This shot always gets me. Look at Jack Johnson, who was facing death threats every day from racist whites, had a target on his back everyday for years, look at him smiling at the white crowd as he knows he's got Jeffries beaten. You talk about having a set of ball$ on you, Jack Johnson had a set the size of grapefruits.
This is an epic shot, Jeffries busted open and bleeding from the nose. Look up close at Jeffries eyes, the expression on his face, he looks like he's seen a ghost. Wicked intense photo.
In hindsight, from a moral standpoint, the Jeffries-Johnson fight had the right outcome, there is no place for racism in this world, we are all the same, we're all in this together, we're all brothers and sisters, and it's a shame that the fight had a dark cloud hovering over it, Jeffries and Johnson were two all-time great fighters. And this isn't the only incident of racism in boxing, there are fighters, great fighters, Hall of Famers, that drew the color line and refused to fight black fighters because that was the way society was back in the day and it's a shame because history missed out on some really great fights. And it's not limited to boxing, all the sports have a dark past, the country as a whole has a dark past when it comes to racism.
Hey look, I got to give a shout-out to Big John's Pickled Eggs, they've been sponsoring me here at the forum for years. So thank you to my peeps over at Big John's, and hey folks, try some today, they're eggscellent!
Looking back on James J. Jeffries and his career, he was a force of nature, I really don't know how else to put it, there was a reason he was never beaten in his prime, he was a big, strong, powerful, brutal, punishing fighter with an iron chin, he hit hard as hell and there just wasn't much you could do with him. I wish there was more footage of him in his prime, this is the only known footage of Jeffries in his prime, it's a brief clip of his second fight with "Sailor" Tom Sharkey, the fight that went 25 rounds. This film is from the year 1899, it is a true historical treasure. It's not much, but at least it's a glimpse at a fascinating fighter in his absolute prime, in fact two fascinating fighters in their prime. In the footage, you can see how big and strong Jeffries was, he pushes Sharkey back five or six feet a couple of times, just an overpowering fighter. This is absolutely fascinating, it's like looking back at a lost world, looking back in prehistoric time and watching two Tyrannosaurus Rex's doing battle.
Poster advertises a mutoscope film (an early form of motion picture) that features the second boxing match between James J. Jeffries and Tom Sharkey, circa 1900.
I love photos that were used on cards, and this is the photo of Jeffries that was used to make his 1930 Singleton & Cole Famous Boxers card, this set is pretty rare and these cards can be tough to track down. This was a cigarette issued set in the UK.
‘"The Lone Star Cobra'’ Donald Curry was at his brilliant, venomous best on December 6th in 1985 when he walked through Milton McCrory in two rounds and became the first undisputed welterweight king since Sugar Ray Leonard retired in 1982.
"I knew I was stronger, but I didn't know I was that much stronger," Curry said in Las Vegas. "I don't think he knew, either. After the first 20 seconds I could see the confusion in his eyes. I knew he was mine."
''I remember Gene Fullmer was one of the dirtiest fighters around. When you played a little dirty with him he cried to the referee. I butted him. I admit I butted him, but at least I didn't say, 'Excuse me, it's an accident.' He did it four or five times to me. The referee was the guy from St. Louis, Harry Kessler. Harry warned him and warned him and warned him but he never took a round away from him. So I was up against the ropes, I'll never forget it, and I knew he was coming in with his head, and I ducked a little lower than him and I come up and I give him a good gash. And the funny part of it is he didn't have no 'accidents' after that.''
Future world welterweight champion Johnny Bratton, aka "Honey Boy", sends Robert Early lateral before scoring a 3rd round TKO at Chicago Stadium in 1945.
Rafael Pineda scored a truly vicious 9th round TKO of "The Black Mamba" Roger Mayweather and won the vacant IBF junior welterweight title at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center in Reno, Nevada on this day in 1991.
Mayweather was a slick boxer-puncher with good punching power and a veteran of the game, but he'd already proven vulnerable against strong punchers like Pineda. The Colombian lost a previous title shot to Mark Breland, but he scored a handful of wins to gain another.
Pineda had trouble with Mayweather's movement through the first 8 rounds, which were nevertheless relatively even. Pineda didn't open up enough offensively, and Mayweather did a minumum.
In the 9th round, Mayweather appeared to misjudge a left hook from Pineda, and it caught him directly on the chin and knocked him out. Mayweather collapsed into the ropes and had to be roused from his slumber.
"I threw the punch with my heart and soul," Pineda said.
Manny Pacquiao charged forward, thinking he was seconds away from victory… but Juan Manuel Marquez had been waiting for this moment for years.
In their fourth encounter, Marquez finally saw the opening he had studied since their first fight. The right hand landed clean. Pacquiao dropped face first. The arena went silent.
Nearly a decade of rivalry boiled down to one perfect punch — precise, calculated, unforgettable.
It remains one of the most shocking knockouts in boxing history. What a punch. What a rivalry.
''I didn't have any skiIIs growing up in Long IsIand. My father was a tough Irish-American drinker who beat his kids every day. I didn’t get any kind of Iove or understanding in my househoId. I was wiId. There was a Iot of dysfunction in my Iife. I didn’t have anybody to guide me. The Iast time I saw my father, I took him to the hospitaI to get chemo. ImmediateIy after, he said: If you can’t Iive under my roof to my ruIes, get your hair cut, get home when I want you to get home, I’d rather crawI to the hospitaI on my hands and knees myseIf… That was my Iife. I Ieft the famiIy home when I was just 16 years oId, had to find my own way. I had pIenty of anger in me. Through boxing I Iearned how to Iove myseIf, my famiIy, peopIe around me. Boxing fed me, gave me confidence.''
“I have always considered it necessary that a young man, in order to become an accomplished boxer, should have brains as well as muscle. I never knew a thick-headed fellow yet to become skillful in the manly art.”
Many believe Tyson’s downfall wasn’t in the ring… It was the moment he lost the people who kept him disciplined.
“When I had Mike we were in training camp for five weeks. Back then I used to run 3-4 miles with him just to make sure he was doing it. And then we’d go to the gym. And then we’d go to a health club at night. Then we’d go to bed.
When he was with me there was no partying. There was no, ‘well I worked hard, I’m gonna go have a few drinks and try to pick up a girl’. That never happened.
Hey Mike, guess what? We got a title to defend and you gotta be in tip-top shape. So that Mike Tyson, if he didn’t cross channels and went with Don King, he would have gone down as the greatest heavyweight in history. Now people are talking, ah, he’s nothing. But that’s not true.”
