Arguing Over Jack Johnson and White Privilege

Published

9 years ago

October 30, 2014

It’s always dangerous getting involved in an online argument on any of the various social networks. No matter how empirically wrong someone might be, obstinance and a healthy dose of internet courage kicks in and there goes an hour of your life having a back and forth that will lead you to nowhere but frustration. Sometimes you can’t help yourself though, and when some Facebook sage claimed that Jack Johnson was not held back by his race, well, I felt compelled to explain a few things.

It all started when a friend of mine posted an article about the misfortunes of African-Americans in the United States and the influence of white privilege in our society. A gentleman chimed in on the post arguing that no one is or has ever been held back by their race, post-slavery. He then used Johnson as an example. Which I found flabbergasting.

Maybe it’s easy to overlook the losses of someone who accomplished so much. Johnson didn’t just have to knock out white guys and face down racial hatred from his fellow citizens, he also had to fight the United States government. As the first black man to ever hold the heavyweight championship (1908-15), Johnson endured under the American form of apartheid known as Jim Crow.

Under Jim Crow, the good ‘ol states of the former confederacy mandated the separation of the races when it came to any and all public facilities, leaving the black members of the population with inferior access to services. The law coined the bilious term “separate but equal,” but conditions were anything but.

Johnson began fighting in 1898 and it took him 59 fights and ten full years to get a title shot even though he had been the World “Colored” heavyweight champion for five years. He defeated Canadian Tommy Burns by 14 round decision in 1908. Johnson went on to hold the title for the 3^rd longest stretch of anyone in the history of the fight game.

In 1910,the former heavyweight champion Jim Jeffries ended a six year retirement to take on Johnson and, as he put it, “I am going into this fight for the sole purpose of proving that a white man is better than a Negro.” The media dubbed Jeffries “The Great White Hope” and the contest became known as “The Fight of the Century.” Johnson dominated the fight and in the 15^th round, Jeffries’ manager entered the ring and ended the fight after his charge had suffered two knockdowns, one that sent him sprawling through the ropes, resulting in Jeffries needing help from a fan to get back into the ring.

Race riots broke out all across the United States after Johnson’s victory. Ironically, the fight took place on the 4^th of July.

Johnson carried his burdens with a surprising level of fearlessness. He had grown up in Galveston, TX and was a stranger to segregation. He even spoke of running with “white boys” and seldom felt the sting of racism as a child. He would learn.

Johnson finally lost his title on April 5, 1915 to challenger Jess Willard. Johnson was dominating the fight, but tired in the later rounds and was knocked out by the Pottawatomie Giant in the 26^th(!) round. Many believed that Johnson threw the fight due to his prosecution by the United States government for violating the Mann Act—also known as the White-Slave Traffic Act. The law stated that it was a felony to engage in interstate commerce by transporting “any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery or for any other immoral purpose”. How did Johnson violate this law? By taking his soon to be second wife, Lucille Cameron, across state lines. Sounds ridiculous, right? Except for one thing. Lucille was white (as were all three of Johnson’s wives). The case fell apart largely because Cameron would not testify against him. However, a second woman named Belle Schreiber (also white), whom Johnson had also a had relationship with, did testify at a later hearing and Johnson was convicted in the courtroom of noted racist—and future Major League Baseball Commissioner and enforcer of the color barrier—Judge Kenesaw “Mountain” Landis, by an all-white jury. Perhaps even more astonishing is the fact that Johnson was found guilty of a law that did not exist at the time of his “crimes.” Johnson jumped bail and fled to Europe, living abroad for seven years before surrendering to the feds in July of 1920. Johnson served three months in Leavenworth for his infraction.

So, as you might imagine, I find it fascinating that anyone could state that Johnson was not held back by his race. He had to wait for a decade and wade through nearly 60 fights before he could be found fit to fight a white man for the most prestigious title in all of boxing. He labored under horrendous racism, may have thrown the title in the hopes this would somehow curry favor with judge and jury for violating a federal law that had not even passed at the time of his supposed transgressions–leading to a seven year exile and a prison sentence.

What all of the institutional and quite legal racism of his era cost him was time. Lots of it. How much more could Johnson have done had he not suffered under such conditions? Would he not have fought for more years as the champ? Would he not have made more money? Would he not have had to live on the run and eventually give up his own personal freedom? My goodness, would he not have simply been happier? Johnson’s accomplishments were certainly more extraordinary because of his race. However, on the most personal of levels, he was not able to do all he could because all he was capable of was not available to him. And that is tragic.

Johnson died on June 10, 1946 at the age of 68 after speeding recklessly away in anger from a diner that refused to serve him, for what Ken Burns’ amazing documentary called his “Unforgiveable Blackness.”

