Johnson's victory over the reigning world champion, Canadian Tommy Burns , at the Sydney Stadium in Australia, came after following Burns around the world for two years and taunting him in the press for a match. After Johnson's victory over Burns, racial animosity among whites ran so deep that some called for a " Great White Hope " to take the title away from Johnson. Even the New York Times wrote of the event, "If the black man wins, thousands and thousands of his ignorant brothers will misinterpret his victory as justifying claims to much more than mere physical equality with their white neighbors.

The match with Ketchel was originally thought to have been an exhibition, and in fact it was fought by both men that way, until the 12th round, when Ketchel threw a right to Johnson's head, knocking him down.

Quickly regaining his feet, and very annoyed, Johnson immediately dashed straight at Ketchell and threw a single punch, an uppercut, a punch for which he was famous, to Ketchel's jaw, knocking him out. The punch knocked out Ketchell's front teeth; Johnson can be seen on film removing them from his glove, where they had been embedded. In , former undefeated heavyweight champion James J. Jeffries came out of retirement to challenge Johnson, saying "I am going into this fight for the sole purpose of proving that a white man is better than a Negro".

Initially Jeffries had no interest in the fight, being quite happy as an alfalfa farmer. Jeffries mostly remained hidden from media attention until the day of the fight, while Johnson soaked up the spotlight. John L. Sullivan , who made boxing championships a popular and esteemed spectacle, stated that Johnson was in such good physical shape compared to Jeffries that he would only lose if he had a lack of skill on the day of the fight.

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Before the fight, Jeffries remarked, "It is my intention to go right after my opponent and knock him out as soon as possible. Racial tension was brewing in the lead up to the fight and in order to prevent any harm from coming to either boxer, guns were prohibited within the arena along with the sale of alcohol and anyone who was under the effects of alcohol.

Apples were also banned as well as any weapon whatsoever. Behind the racial attitudes which were being instigated by the media was a major investment in gambling for the fight, with 10—7 odds in favor of Jeffries. The fight took place on July 4, , in front of 20, people, at a ring which was built just for the occasion in downtown Reno, Nevada. Jeffries proved unable to impose his will on the younger champion and Johnson dominated the fight.

By the 15th round, after Jeffries had been knocked down twice for the first time in his career, Jeffries' corner threw in the towel to end the fight and prevent Jeffries from having a knockout on his record. Johnson later remarked he knew the fight was over in the 4th round when he landed an uppercut and saw the look on Jeffries face, stating, "I knew what that look meant.

The old ship was sinking. No, I couldn't have reached him in 1, years. Sullivan commented after the fight that Johnson won deservedly, fairly, and convincingly:. The fight of the century is over and a black man is the undisputed champion of the world. It was a poor fight as fights go, this less than round affair between James J. Jeffries and Jack Johnson. Scarcely has there ever been a championship contest that was so one-sided. All of Jeffries much-vaunted condition amounted to nothing. He wasn't in it from the first bell tap to the last The negro had few friends, but there was little demonstration against him.

Spectators could not help but admire Johnson because he is the type of prizefighter that is admired by sportsmen. He played fairly at all times and fought fairly. What a crafty, powerful, cunning left hand Johnson has.

He is one of the craftiest, cunningest boxers that ever stepped into the ring. They both fought closely all during the 15 rounds. It was just the sort of fight that Jeffries wanted. There was no running or ducking like Corbett did with me in New Orleans Jeffries did not miss so many blows, because he hardly started any. Johnson was on top of him all the time Johnson didn't get gay at all with Jeffries in the beginning, and it was always the white man who clinched, but Johnson was very careful, and he backed away and took no chances, and was good-natured with it all The best man won, and I was one of the first to congratulate him, and also one of the first to extend my heartfelt sympathy to the beaten man.

Johnson's victory over Jeffries had dashed white dreams of finding a "great white hope" to defeat him. Many whites felt humiliated by the defeat of Jeffries. Blacks, on the other hand, were jubilant, and celebrated Johnson's great victory as a victory for racial advancement.

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Louis, Little Rock and Houston. In all, riots occurred in more than 25 states and 50 cities. At least twenty people were killed across the US from the riots, [36] and hundreds more were injured.

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The Johnson—Jeffries Fight film received more public attention in the United States than any other film to date and for the next five years, until the release of The Birth of a Nation. The movement to censor Johnson's victory took over the country within three days after the fight. Two weeks after the match former President Theodore Roosevelt , an avid boxer and fan, wrote an article for The Outlook in which he supported banning not just moving pictures of boxing matches, but a complete ban on all prize fights in the US.

He cited the "crookedness" and gambling that surrounded such contests and that moving pictures have "introduced a new method of money getting and of demoralization". The six fights for which the major films were made, starring Johnson, were: [46]. The color bar remained in force even under Johnson. Once he was the world's heavyweight champ, Johnson did not fight a black opponent for the first five years of his reign. He denied matches to black heavyweights Joe Jeanette one of his successors as colored heavyweight champ , Sam Langford who beat Jeanette for the colored title , and the young Harry Wills , who was colored heavyweight champ during the last year of Johnson's reign as world's heavyweight champ.

Blacks were not given a chance at the title allegedly because Johnson felt that he could make more money fighting white boxers. In August , as Johnson neared the end of his troubled reign as world heavyweight champ, there were rumors that he had agreed to fight Langford in Paris for the title, but it came to naught. Because black boxers with the exception of Johnson had been barred from fighting for the heavyweight championship because of racism, Johnson's refusal to fight African-Americans offended the African-American community, since the opportunity to fight top white boxers was rare.

Jeanette criticized Johnson, saying, "Jack forgot about his old friends after he became champion and drew the color line against his own people.

When Johnson finally agreed to take on a black opponent in late , it was not Sam Langford, the current colored heavyweight champ, that he gave the title shot to. Battling Jim fought former colored champ Joe Jeanette four times between July 19, and January 21, and lost all four fights. The only fighter of note who he did beat during that period was the future colored champ Big Bill Tate , whom he KO-ed in the second round of a scheduled round bout.

It was Tate's third pro fight. In November , the International Boxing Union had declared the world heavyweight title held by Jack Johnson to be vacant. It was the first time in history that two blacks had fought for the world heavyweight championship. While the Johnson v. Johnson fight had been billed as a world heavyweight title match, in many ways, it resembled an exhibition. A sportswriter from the Indianapolis Star at the fight reported that the crowd became unruly when it was apparent that neither boxer was putting up a fight.

Jack Johnson, the heavyweight champion, and Battling Jim Johnson, another colored pugilist, of Galveston, Texas, met in a round contest here tonight, which ended in a draw. The spectators loudly protested throughout that the men were not fighting, and demanded their money back.

Many of them left the hall. The organizers of the fight explained the fiasco by asserting that Jack Johnson's left arm was broken in the third round. There is no confirmation of a report that Jack Johnson had been stabbed and no evidence at the ringside of such an accident. During the first three rounds he was obviously playing with his opponent. After that it was observed that he was only using his right hand.

When the fight was over he complained that his arm had been injured. Doctors who made an examination, certified to a slight fracture of the radius of the left arm. The general opinion is that his arm was injured in a wrestling match early in the week, and that a blow tonight caused the fracture of the bone.