"Sugar" Ray Leonard won an epic showdown with Thomas Hearns in 1981's "Fight of the Year" by 14th round TKO to unify the WBC and WBA welterweight titles at Caesars Palace Outdoor Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 16th in 1981.
After Leonard had his two-fight series with Roberto Durán, he looked for a new big fight and zeroed in on undefeated Hearns, who held the WBA title. Hearns was a skilled undefeated boxer who found his punching power in the pro ranks.
The fight was an instant classic that has since become almost universally recognized as one of the greatest matches of all time. The fighters switched roles back and forth, from puncher and boxer, hunter and hunted, and more than once. About 23,000 in attendance watched a high-level chess match mixed where dangerous punches were thrown.
Hearns boxed so well early that it took several rounds for Leonard to connect on anything serious. By then Leonard's left eye, which he later claimed to have injured in sparring, began swelling up. Leonard occasionally broke through with a damaging shot that rocked Hearns, but the unbeaten Detroit star was ahead on all cards going into round 13.
Leonard's trainer Angelo Dundee famously told his fighter round before the round started, "You're blowing it, son."
Leonard sent Hearns through the ropes with a combination punctuated by a push in the 13th and almost knocked Hearns out. In the 14th, Leonard had Hearns falling all over the ring, which forced the referee to end the fight.
"I proved I'm the best welterweight in the world," Leonard said. "This fight surpasses all my professional accomplishments."
"Big" George Foreman nearly had his heavyweight championship plans derailed when he barely won a 10 round majority decision over Alex Stewart in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 11th in 1992.
Foreman, still in the midst of his comeback, was a 6-to-1 favorite over Stewart, who had lost by stoppage to Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson and Michael Moorer. Foreman had been written off as a joke by most until losing a competitive decision to Holyfield the year prior.
Early on it seemed like Foreman might dismiss Stewart as well. The former (and future) heavyweight champion sent Stewart down twice in round 2 and things looked grim. But Steward chose to fight his way out and actually stung Foreman with a right hand before the round was over.
Stewart absorbed more punishment without going out than most expected, and after several rounds of landing clean shots, Foreman's face began to swell grotesquely.
By the end of the bout, Foreman had lost a point for low blows, scored two knockdowns and had swelling on his jaw and around both eyes. Stewart wasn't exactly unscathed, and he sported cuts over his eyes. The knockdowns proved to be the difference and gave the decision to Foreman by a thin margin.
"I thought it would be close, which it was," said Stewart. "I thought [I won.] I know George can punch. I made the mistake of exchanging with him and got caught."
Foreman joked at the post-fight press conference by opening up saying, "Ladies and gentleman, this is George Foreman. Can you please tell me where the aspirin are?" Foreman then said, "I didn't wanna hurt the kid, then the kid hurt me."
"Saint" George Groves made quick work of Jamie Cox on Saturday Oct. 14, 2017 at the SSE Arena in London.
Groves halted Cox with a crushing right to the body in the fourth round to retain his WBA world super-middleweight in a dominant first title defense.
And this was an impressively efficient demolition job from Groves, who landed the clean shots against Cox.
"I picked him [Cox, in the draw] because I believe he was the most dangerous of the unseeded fighters. I didn't want an easy fight," said Groves. "I knew Jamie Cox would ask questions and I trained alongside him years ago.
Cox (24-1, 13 KOs), 31, did not lack aggression or appetite, but he could not recover from the precise body shot and the fight was stopped after one minute and 42 seconds of round four.
Groves, who won the WBA belt by sixth round stoppage against Russia's Fedor Chudinov in May, made a good start and landed a good right hand in the first round.
But it not dissuade Cox who then bundled Groves into a corner and attacked the champion with gusto in the second round.
With Groves trapped in the corner, Cox unloaded a furious assault from both hands which Groves did well to emerge from untroubled.
Later in the second, Groves regained some authority by planting some stiff right hands on Cox. But the challenger again came storming back.
However, the cleaner and more accurate punches were always from the champion and Cox's aggression was abruptly curtailed with him doubled up in pain with his knees on the canvas after being hit by Groves' body shot.
You just keep looking at the records of some boxers in open-mouthed admiration and disbelief. The sheer quality of their opposition pours off the page as your eyes count off names that ring like a bell.
Just recently I was re-acquainting myself with the impressive ledger of middleweight Holly Mims, from Washington, DC, who engaged in 102 bouts from 1948 to 1967. Holly’s record is a very handy reference tool on the great fighters of that era.
Just one fifth of that record contains the following names: Johnny Bratton, Jose Basora, Gene Burton, Sugar Ray Robinson, George Benton, Lester Felton, Willie Troy, Bobby Dykes, Rocky Castellani, Milo Savage, Bobby Boyd, Spider Webb, Joey Giardello, Henry Hank, Rudell Stitch, Dick Tiger, Gomeo Brennan, Jimmy Ellis, Rubin Carter, Emile Griffith, Joey Archer and Luis Rodriguez.
Frustratingly, Holly Mims fell into that cursed category of the highly skilled but unglamorous. He was too dangerous for his own good, too much of a spoiler, one of those guys who got the short notice phone call from promoters when two or three other guys pulled out. Holly got plenty of short notice calls, often getting just a day or two to prepare himself. He trained constantly to cope with the ordeal of being one of boxing’s short order cooks.
The story goes that Rubin (Hurricane) Carter didn’t react kindly when Madison Square Garden matchmaker Teddy Brenner advised him that Mims was his substitute opponent for a 10-round match on December 22nd, 1962. Carter won a unanimous decision but not before Mims had knocked him down in the fourth round.
If justice had been done, Holly’s professional record would have been considerably better than his official 68-28-6 log, for he was on the wrong end of many questionable split decisions. Somebody once said that those split losses were as frequent as a liquor store hold-up. Mims was philosophical about this, saying, “I always like to at least let them know I was there.”
For the record, Mims lost 27 fights by decision, of which nine were split verdicts and five were decided by majority.
Dangerous
Holly Mims was a dangerous omnipresence, teak-tough and crafty, always ready to fight. He had entered the boxing through the local amateur clubs in Washington, helped by his brother James, and went on to win the Washington Golden Gloves middleweight title. Holly turned professional in 1948 and it wasn’t long before he was swimming in the deep end of a very talented pool.
A stand-up boxer with guile, toughness and a versatile box of tricks, Mims could box and fight and handle any situation. He was adept at picking off opponents’ punches with apparent ease and his sense of anticipation rivalled that of a top chess player.