I rest my case.

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David Phillips

Canelo-Charlo Gets All the Ink, but Don’t Overlook the Compelling Match-up of Gassiev-Wallin in Turkey

Published

2 hours ago

September 26, 2023

Arne K. Lang

Canelo-Charlo-Gets-All-the-Ink-but-Don't-Overlook-This-Compelling-Match-in-Turkey

Canelo-Charlo Gets All the Ink, but Don’t Overlook the Compelling Match-up of Gassiev-Wallin in Turkey

The eyes of the boxing world will be on Las Vegas this Saturday where Mexican superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez risks his four super middleweight title belts against unified 154-pound champion Jermell Charlo. Earlier that day at a luxury resort hotel in the city of Antalya on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, there’s a heavyweight match sitting under the radar that may prove to be the better fight. It’s an intriguing match-up between former world cruiserweight title-holder Murat Gassiev and Swedish southpaw Otto Wallin, a bout with significant ramifications for boxing’s glamour division.

Gassiev (30-1, 23 KOs) and Wallin (25-1, 14 KOs) have only one loss, but those setbacks came against the top dogs in the division. Gassiev was out-boxed by Oleksandr Usyk back in the days when both were cruiserweights. Wallin gave Tyson Fury a world of trouble before losing a unanimous decision.

Since those fights, both have been treading water.

Gassiev

Gassiev was inactive for 27 months after his match with Usyk while dealing with legal issues and an injury to his left shoulder. He is 4-0 (4 KOs) since returning to the ring while answering the bell for only eight rounds. The only recognizable name among those four victims is German gatekeeper Michael Wallisch. After stopping Wallisch, Gassiev was out of action for another 13 months while reportedly dealing with an arm injury.

A first-round knockout of Carlouse Welch, an obscure 40-something boxer from the U.S. state of Georgia on Aug. 26, 2022, in Belgrade, Serbia, was promoted as a title fight. The sanctioning body was the Eurasian Boxing Parliament (insert your own punchline here). Gassiev followed that up with a second-round knockout of former NFL linebacker Mike Balogun who came in undefeated and was seemingly a legitimate threat to him.

Although he has yet to fight a ranked opponent since leaving the cruiserweight division, Gassiev — a former stablemate of Gennady Golovkin who has been living in Big Bear, California, training under Abel Sanchez – is one of the most respected fighters in the division because he has one-punch knockout power as Balogun and others can well attest. The rub against the Russian-Armenian bruiser is that he is somewhat robotic.

Wallin

Otto Wallin, a 32-year-old southpaw from Sweden who trains in New York under former world lightweight champion Joey Gamache, fought Tyson Fury on Sept. 14, 2019 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. There was a general feeling that the Swede would be a stroll in the park for Fury, but to the contrary, he gave the Gypsy King a hard tussle while losing a unanimous decision.

Wallin is 5-0 since that night beginning with victories over Travis Kauffman (KO 5) and Dominic Breazeale (UD 12), but his last three opponents were softer than soft and all three lasted the distance. In order, Wallin won an 8-round decision over Kamil Sokolowski, who was 11-24-2 heading in, won a 10-round decision over ancient Rydell Booker, and won an 8-round decision over Helaman Olguin. His bout with Utah trial horse Olguin was at a banquet hall in Windham, New Hampshire.

It isn’t that Wallin has been avoiding the top names in the division; it’s the other way around. His promoter Dmitriy Salita reportedly came close to getting Wallin a match with Anthony Joshua whose team had second thoughts about sending Joshua in against another southpaw after back-to-back setbacks to Oleksandr Usyk.

Gassiev vs Wallin is a true crossroads fight. Both are in dire need of a win over a credible opponent. At last look, Gassiev, who figures to have the crowd in his corner, was a 3/1 favorite.

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Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach

Published

2 days ago

September 24, 2023

David A. Avila

Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach

LONG BEACH, Ca.-A cool autumn night saw welterweights and minimumweights share main events for a MarvNation fight card on Saturday.

Ukraine’s Eduard Skavynskyi (15-0, 7 KOs) experienced a tangled mess against the awkward Alejandro Frias (14-10-2) but won by decision after eight rounds in a welterweight contest at the indoor furnace called the Thunder Studios.

It was hot in there for the more than 600 people inside.

Skavynskyi probably never fought someone like Mexico’s Frias whose style was the opposite of the Ukrainian’s fundamentally sound one-two style. But round after round the rough edges became more familiar.

Neither fighter was ever damaged but all three judges saw Skavynskyi the winner by unanimous decision 79-73 on all three cards. The Ukrainian fighter trains in Ventura.

