Coming Soon - In the Ring With Jack Johnson Part II: The Reign

Here is a review of Part I:

http://www.boxing.com/boxing_by_the..._jack_johnson_part_i_the_rise_by_adam_po.html

 

Schreiber remained in Milwaukee until late January or early February 1910. However, at one point while she was there, she took a day trip to Chicago with her sister and saw Johnson, who told her to stay at home until he sent for her. When Parkin asked whether Johnson told her why he wanted her to stay home, Schreiber answered, “I was pregnant at the time.” She told Johnson, who wanted her to have the baby. “He asked me to have this child and not to do anything to get rid of it.”

 

Preface: Jack Johnson


Jack Johnson was the first black fighter to challenge for the world heavyweight championship under modern-day Marquis of Queensberry rules, and the first to win it. One cannot tell the story of Jack Johnson the fighter without reference to his social significance. This book does that. Most books on Johnson focus on his social significance and out-of-the-ring life, almost to the exclusion of his fight career. Unlike the many other books on Jack Johnson, this book focuses heavily on his boxing career as well. To this extent, the book is unique and fills a void. My perspective is that if Johnson had not been a boxing champion, he would not have had the same social relevance. Hence, it is important to discuss his boxing career thoroughly and to explain how and why he became champion. That said, one cannot fully understand or appreciate Johnson’s boxing career, the perspectives and ****ysis of it, without an understanding of the impact of race on the world and upon the sport of boxing. Context is very important. This book necessarily addresses issues of race, for it played a large role in Johnson’s life and career.

Like other books in my series on the heavyweight champions of the gloved era, this book uses mostly local primary sources. Reliance on those who were there, saw the bout, and reported on it the next day will most likely provide the most accurate accounts. Review of several sources is often also very important, because like today, different observers can have varying opinions about what they saw. Since we do not have film for the majority of Johnson’s bouts, and given that the films that we do have are incomplete, we must rely on these sources. Providing multiple perspectives enables this book to be as thorough, complete, and accurate as possible, and helps readers obtain a richer understanding of what took place, as well as how fans, writers, and experts perceived the performances, skills, and abilities of the fighters. Another benefit of offering multiple perspectives is that it allows the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. However, this effort necessarily requires some level of redundancy and repetitiveness that you will have to excuse as a trade-off.

****ysis and inclusion of several sources is also especially important when it comes to Johnson’s career, because the added factor of racial bias, either on a subconscious or conscious level, impacted how reporters wrote about and interpreted Johnson’s performances, or scouted upcoming bouts. Few writers could entirely escape the impact of the colored lenses of the racially biased world from which they emerged and took part. That said, not all criticism of Johnson was the result of racial bias. Certainly though, the inclusion of the black perspective is important, and when available, this book provides the viewpoints of black-owned newspapers.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many top white fighters were unwilling to compete against black fighters, due to the social mores of the time which frowned upon competition between whites and blacks in any area of life. This norm, which mandated separation of the races, was known as the color line. Many promoters did not want to be associated with mixed-race bouts. Politicians did not care for them either, and often tried to do what they could to prevent such bouts from taking place.

As a result of the color line, black fighters were rarely allowed to engage in financially lucrative championship matches, and usually they were not paid as well as whites for the few big fights that they did have. Therefore, black boxers had to fight quite often to earn a good living. This is not to say that they did not earn more money than the average citizen. Boxing could be a financially lucrative profession for all races, which in part explains why it flourished. The public loved watching fights, regardless of race.

Despite not being willing to fight them in formal bouts, many top whites were willing to pay black fighters to be their sparring partners. Working as sparring partners for elite white fighters helped black fighters earn a living and also develop their skills.

Necessity often dictated that blacks fight each other, sometimes many times, to make good money. Consequently, many black fighters, like Jack Johnson, needed to develop good defense in order to fight as often as they did, particularly given that many fights were scheduled 20-round bouts, and they were only wearing 5-ounce gloves, with no mouthpieces. A fighter could suffer a great deal of damage in such a lengthy bout. However, one could also obtain a great deal of experience fighting so many rounds in just one fight.

By fighting and sparring often, Jack Johnson was able to obtain a great deal of experience, and sharpen and improve his skills over time, eventually making him the best heavyweight in the world.

Owing to the color line, it required many years for Jack Johnson to obtain a title shot. Hence, one could argue that he was the world’s best heavyweight and de facto champion much sooner than when he was able to win the championship in late 1908. Without the color line, or if Jack Johnson had been a white fighter, it is certainly possible that he could have begun his reign as early as 1903 and been champion for several more years. This is speculation for the ages.

As a fighter, Jack Johnson became famous for his speed, almost impregnable defense, and excellent counter right uppercut. Johnson’s cautious defensive style was not always the most crowd-pleasing, but it was extremely effective. He was a precursor to the frustrating styles later seen from the likes of Muhammad Ali, Bernard Hopkins, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., and Andre Ward. He posed a stylistic nightmare for most opponents. He utilized footwork, feints, jabs, counters, occasional quick offensive charges, inside uppercuts, along with blocking, ducking, clinching, quick step-backs, and smothering and suppression of an opponent’s offense with his gloves and arms. He could fight on the inside or the outside, sticking and moving or fighting up close, showing his versatility and skillful prowess at any range.

Johnson stood between 6'0″ to 6'1½″ and at his best generally fought between 190 to 210 pounds. However, he started his career as a middleweight, and for most of his early years was no bigger than a super-middleweight or light-heavyweight by today’s standards.

He was nicknamed “Li’l Artha,” after his birthname, Arthur John Johnson. However, various names used to refer to Johnson throughout his career included: Arthur John Johnson, John Arthur Johnson, John James Arthur Johnson, and Jim Johnson. Reporters even used names of a racial nature, often racially disparaging, which revealed the era’s and reporters’ biases. These names included: Black Jack, Mistah Johnsing, Mars Johnson, Black Fitzsimmons, Colored Wonder, African, Ethiopian, Zulu, Senegambian, Ebon-Hued Giant, Big Negro, Black Animal, Ink Person, Big Cannibal, Black Peril, Black Agony, Big Shine, Smoke, Darkey, Dingy, Dinge, Dusky, Dark Cloud, ****, ******, and Tar Baby.

Jack Johnson continues to be a hot-button topic of debate as much today as he was back then. He really fascinated and puzzled folks, caused a great deal of discussion and varying interpretation of him as a fighter and person, and he still does so even a century later. In fact, much of what his career reveals about American life and race to a large degree was once again revealed and replicated in the life and career of Muhammad Ali. Issues of race and the ****ysis of black athletes have historical underpinnings that go all the way back to Jack Johnson.

The fascination with Johnson was and is in part because of his style, lack of appreciation for the fact that fighters develop and improve over time, his personality, race bias, the era’s context and culture, and also because he was simply a very unique individual.

Before there were socially significant fighters and athletes like Joe Louis, Jackie Robinson, Bill Russell, or Muhammad Ali, there was Jack Johnson. To fully understand their relevance, one must start with Jack Johnson.

This book is particularly dedicated to all those who at one time or another in their lives were picked on, put down, pushed around, or made to feel like lesser human beings. I hope you find Jack Johnson’s story inspirational.

 

http://www.brothersonsports.com/heres-why-jack-johnson-may-have-been-greater-than-muhammad-ali/

 

New interview:

http://ringsideboxingshow.podbean.com/e/jack-johnson-biographer-adam-pollack/#respond

The interview with me starts at about 20 minutes in.

 

http://www.maxboxing.com/news/main-lead/the-rise-of-jack-johnson