Fluid of movement, Holly could box traditionally or slug when slugging was required. Many an opponent had a rude awakening when he forced Mims to the ropes or into a corner. With his long arms, which he used to maximum effect, Mims would lash back with a volley of punches that left the aggressor stunned. Holly loved the ropes, springing from their haven as an octopus springs from its lair.
Mims held his left hand low, teasing his opponents to move into him. Many a puncher grabbed the tempting invitation, like a fish chomping at the angler’s bait, but Mims was a hub of constant and slippery movement and incredibly difficult to hit cleanly. His excellent head movement was consistently confusing to his opponents and he took a punch well when he had to, barely reacting to it.
Holly learned his trade well and learned it quickly. By the Spring of 1951 and still only 23 years of age, he had been a professional for less than three years when he gave middleweight champion Sugar Ray Robinson a very testing time in their non-title 10-rounder at the Miami Stadium. Only two months before, Robbie had butchered Jake LaMotta to win the championship.
Mims lost a unanimous decision to Robinson but refused to be discouraged throughout the lively encounter and kept coming back to Robbie with all the quirky danger of a boomerang. Blaming a virus for his poor form, Robinson apparently told Mims after the fight that he thought Holly had won. “I guess the virus had me worse than I thought,” Ray said after the fight. “A couple of times I had him lined up but I couldn’t get him.”
Mims was buoyant despite the loss and told reporters, “Robinson never hurt me bad any time.”
Rollicking
It was a rollicking good fight in which Robinson repeatedly tried to steady the ever active Mims and take him out. But nobody ever did knock out the remarkably durable and energetic Mims, who suffered only one loss inside schedule. That was at the tail end of his career in 1964 when a badly cut left eye ruled him out of his fight with Joe Louis Adair in the sixth round.
Tough as nuts, Mims had great bounce-back ability and wasn’t at all deterred when the great Robinson decked him in the second round with a right and a left to the head. It was Holly who was the aggressor, surprising Ray on several occasions by punching out of a crouch and catching him with solid blows to the jaw.
Ray endeavored to keep Mims at distance with the jab, but the Washington underdog showed scant respect for Ray’s reputation as he continually surged forward. In an exciting fourth round, Mims connected with a trio of solid lefts to the jaw, but Ray countered by driving his opponent into the ropes with a pair of whipping lefts and a right. Mims’ commitment was evident in the sixth round when Robbie stepped on the gas and dominated heavily, only to have his tenacious opponent fire back at the end of the round with several looping right hands.
In the eighth round Robinson launched a big effort to stop Holly, punishing him with both fists, but back came Mims again with a spirited attack of his own. In the ninth, Robinson’s frustration showed as he missed the mark with a big right hand and lost his balance. It wasn’t too often in his glittering career that Ray was made to look inelegant.
Dedicated
A dedicated professional, Mims never stopped learning the tricks of his trade. In 1958, ten years after he joined the pro ranks, Holly discovered that his right hand was a more effective tool than he had believed and gave him additional punching power. Two great results in succession catapulted Mims to number seven in The Ring’s world ratings, where the eternal Robinson still reigned as world champion. Holly fought a draw with Bobby Boyd in Miami Beach and then upset Spider Webb on a unanimous decision in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The new-found wallop was clear to see as Mims floored Boyd in the eighth round of their meeting and dumped the highly fancied Webb for a nine count.
Webb, one of the best boxer punchers of the era, had become a hot star of the division by knocking out another fine operator in Rory Calhoun just a month before. With a possible title tilt against Robinson on the horizon, the match against Mims was a risky venture and Spider’s trainer Carl Nelson wasn’t comfortable about it. The popular Mims was appearing for the ninth time on a national television boxing show and Nelson knew all about his reputation as a busy puncher and a danger man on the ropes. “We are not going to dig him out of the ropes,” Nelson said firmly.
Mims had lost a decision to Webb nearly two years before in a bout where both men came in as substitutes. Holly received only three days’ notice of the fight and was coming off a four-month layoff. “I wasn’t sharp and my legs weren’t strong,” he said. “I can lick this guy and I’ll prove it.” Mims did so emphatically and sent Spider tumbling from third to sixth in the world ratings.
The victory over Webb and the draw with Bobby Boyd revived Holly’s career in a big way. His talent had always been acknowledged by boxing insiders, many of whom ranked him as the middleweight division’s most accomplished operator behind Robinson. Sadly, unlike Ray, Mims wasn’t fashionable and the trials and tribulations of being perceived as a reliable opponent inevitably made his form erratic. He had once climbed as high as number two in the world ratings, but circumstances constantly prevented him from gaining any consistent momentum.
How good was he? Consider that all the way back in 1950, when still learning his trade, Holly was thrown in with the highly talented Johnny Bratton at the Baltimore Coliseum. Bratton was heading for the welterweight championship but got a rude awakening from Mims, who won a unanimous decision. No fluke, that result. Three weeks later, Mims repeated the feat at the same venue. Four months after that, Bratton won the vacant NBA title from Charley Fusari.
Best
It was in 1953 that Holly hit his best and most consistent form, starting with a breakthrough victory in his hometown of Washington when he stopped the previously undefeated Willie Troy in eight rounds. Mims knocked Troy down in the eighth and Willie was in no fit state to continue. Mims, for the first time in his stop-start career, was suddenly flying. He won his next eleven fights and became a top three contender along with Joey Giardello and Rocky Castellani. It was the tough Castellani who snapped Holly’s winning streak with a unanimous win in Cleveland. Years later Rocky would describe Mims as ‘the real deal’ and one of his toughest opponents.
How tough it must have been to fight Mims. He never gave you a moment’s rest. Keeping him at bay was akin to trying to fend off a swarm of bees. The crafty Washington hustler was always ready to rock and roll and ruin a man’s day.
His 1959 match with Joey Giardello was a peach, another ‘squeaker’ that went to the wire, full of give-and-take action as well as a generous helping of Giardello’s blood. Joey finished the fight strongly to win a split decision (yes, another split decision!) but suffered a seriously messed up face from Holly’s ripping punches. Joey’s left eye was cut in the opening round and the right side of his face was badly gashed in a torrid eighth round as Mims went all out for the win. He stunned Giardello with a left-right combination and then buckled his knees with a powerful left towards the close of the round.
However, Giardello, ever courageous, came on like a train in the tenth and final round, winning that vital frame to capture the tightest of decisions.
Tough of mind as well as body, the admirably persistent Mims never wailed about his losses. With a shrug of his shoulders and some gentle sarcasm, he took life’s hits and just kept rolling on. He was the ‘nearly man’ of the middleweight division who, two months after the Giardello war, met another nearly man in the highly skillful George Benton. To this day, people still ask how good George Benton really was, just as they ask the same question of Mims. They want a definitive answer and there isn’t one because there are too many variables and too many ifs and buts getting in the way.
