The World Colored Heavyweight Championship, 1876-1937 PDF Download

Author: Mark Allen Baker
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476677654
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 261

View

Book Description
For six decades the World Colored Heavyweight Championship was a useful tool of racial oppression--the existence of the title far more important to the white public than its succession of champions. It took some extraordinary individuals, most notably Jack Johnson, to challenge "the color line" in the ring, although the title and the black fighters who contended for it continued until the reign of Joe Louis a generation later. This history traces the advent and demise of the Championship, the stories of the 28 professional athletes who won it, and the demarcation of the color line both in and out of the ring.

Author: John Dennis McCallum
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780801959516
Category : African American athletes
Languages : en
Pages : 393

View

Book Description
Paints an unvarnished picture of the 24 greats who have ruled the sport's most glamorous division - the Heavyweight Champions of the World. Tells all the inside stories of the great ring bouts, the men who fought those grueling rounds, and the men who made and managed the champs.

Author: Arly Allen
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476626375
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 299

View

Book Description
Jess Willard, the "Pottawatomie Giant," won the heavyweight title in 1915 with his defeat of Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion. At 6 feet, 6 inches and 240 pounds, Willard was considered unbeatable in his day. He nonetheless lost to Jack Dempsey in 1919 in one of the most brutally one-sided contests in fistic history. Willard later made an initially successful comeback but was defeated by Luis Firpo in 1923 and retired from the ring. He died in 1968, largely forgotten by the boxing public. Featuring photographs from the Willard family archives, this first full-length biography provides a detailed portrait of one of America's boxing greats.

Author: John Florio
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0762797681
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 309

View

Book Description
It was 1976 when Leon and Michael Spinks first punched their way into America’s living rooms. That year, they became the first brothers to win Olympic gold in the same Games. Shortly thereafter, they became the first brothers to win the heavyweight title: Leon toppled The Greatest, Muhammad Ali; Michael beat the unbeatable Larry Holmes. With a cast of characters that includes Ali, Holmes, Mike Tyson, Gerry Cooney, Dwight Qawi, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad and dozens of friends, relatives, and boxing figures, ONE PUNCH FROM THE PROMISED LAND tells the unlikely story of the Spinks brothers. Their rise from the Pruitt-Igoe housing disaster. Their divergent paths of success. And their relationship with America. The book also uncovers stories never before made public: the big paydays, the high living, the backroom deals. It’s not afraid to tackle an issue rarely discussed: Does the heavyweight title deliver on its promise to young men in the inner city? This is the definitive story of Leon and Michael Spinks. And a cross-examination of heavyweight boxing in 20th century America.

Author: Gavin Evans
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson Limited
ISBN: 9780297844204
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 227

View

Book Description
Discusses the origins and evolution of the sport of boxing, as well as memorable events and key personalities in the game's history.

Author: Paul Beston
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442272902
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 374

View

Book Description
For much of the twentieth century, boxing was one of America’s most popular sports, and the heavyweight champions were figures known to all. Their exploits were reported regularly in the newspapers—often outside the sports pages—and their fame and wealth dwarfed those of other athletes. Long after their heyday, these icons continue to be synonymous with the “sweet science.” In The Boxing Kings: When American Heavyweights Ruled the Ring, Paul Beston profiles these larger-than-life men who held a central place in American culture. Among the figures covered are John L. Sullivan, who made the heavyweight championship a commercial property; Jack Johnson, who became the first black man to claim the title; Jack Dempsey, a sporting symbol of the Roaring Twenties; Joe Louis, whose contributions to racial tolerance and social progress transcended even his greatness in the ring; Rocky Marciano, who became an embodiment of the American Dream; Muhammad Ali, who took on the U.S. government and revolutionized professional sports with his showmanship; and Mike Tyson, a hard-punching dynamo who typified the modern celebrity. This gallery of flawed but sympathetic men also includes comics, dandies, bookworms, divas, ex-cons, workingmen, and even a tough-guy-turned-preacher. As the heavyweight title passed from one claimant to another, their stories opened a window into the larger history of the United States. Boxing fans, sports historians, and those interested in U.S. race relations as it intersects with sports will find this book a fascinating exploration into how engrained boxing once was in America’s social and cultural fabric.

Author: James B. Roberts
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781590131213
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 782

View

Book Description
A fully illustrated and researched update to a classic reference guide includes entries for all of the inductees in the Boxing Hall of Fame through 2006, in an official record book that lists key facts and figures while providing numerous action photographs. Original.

Author: Lew Freedman
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786459077
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 253

View

Book Description
Joe Louis held the heavyweight boxing championship longer than any other fighter and defended it a record 25 times. (In the 1930s and 1940s, the owner of the heavyweight title was the most prominent non-team sports competitor.) In addition, Louis helped bridge the gap of understanding between whites and blacks. During World War II he not only raised money for Army and Navy relief and entertained millions of troops as a morale officer, but became a symbol of American hope and strength. This biography of Louis outlines his rise from poverty in Alabama to become the best-known African American of his time and describes how an uneducated man, simple at his core, became so articulate and ended up on the side of right in the battles he fought, with fist or voice.

Author: W. K. Stratton
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0151014302
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 297

View

Book Description
This knockout biography follows boxing legend Floyd Patterson, civil rights activist, national icon, and the youngest man to win the World Heavyweight Champion title, and the first to ever win the title twice.

Author: Bob Petersen
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786485949
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 261

View

Book Description
Born to former slaves on St. Croix in 1860, Peter Jackson made his name as a boxer with his smooth, fast style and a dangerous one-two combination. After immigrating to Australia, Jackson became that country's national heavyweight champion in 1886 before moving on to the United States and claiming the title of Colored Champion of the World in 1888. For the next ten years Peter Jackson remained undefeated, finally losing to the great Jim Jeffries in 1898. Although he never received a shot at the heavyweight title--reigning heavyweight champion John L. Sullivan refused to defend his title against a black man--Jackson remains one of the greatest heavyweights ever.