Bustillo Wins Rematch

Applerose2

In the female main event Las Vegas’ Yadira Bustillos (8-1) stepped into a rematch with Karen Lindenmuth (5-2) and immediately proved the lessons learned from their first encounter.

Bustillos connected solidly with an overhand right and staggered Lindenmuth but never came close to putting the pressure fighter down. Still, Bustillos kept turning the hard rushing Lindenmuth and snapping her head with overhand rights and check left hooks.

Lindenmuth usually overwhelms most opponents with a smothering attack that causes panic. But not against Bustillos who seemed quite comfortable all eight rounds in slipping blows and countering back.

After eight rounds all three judges scored the contest for Bustillos 78-74 and 80-72 twice. Body shots were especially effective for the Las Vegas fighter in the fifth round. Bustillos competes in the same division as IBF/WBO title-holder Yokasta Valle.

Other Bouts

In a middleweight clash, undefeated Victorville’s Andrew Buchanan (3-0-1) used effective combination punching to defeat Mexico’s Fredy Vargas (2-1-1) after six rounds. Two judges scored it 59-55 and a third 60-54 for Buchanan. No knockdowns were scored.

A super lightweight match saw Sergio Aldana win his pro debut by decision after four rounds versus Gerardo Fuentes (2-9-1).

Photos credit: Al Applerose

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Tedious Fights and a Controversial Draw Smudge the Matchroom Boxing Card in Orlando

Published

3 days ago

September 23, 2023

Arne K. Lang

Tedious-Fights-and-a-Controversial-Draw-Smudge-the-Matchroom-Boxing-Card-in-Orlando

Matchroom Boxing was at the sprawling Royale Caribe Resort Hotel in Orlando, Florida tonight with a card that aired on DAZN. The main event was a ho-hum affair between super lightweights Richardson Hitchins and Jose Zepeda.

SoCal’s Zepeda has been in some wars in the past, notably his savage tussle with Ivan Baranchyk, but tonight he brought little to the table and was outclassed by the lanky Hitchins who won all 12 rounds on two of the cards and 11 rounds on the other. There were no knockdowns, but Zepeda suffered a cut on his forehead in round seven that was deemed to be the product of an accidental head butt and another clash in round ten forced a respite in the action although Hitchins suffered no apparent damage.

It was the sort of fight where each round was pretty much a carbon of the round preceding it. Brooklyn’s Hitchins, who improved to 17-0 (7), was content to pepper Zepeda with his jab, and the 34-year-old SoCal southpaw, who brought a 37-3 record, was never able to penetrate his defense and land anything meaningful.

Hitchins signed with Floyd Mayweather Jr’s promotional outfit coming out of the amateur ranks and his style is reminiscent in ways of his former mentor. Like Mayweather, he loses very few rounds. In his precious engagement, he pitched a shutout over previously undefeated John Bauza.

Co-Feature

In the co-feature, Conor Benn returned to the ring after an absence of 17 months and won a unanimous decision over Mexico’s Rodolfo Orozco. It wasn’t a bad showing by Benn who showed decent boxing skills, but more was expected of him after his name had been bandied about so often in the media. Two of the judges had it 99-91 and the other 96-94.

Benn (22-0, 14 KOs) was a late addition to the card although one suspects that promoter Eddie Hearn purposely kept him under wraps until the week of the fight so as not to deflect the spotlight from the other matches on his show. Benn lost a lucrative date with Chris Eubank Jr when he was suspended by the BBBofC when evidence of a banned substance was found in his system and it’s understood that Hearn has designs on re-igniting the match-up with an eye on a date in December. For tonight’s fight, Benn carried a career-high 153 ½ pounds. Mexico’s Orozco, who was making his first appearance in a U.S. ring, declined to 32-4-3.

Other Bouts of Note

The welterweight title fight between WBA/WBC title-holder Jessica McCaskill (15-3-1) and WBO title-holder Sandy Ryan (6-1-1) ended in a draw and the ladies’ retain their respective titles. Ryan worked the body effectively and the general feeling was that she got a raw deal, a sentiment shared by the crowd which booed the decision. There was a switch of favorites in the betting with the late money seemingly all on the Englishwoman who at age 30 was the younger boxer by nine years.

The judges had it 96-94 Ryan, 96-95, and a vilified 97-93 for Chicago’s McCaskill.

In the opener of the main DAZN stream, Houston middleweight Austin “Ammo” Williams, 27, improved to 15-0 (10) with a 10-round unanimous decision over 39-year-old Toronto veteran Steve Rolls (22-3). All three judges had it 97-93. Rolls has been stopped only once, that by Gennady Golovkin.

Photo credit: Ed Mulholland / Matchroom Boxing

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