In their 1959 clash at the Miami Beach Auditorium, Mims defeated Benton decisively, seven years after dropping an eight-round verdict to George in Philadelphia. Holly punished Benton with a consistent body attack. Keeping the fight in close and forcing the elegant Benton to fight against type, Mims dominated the bout and had George staggering in the seventh round from a left-right combination.
Beans
Still full of beans and busy-bee menace, Mims extended his career deep into the 1960s and remained every top ranking fighter’s least favorite pest right to the end. In 1964 at Madison Square Garden, Mims got the sympathy vote after losing an unpopular split decision to top contender Joey Archer. Joey described Holly as “a real cutie” and added, “I learned plenty from him.”
Holly’s response summed up the philosophy of every nearly man in boxing. “That’s OK with me,” he said. “I beat Archer even if I didn’t get the decision. But that’s an old story with me.”
It would be another three years before Holly Mims fought his last battle to end his rollercoaster career with a nice little run of six straight wins. In the Summer of Love of 1967, he outpointed Georgie Johnson in Portland, Maine — by split decision!
You know, reading that article above about Holly Mims, brilliantly written by Mike Casey by the way, one thing jumped out at me. When he says Holly Mims was dangerous, he wasn't kidding, Mims was a real spoiler of a fighter, you stick him in with the best middleweight on the planet and Mims is just liable to beat him, Mims was that good. Another thing about Mims, opponents that thought they could pin Mims against the ropes or back him into a corner were absolutely in for a rude awakening. Mims was more than willing to slug It out, and he could turn from boxer to demon in an instant. He could really let it rip, and a lot of the exchanges he would get into resembled a car wreck, the concussive power being thrown around was hellacious. It's crazy because Mims wasn't known as a knockout puncher, but man he could throw some serious leather when need be.
Holly Mims vs Rubin "Hurricane" Carter in 1962 is a classic, Mims was past his prime and wasn't even supposed to be Carter's opponent that night but was called in as a replacement. This is what made Mims so dangerous, you would think a past prime Mims called up on short notice would get blitz by one of the most murderous punchers in middleweight history who happened to be in his prime. Not the case. He gave Carter hell.
Boxing over Broadway
Holly And The Hurricane
Carter Vs Mims
Learning While Fighting
By: Bobby Franklin
Holly Mims
Recently, I watched the 1962 fight between Ruben Hurricane Carter and Holly Mims. The fight took place on December 22, 1962 at Madison Square Garden. It is a highly interesting bout to watch. In it you can see how Carter had to adapt from depending on his powerful punch in order to deal with the wily veteran Mims.
Carter’s original opponent for that night was Gomeo Brennan. Brennan pulled out the morning of the fight when he woke up with a head cold. A call was put in to Mims who lived in Washington, DC and he agreed to fill in for Brennan. He caught a flight to NY and by that evening was in the ring facing the hard punching Carter.
Mims was a savvy boxer and was always in shape. he had fought just a month earlier. However, stepping in with short notice against such strong opponent may not have seemed like a wise move. Of course, it could also be argued that in what was only his 16th bout Carter may have been smart to avoid such a ring wise veteran as Mims who could make him look bad even if Carter won. It actually proved to be a good move on Ruben’s part even though Holly gave him all he could handle.
Ruben "Hurricane" Carter
Two months earlier Carter had destroyed Florentino Fernandez in the first round with a devastating knock out. Carter had raw power and a solid chin, but was he beginning to rely too much on that power to score victories? That is the curse of the heavy hitters. They get lazy when it comes to learning the finer points of the game. The list of promising superstar punchers who never quite made it because of this lack of learning is a long one.
This is where the Mims fight showed a lot about Carter. Ruben was the favorite going into the match. The odds were large in his favor probably due to the fact that Mims only had a few hours notice before taking the fight. Holly had 82 fights at that point in his career and had never been stopped. Ruben was in only his 16th fight. Eleven of Carter’s victories were by kayo with the Fernandez stoppage putting him on the fistic map.
Mims came into the fight with 59 wins, 23 losses, and 6 draws. He had been fighting since 1948 and had faced the likes of Joey Giardello, Rocky Castellani, Spider Webb, George Benton, and Henry Hank.
Holly Mims (Left) Blocks A Right By Ruben Carter
When the bell rang in the Garden that night Carter came out in explosive fashion. Memories of his destruction of Fernandez were still fresh in his mind, and he probably felt he could repeat what he did that night. He did hurt Mims, and for a moment it looked as if he would score an early kayo. However, Mims was no Fernandez. He was a complete fighter who knew how to handle any situation in the ring. When hurt, he knew how to cover up, how to hold, how to fight back and let his opponent know he’d better not get too wild or he will pay a price.
Carter was not able to pull off a first round victory, but he kept the attack up in the second round. By now Mims was figuring Ruben out and was hitting him with beautiful jabs from a distance, and when Carter would get within power punch range, Holly would move in close where he was the superior in-fighter.
In the fourth round Mims dropped Carter with a left hook right hand combination near the ropes. Carter was up immediately, but he had been shaken. He didn’t see this coming and you can see by his face he was recalculating his strategy. At the end of the round he tapped Mims on the shoulder in a sign of respect for the veteran.
Carter (Left) and Mims Mix It Up Inside
Starting in round five Carter showed he was more than just a powerful puncher. He had the mind of a good boxer. He came out shortening up his shots. He had been made to pay for swinging too widely, but what differentiated him from so many other punchers, he was able to adapt mid-fight. It turns out he had more than a punch, he had the mind of a good boxer. Sure, Mims was still frustrating him, but he didn’t allow that to discourage him as so many others would have.
Watching this fight is a pleasure for a couple of reasons. First, you get to see the brilliant boxing of Holly Mims. He is amazing in the ring. The term “educated left hand” could have been coined just for him. He was the consummate counter-puncher, could fight in close and at long range with equal skill, and was very difficult to hit with a solid blow.
With Carter you see a young fighter developing right before your eyes. After he was dropped in the 4th round he could have let his frustration take hold and he would have lost. Instead, he realized he had to do something different, and he did even if that meant having to give up on scoring a knockout.
Ruben Carter won a unanimous decision that night, one he worked hard for. Even if he had lost the fight to Mims it would have been worth it for what he learned that night. Ten rounds in the ring with Holly Mims was like going to boxing graduate school for Carter. He came out of that fight a much better fighter than he was going in.
