish his opponent rather than knock him out, endlessly avoiding their blows and striking with swift counters. He always gave the impression of having much more to offer and, if pushed, he could punch quite powerfully.
Johnson's fight against Jeffries, 1910.In 1910 former champion James J. Jeffries came out of retirement and said, "I am going into this fight for the sole purpose of proving that a white man is better than a Negro." [1] At the fight, which took place on July 4, 1910 in front of 22,000 people at a ring built just for the occasion in downtown Reno, Nevada, the ringside band played, "All coons look alike to me". The fight had become a hotbed of racial tension. The promoters incited the all-white crowd to chant "Kill the ******".[2] Johnson, however, proved nimbler and stronger than Jeffries. In the 15th round, after being twice knocked down for the first time in his career, Jeffries' people called it quits to prevent Johnson from knocking him out.
Jeffries had not fought in 6 years and had to lose around 100 pounds to try to get back to his championship fighting weight. The "Fight of the Century" earned Johnson $115,000 and silenced critics, who had belittled Johnson's previous victory over Tommy Burns as empty, claiming Burns was a false champion since Jeffries had retired undefeated. His victory sparked race riots across the US – in llinois, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Texas and Washington, D.C. News of Jeffries' defeat led to numerous incidents of whites attacking blacks. Black poet William Waring Cuney highlighted the African American reaction in his poem, "My Lord, What a Morning". Certain states banned the filming of Johnson's victories over white fighters. In 2005, the United States National Film Preservation Board deemed the fight "historically significant" and put it in the National Film Registry.
Johnson married Etta Duryea in late 1910 or early 1911. She committed suicide in September of 1911, and Johnson quickly remarried, to Lucille Cameron. Both women were white, a fact that caused considerable controversy at the time. The couple fled to France soon after their marriage.
On April 5, 1915 Johnson lost his title to Jess Willard, a working cowboy who did not start boxing until he was almost thirty years old. With a crowd of 25,000 at the Vedado Racetrack in Havana, Cuba, Johnson was K.O.'d in the 26th round of the scheduled 45-round fight, which was co-promoted by Roderick James "Jess" McMahon and a partner. Johnson found that he could not knock out the giant Willard, who fought as a counterpuncher, making Johnson do all the leading. Johnson began to tire after the 20th round, and was visibly hurt by heavy body punches from Willard in rounds preceding the 26th round knockout. Johnson spread rumors that he took a dive, but Willard is widely regarded as winning fairly. Willard said, "If he was going to throw the fight, I wish he'd done it sooner."
Johnson fought a number of bouts in Mexico before returning to the U.S. on 20 July 1920 and surrendering to Federal agents for allegedly violating the Mann Act against "transporting women across state lines for immoral purposes" by sending his white girlfriend, Belle Schreiber, a railroad ticket to travel from Pittsburgh to Chicago. This is generally considered an intentional misuse of the Act, which was intended to stop interstate traffic in prostitutes. He was sent to the United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth to serve his sentence of one year and was released on 9 July 1921. There have been recurring proposals to grant Johnson a posthumous Presidential pardon.
While incarcerated, he found need for a tool that would help tighten loosening fastening devices, and modified a wrench for the task. He patented these improvements on 18th April 1922, as US Patent 1,413,121.
He continued fighting, but age was catching up with him. After two losses in 1928 he participated only in exhibition bouts. He opened a night club in Harlem, which later became the Cotton Club.
His wife, Lucille Cameron, divorced him in 1924 on the grounds of infidelity. Jack Johnson then married an old friend, Irene Pineau, in 1925. She outlived him. Johnson had no children.
He died in a car crash near Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1946, aged 68, and was buried next to Etta Duryea in Graceland Cemetery, in Chicago. He was inducted to the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1954.
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