Small little Christmas treat courtesy of Rob Howard, who has kindly allowed this to be shared. Rob is the biographer of Len Johnson, the 1920/30s middleweight from Manchester who could not fight for championships because of a boxing 'colour bar', and it is available as a free PDF for anybody who would like to read it. The book itself is now sold out. Johnson was Britain's outstanding middleweight, defeating many champions in non-titles matches, but he lived in an era when racist attitudes prevailed, and a government sponsored 'colour bar' existed. The book - a social history as well a being a biography - tells about Johnson's life and times, and also looks at why/when the 'colour bar' came into being and how it ended. If any of you would like the free PDF just drop an email to - This content is protected
Cheers Doug, my wife bought me a book about Manchester fighters a few years and Len Johnson was in it.apparently Benny Lynch picked up a lot of new skills when he boxed in Johnsons booth. Lynch's manager, Sammy Wilson was amazed at how much the young Benny had come on in a few months on the booths.