In 102 career fights Holly Mims was only stopped once, and that was on cuts and near the end of his career. In 40 fights Carter was also stopped only once, and that was also on cuts. Mims was not known as a puncher having only scored 13 knockouts in his career. Carter will always be remembered as a knockout artist having scored 19 knockouts in his 27 victories. Both will be remembered as being fighters who were next to impossible to kayo.
Watch the Mims/Carter fight, then watch it again. It is a very interesting fight and you will not only be entertained by it, you will learn a lot from it.
Holly Mims lands a body shot on George Benton in 1959 en route to winning a unanimous decision. Benton was from Philadelphia and he was a brilliant defensive fighter, Benton is the one that developed the famous "Philly Shell". The Philly Shell defense was pioneered and popularized by Benton in the 1950s, refining earlier "crab" or "Michigan" defensive styles to create the iconic shoulder roll, figures like James Toney and Floyd Mayweather later adapted and mastered it.
Final thought about Holly Mims, he was an all-time great fighter IMO, he was right there with the best of his era, Sugar Ray Robinson, Joey Giardello, Dick Tiger, Rocky Castellani, Henry Hank, George Benton, Johnny Bratton, Ellsworth Webb, Joey Archer, he could hang with them all. Drop him in any era and he raises hell. He was a smart fighter who seemed to know what to do in any situation, he could box, he could bang, and he had a chin made of granite. Great fighter, one of my favorites.
Racial prejudice was the only thing that kept Peter Jackson from his chance to win the world heavyweight crown. A world-class fighter, Jackson was not always granted the kind of competition he deserved. Born in the Virgin Islands, Jackson moved with his family to Australia when he was six years old. When his parents returned to the Caribbean, Jackson stayed in his new homeland. He became an excellent swimmer and diver and found work on ships at the age of fourteen. As a young man, Jackson used his fists to help quell a mutiny, and the incident received attention in the Australian press. Larry Foley, who had also handled Young Griffo, sought Jackson out and started him on his professional career.
Jackson won the Australian heavyweight title in 1886 with a knockout of Tom Leeds in the 30th round. Having difficulty securing bouts in Australia and eager to prove his worth, Jackson traveled to the United States in 1888. However, most top fighters shunned him for racial or competitive reasons. John L. Sullivan, the heavyweight champion and the most famous American boxer, stated, "I will not fight a Negro. I never have, and I never shall." Although Sullivan had actually faced a black opponent previously, he would not change his stance regarding Jackson.
Jackson knocked out George Godfrey, another black fighter, and several white opponents who agreed to fight him as he traveled across the country. He then journeyed to England where he beat Jem Smith in two rounds to claim the championship of the British Empire. Jackson dominated the fight and forced Smith to resort to wrestling to avoid a knockout.
Back in the U.S., Jackson found an adequate foe in future heavyweight champion James J. Corbett. In 1891, at the California Athletic Club in San Francisco, the two battled to a 61-round draw. Jackson displayed great boxing ability, although some observers believed that the 30-year-old fighter's punches were not the incredibly powerful weapons they had once been. Corbett later stated in his autobiography that Jackson could have beaten any heavyweight Corbett ever saw. Over the next several years, Jackson fought when he could obtain a match, acted, and ran a boxing school in London. In 1898, an over-the-hill Jackson lost to future champion James J. Jeffries on a fourth-round knockout. Shortly thereafter, Jackson returned to Australia to fight the tuberculosis which ultimately killed him.
Peter Jackson: The Greatest Heavyweight Champ of The Victorian Era
By: Andrew Leitch
A Boxer so feared, His Opponents Created the Colour Line
When we think of the greatest heavyweight champions, we may think of Mike Tyson, Muhammed Ali, perhaps Joe Louis. We may even harken back further to Jack Dempsey, Jack Johnson, or John Sullivan. And yet, many of us don’t immediately consider the holders of the World Coloured Heavyweight Championship of the prewar era. Even today, white fighters such as Jim Corbett, John Sullivan and Jim Jeffries enjoy greater recognition than early black fighter, after all they were the World Heavyweight Champions. Right?
On May 12, 1888, a young pugilist from Australia arrived in San Francisco by the name of Peter Jackson. Jackson, who originally hailed from the West Indies and later developed his boxing skills in Australia, had come to the United States in hopes of getting a shot at the newly formed World Heavyweight Championship title, which had belonged to the Boston Strong Boy John Sullivan since 1885.
Known as “the Black Prince”, Jackson was the complete package: lightning fast, a powerful punch with exceptional reach, and nimble footwork. His physique was so impressively proportioned that an article in the 1894 San Francisco Examiner directly compared his perfection to the inventor of body building Eugen Sandow, a.k.a. the Prussian Hercules, and the Apollo Belvedere statue.
Only three months after arriving in America, he had already won the World Coloured Heavyweight Championship title from George Godfrey. In the period that followed between 1888 and 1892, Jackson fought twenty-eight of the best fighters of England and America, without a single defeat.
His most memorable and likely most difficult bout was a 61-round no contest to Gentleman Jim Corbett, who would go on to win the Heavyweight Championship title from Sullivan only 18 months later.
It is evident that Corbett admired Jackson as looking back on his career, Corbett reflected:
“Jackson could beat any heavyweight I ever saw, …. my fight with Peter lasted four hours, so I should know whereof I speak. He has everything, could do everything.”
Jim Corbett From the Roar of the Crowd 1925
Boxing historians generally agree that had Jackson been given a title fight, he likely would have become the World Heavyweight Champion. However, despite being considered the top contender, Jackson was never given a shot at the title because Sullivan famously drew what became known as the “colour line”. Sullivan declared that “I have never fought a negro fighter and I never will”. Yet, Sullivan’s proclaimed colour line seems inconsistent with reports that he was set to face black fighter George Godfrey in 1881, but the fight was broken up by police before it could begin.
Although Godfrey was a great fighter, he was no Peter Jackson and Sullivan knew it so the creation of the colour line appears to have been nothing more than excuse to dodge Jackson. Nat Fletcher went as far to say: “Peter Jackson was regarded as the greatest fighter of his era, Jackson was so good, champions of his time would not risk a bout with him”.
But it wasn’t just Sullivan that wouldn’t fight Jackson, Jim Corbett also was reluctant to get in the ring again after he won the title from Sullivan. Despite that, or perhaps because, Corbett considered him “the greatest fighter I have ever seen..”, he refused to grant Jackson a title shot. Jackson went to the media to plead his case that he was the most deserving opponent to fight for the Championship, a tactic that Jack Johnson would also employ years later in his bid for a title bout.
