I n the annals of combat sports history, the heavyweight division in boxing stands as the pinnacle of fighting, marked by ...

Havana, 6 April 1915 - A sensational fight in Havana, Cuba yesterday saw Jess Willard defeat Jack Johnson to become heavyweight champion of the world. Johnson had held the title since 1908 ...

refused to fight Johnson or any other black boxer. On May 16, Johnson took on the champion's younger brother, Jack Jeffries. After toying with the younger Jeffries for five rounds, Johnson knocked ...

But in 1908, 39 years before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in major league baseball, there was Jack Johnson ... not for the fact Johnson was the most dominant boxer of his time.

Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion ... (This behavior was not unique to him as a champion boxer. Many boxers, notably John L. Sullivan, acted this way. It was unique for a black ...

Long before Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier, Jack Johnson broke ... heavyweight champion, and eight years after his death he became a charter member of the Boxing Hall of Fame.