In a signed letter to the press, Jackson wrote:
Before age has impaired my powers, I hope to have the pleasure of again meeting Jame J. Corbett in the ring. Not that I have a feeling of animosity for him. On the contrary, I like him very much and yield to no man in admiration for his skill and courage as a fighter. I am simply desirous of proving who is the champion pugilist of the world.
Rocky Mountain News Denver Colorado on July 3, 1893
Jim Corbett also witnessed an exhibition bout between Peter Jackson and Bob Fitzsimmons in 1896 and said “it was like a professor giving a pupil a lesson”(Fleischer 1938 p 123). Bob Fitzsimmons would go onto to win the World Heavyweight Championship a year later in 1897. Nat Fleischer wrote that Fitzsimmons also called Jackson “the greatest fighter who ever breathed”. (Fleischer 1938 p 124)
Another one of the fights during this period was in London against Frank Slavin, whom Jackson knocked out in the 10th round to win the Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship. Prior to the fight, Slavin had stated publicly “To be beaten by a black fellow … is a pill I shall never swallow.”
However, Slavin would concede to that Jackson was a superior boxer by later remarking on his fight with Jackson:
“My fight with him was my greatest, you do not know,… how he completely mastered me with his speed. Was there ever a big fellow so fast and so sprightly as he was?…. Peter, when I fought him was unbeatable, he was the greatest of all masters.
Daily Herald, January 11, 1923
Jackson’s dominance during this period made him a hero for the black community; however, the unbeatable aura, such as described by Slavin, also made him too feared to be given a title shot. He was forced to use his celebrity to earn a living as an actor in productions such as Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Jackson slowly began to realize that despite being the best fighter of the era, he was never going to fight for the World Heavyweight Championship title. Jackson retired in 1892 only to stage and an ill-fated comeback in 1898 to a much younger Jim Jeffries. Jackson was past his prime, out of shape and disillusioned from the racism he had experienced and was already suffering from tuberculosis. Jackson was knocked out in the third round. Two years later, Jackson would return home to Australia 1900 and die from the disease the following year in a sanitarium.
My question to the reader is this: when “we” as collectors look back on the history of boxing and consider the greatest fighters, are we still bound by this colour line?
Between the period of 1876 when Charles C. Smith declared himself and was recognized as the World Coloured Heavyweight champion until Joe Louis won the (white) Heavyweight Championship title from James Braddock in 1937, African American boxers could only compete for the Coloured Heavyweight Championship during this period.
John L. Sullivan, however, is still revered as the first and one of the greatest Heavyweight Champions of all time. Yet, Sullivan’s reluctance to face the top contender to the title surely taints his legacy and, more importantly the legacy of the World Heavyweight Championship title. I would argue that Sullivan and those that followed him that continued to draw the colour line should not be considered World Heavyweight Champions but rather the White World Heavyweight Champion. Simply adding the qualifier of “white” suddenly puts the title on equal footing as the “World Coloured Heavyweight Champion. And with this balancing, we can now start to be more objective in our assessment of which title was actually superior.
Interestingly, the same case can be made for Jack Johnson, the first African American boxer to win the World Heavyweight Championship. His legacy is also tainted by the fact that he refused to fight other top African American fighters after he won the title. The era that Johnson held the title was ripe with exceptional black fighters such as Joe Jeanette, Harry Wills, Sam McVey and of course, the legendary Sam Langford. Any one of these fighters had a good shot at winning Johnson’s title had they been given the chance. During his time as Heavyweight Champion, Johnson did fight one black boxer named Battling Jim Johnson; however, he was not considered nearly the same caliber as the aforementioned black boxers.
But let’s look at the numbers, since Joe Louis won the title in 1937, 70% of the boxers who have won the World Heavyweight title (all titles) come from African or African American decent. John Sullivan’s title was considered the World Heavyweight title, but truthfully only British, Canadian and American boxers competed during this time. In fact, it wasn’t until Tommy Burns won the the title and travelled around the world taking on heavyweights from other parts of the globe that the belt could really be considered a world title. If we then consider the proportion of African American champions among American, British and Canadian fighters as the pool would have been pre1900s, the statistic is even more pronounced. African American boxers have won the title 92% of the bouts. Not surprisingly then, most boxing historians concur that Peter Jackson was a superior boxer to Sullivan in almost every category. His only limitation was his skin colour.
Collectors today continue to reward Sullivan for his bigotry and cowardice as evidenced through the prices his cards garner. For example, looking at the PSA price guide for 1890 Mayo Plug Cut set, we see that John L. Sullivan commands 10 times the price of Peter Jackson with comparable population reports (Sullivan has slightly more graded cards).
Some might argue that history is history, and we should not try to modify it by imposing our values. To this, I would contend that we are not changing history but rather attempting to view it with more clarity. White World Heavyweight Championship title holders prior to Tommy Burns purposefully chose not to fight the best contenders of their day. Therefore, in retrospect, the World Coloured Heavyweight Championship was at least an equally prestigious title if not more so than the White World Heavyweight title. As collectors, we can and should exercise judgment on how we rank prewar heavyweight champions questioning whether John L. Sullivan would have enjoyed his title and subsequent fame had he not drawn the colour line? More pointedly, we must ask ourselves that if we hold onto the ceremony of history, are we also not somewhat to blame for perpetuating the biases? If the answer is yes, then we must acknowledge that Peter Jackson was the greatest heavyweight boxer of his era without ever holding the “white” Heavyweight Championship title.
Comments
Man, look at Jeffries and Johnson, two diesel trucks, both of them were built like a brick $hithouse.
This shot always gets me. Look at Jack Johnson, who was facing death threats every day from racist whites, had a target on his back everyday for years, look at him smiling at the white crowd as he knows he's got Jeffries beaten. You talk about having a set of ball$ on you, Jack Johnson had a set the size of grapefruits.
Jeffries lands a shot.
This is an epic shot, Jeffries busted open and bleeding from the nose. Look up close at Jeffries eyes, the expression on his face, he looks like he's seen a ghost. Wicked intense photo.
Of course this is the famous photo of Jeffries on the deck and the same shot from another angle.
This was an original advertisement for the fight.
Here is the Jeffries-Johnson knockout, as it happened in 1910.
In hindsight, from a moral standpoint, the Jeffries-Johnson fight had the right outcome, there is no place for racism in this world, we are all the same, we're all in this together, we're all brothers and sisters, and it's a shame that the fight had a dark cloud hovering over it, Jeffries and Johnson were two all-time great fighters. And this isn't the only incident of racism in boxing, there are fighters, great fighters, Hall of Famers, that drew the color line and refused to fight black fighters because that was the way society was back in the day and it's a shame because history missed out on some really great fights. And it's not limited to boxing, all the sports have a dark past, the country as a whole has a dark past when it comes to racism.
Hey look, I got to give a shout-out to Big John's Pickled Eggs, they've been sponsoring me here at the forum for years. So thank you to my peeps over at Big John's, and hey folks, try some today, they're eggscellent!
Looking back on James J. Jeffries and his career, he was a force of nature, I really don't know how else to put it, there was a reason he was never beaten in his prime, he was a big, strong, powerful, brutal, punishing fighter with an iron chin, he hit hard as hell and there just wasn't much you could do with him. I wish there was more footage of him in his prime, this is the only known footage of Jeffries in his prime, it's a brief clip of his second fight with "Sailor" Tom Sharkey, the fight that went 25 rounds. This film is from the year 1899, it is a true historical treasure. It's not much, but at least it's a glimpse at a fascinating fighter in his absolute prime, in fact two fascinating fighters in their prime. In the footage, you can see how big and strong Jeffries was, he pushes Sharkey back five or six feet a couple of times, just an overpowering fighter. This is absolutely fascinating, it's like looking back at a lost world, looking back in prehistoric time and watching two Tyrannosaurus Rex's doing battle.
This is a colorized photo of Jeffries vs Sharkey.
Poster advertises a mutoscope film (an early form of motion picture) that features the second boxing match between James J. Jeffries and Tom Sharkey, circa 1900.
I love photos that were used on cards, and this is the photo of Jeffries that was used to make his 1930 Singleton & Cole Famous Boxers card, this set is pretty rare and these cards can be tough to track down. This was a cigarette issued set in the UK.
One more awesome photo that was used on a Jeffries card, this is the photo used for his 1911 T9 Turkey Red Cabinet card.
One more photo that was used on a Jeffries card, this is the 1910 T218 Champions Prize Fighter.
This is a really cool series of photos of Jeffries, taken in a room in Chicago, Illinois.
James J. Jeffries in his prime, man he was built like a tree trunk, it's no wonder he carried such brutal punching power.
Great shot of Jeffries.
Studio photo of Jeffries.
Jeffries at the beginning of his career. Sick image, he looks tough as steel.
‘"The Lone Star Cobra'’ Donald Curry was at his brilliant, venomous best on December 6th in 1985 when he walked through Milton McCrory in two rounds and became the first undisputed welterweight king since Sugar Ray Leonard retired in 1982.
"I knew I was stronger, but I didn't know I was that much stronger," Curry said in Las Vegas. "I don't think he knew, either. After the first 20 seconds I could see the confusion in his eyes. I knew he was mine."
''I remember Gene Fullmer was one of the dirtiest fighters around. When you played a little dirty with him he cried to the referee. I butted him. I admit I butted him, but at least I didn't say, 'Excuse me, it's an accident.' He did it four or five times to me. The referee was the guy from St. Louis, Harry Kessler. Harry warned him and warned him and warned him but he never took a round away from him. So I was up against the ropes, I'll never forget it, and I knew he was coming in with his head, and I ducked a little lower than him and I come up and I give him a good gash. And the funny part of it is he didn't have no 'accidents' after that.''
Future world welterweight champion Johnny Bratton, aka "Honey Boy", sends Robert Early lateral before scoring a 3rd round TKO at Chicago Stadium in 1945.
Rafael Pineda scored a truly vicious 9th round TKO of "The Black Mamba" Roger Mayweather and won the vacant IBF junior welterweight title at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center in Reno, Nevada on this day in 1991.
Mayweather was a slick boxer-puncher with good punching power and a veteran of the game, but he'd already proven vulnerable against strong punchers like Pineda. The Colombian lost a previous title shot to Mark Breland, but he scored a handful of wins to gain another.
Pineda had trouble with Mayweather's movement through the first 8 rounds, which were nevertheless relatively even. Pineda didn't open up enough offensively, and Mayweather did a minumum.
In the 9th round, Mayweather appeared to misjudge a left hook from Pineda, and it caught him directly on the chin and knocked him out. Mayweather collapsed into the ropes and had to be roused from his slumber.
"I threw the punch with my heart and soul," Pineda said.
Man, I still can't get over this knockout.
Manny Pacquiao charged forward, thinking he was seconds away from victory… but Juan Manuel Marquez had been waiting for this moment for years.
In their fourth encounter, Marquez finally saw the opening he had studied since their first fight. The right hand landed clean. Pacquiao dropped face first. The arena went silent.
Nearly a decade of rivalry boiled down to one perfect punch — precise, calculated, unforgettable.
It remains one of the most shocking knockouts in boxing history. What a punch. What a rivalry.
Larry Holmes, "The Easton Assassin", had one, if not the best, jab in boxing history.
Teddy Atlas: Holmes’ jab was “a piston” and the key to his dominance.
Al Bernstein: Called it “the most authoritative jab in heavyweight history.”
George Foreman: Said Holmes had “the best jab I ever saw,” even better than Ali’s in terms of power and consistency.
Bert Sugar: Often ranked Holmes No. 1 or No. 2 all-time among jabbers (any weight class).
Max Kellerman: Praised Holmes for “weaponizing” the jab in a way few heavyweights ever have.
''I didn't have any skiIIs growing up in Long IsIand. My father was a tough Irish-American drinker who beat his kids every day. I didn’t get any kind of Iove or understanding in my househoId. I was wiId. There was a Iot of dysfunction in my Iife. I didn’t have anybody to guide me. The Iast time I saw my father, I took him to the hospitaI to get chemo. ImmediateIy after, he said: If you can’t Iive under my roof to my ruIes, get your hair cut, get home when I want you to get home, I’d rather crawI to the hospitaI on my hands and knees myseIf… That was my Iife. I Ieft the famiIy home when I was just 16 years oId, had to find my own way. I had pIenty of anger in me. Through boxing I Iearned how to Iove myseIf, my famiIy, peopIe around me. Boxing fed me, gave me confidence.''
“I have always considered it necessary that a young man, in order to become an accomplished boxer, should have brains as well as muscle. I never knew a thick-headed fellow yet to become skillful in the manly art.”
Many believe Tyson’s downfall wasn’t in the ring… It was the moment he lost the people who kept him disciplined.
“When I had Mike we were in training camp for five weeks. Back then I used to run 3-4 miles with him just to make sure he was doing it. And then we’d go to the gym. And then we’d go to a health club at night. Then we’d go to bed.
When he was with me there was no partying. There was no, ‘well I worked hard, I’m gonna go have a few drinks and try to pick up a girl’. That never happened.
Hey Mike, guess what? We got a title to defend and you gotta be in tip-top shape. So that Mike Tyson, if he didn’t cross channels and went with Don King, he would have gone down as the greatest heavyweight in history. Now people are talking, ah, he’s nothing. But that’s not true.”
Music break. This one goes out to everyone we've lost.
"Sugar" Ray Leonard won an epic showdown with Thomas Hearns in 1981's "Fight of the Year" by 14th round TKO to unify the WBC and WBA welterweight titles at Caesars Palace Outdoor Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 16th in 1981.
After Leonard had his two-fight series with Roberto Durán, he looked for a new big fight and zeroed in on undefeated Hearns, who held the WBA title. Hearns was a skilled undefeated boxer who found his punching power in the pro ranks.
The fight was an instant classic that has since become almost universally recognized as one of the greatest matches of all time. The fighters switched roles back and forth, from puncher and boxer, hunter and hunted, and more than once. About 23,000 in attendance watched a high-level chess match mixed where dangerous punches were thrown.
Hearns boxed so well early that it took several rounds for Leonard to connect on anything serious. By then Leonard's left eye, which he later claimed to have injured in sparring, began swelling up. Leonard occasionally broke through with a damaging shot that rocked Hearns, but the unbeaten Detroit star was ahead on all cards going into round 13.
Leonard's trainer Angelo Dundee famously told his fighter round before the round started, "You're blowing it, son."
Leonard sent Hearns through the ropes with a combination punctuated by a push in the 13th and almost knocked Hearns out. In the 14th, Leonard had Hearns falling all over the ring, which forced the referee to end the fight.
"I proved I'm the best welterweight in the world," Leonard said. "This fight surpasses all my professional accomplishments."
"Big" George Foreman nearly had his heavyweight championship plans derailed when he barely won a 10 round majority decision over Alex Stewart in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 11th in 1992.
Foreman, still in the midst of his comeback, was a 6-to-1 favorite over Stewart, who had lost by stoppage to Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson and Michael Moorer. Foreman had been written off as a joke by most until losing a competitive decision to Holyfield the year prior.
Early on it seemed like Foreman might dismiss Stewart as well. The former (and future) heavyweight champion sent Stewart down twice in round 2 and things looked grim. But Steward chose to fight his way out and actually stung Foreman with a right hand before the round was over.
Stewart absorbed more punishment without going out than most expected, and after several rounds of landing clean shots, Foreman's face began to swell grotesquely.
By the end of the bout, Foreman had lost a point for low blows, scored two knockdowns and had swelling on his jaw and around both eyes. Stewart wasn't exactly unscathed, and he sported cuts over his eyes. The knockdowns proved to be the difference and gave the decision to Foreman by a thin margin.
"I thought it would be close, which it was," said Stewart. "I thought [I won.] I know George can punch. I made the mistake of exchanging with him and got caught."
Foreman joked at the post-fight press conference by opening up saying, "Ladies and gentleman, this is George Foreman. Can you please tell me where the aspirin are?" Foreman then said, "I didn't wanna hurt the kid, then the kid hurt me."
"Saint" George Groves made quick work of Jamie Cox on Saturday Oct. 14, 2017 at the SSE Arena in London.
Groves halted Cox with a crushing right to the body in the fourth round to retain his WBA world super-middleweight in a dominant first title defense.
And this was an impressively efficient demolition job from Groves, who landed the clean shots against Cox.
"I picked him [Cox, in the draw] because I believe he was the most dangerous of the unseeded fighters. I didn't want an easy fight," said Groves. "I knew Jamie Cox would ask questions and I trained alongside him years ago.
Cox (24-1, 13 KOs), 31, did not lack aggression or appetite, but he could not recover from the precise body shot and the fight was stopped after one minute and 42 seconds of round four.
Groves, who won the WBA belt by sixth round stoppage against Russia's Fedor Chudinov in May, made a good start and landed a good right hand in the first round.
But it not dissuade Cox who then bundled Groves into a corner and attacked the champion with gusto in the second round.
With Groves trapped in the corner, Cox unloaded a furious assault from both hands which Groves did well to emerge from untroubled.
Later in the second, Groves regained some authority by planting some stiff right hands on Cox. But the challenger again came storming back.
However, the cleaner and more accurate punches were always from the champion and Cox's aggression was abruptly curtailed with him doubled up in pain with his knees on the canvas after being hit by Groves' body shot.
Holly Mims: FORGOTTEN WARRIOR
By: Mike Casey
You just keep looking at the records of some boxers in open-mouthed admiration and disbelief. The sheer quality of their opposition pours off the page as your eyes count off names that ring like a bell.
Just recently I was re-acquainting myself with the impressive ledger of middleweight Holly Mims, from Washington, DC, who engaged in 102 bouts from 1948 to 1967. Holly’s record is a very handy reference tool on the great fighters of that era.
Just one fifth of that record contains the following names: Johnny Bratton, Jose Basora, Gene Burton, Sugar Ray Robinson, George Benton, Lester Felton, Willie Troy, Bobby Dykes, Rocky Castellani, Milo Savage, Bobby Boyd, Spider Webb, Joey Giardello, Henry Hank, Rudell Stitch, Dick Tiger, Gomeo Brennan, Jimmy Ellis, Rubin Carter, Emile Griffith, Joey Archer and Luis Rodriguez.
Frustratingly, Holly Mims fell into that cursed category of the highly skilled but unglamorous. He was too dangerous for his own good, too much of a spoiler, one of those guys who got the short notice phone call from promoters when two or three other guys pulled out. Holly got plenty of short notice calls, often getting just a day or two to prepare himself. He trained constantly to cope with the ordeal of being one of boxing’s short order cooks.
The story goes that Rubin (Hurricane) Carter didn’t react kindly when Madison Square Garden matchmaker Teddy Brenner advised him that Mims was his substitute opponent for a 10-round match on December 22nd, 1962. Carter won a unanimous decision but not before Mims had knocked him down in the fourth round.
If justice had been done, Holly’s professional record would have been considerably better than his official 68-28-6 log, for he was on the wrong end of many questionable split decisions. Somebody once said that those split losses were as frequent as a liquor store hold-up. Mims was philosophical about this, saying, “I always like to at least let them know I was there.”
For the record, Mims lost 27 fights by decision, of which nine were split verdicts and five were decided by majority.
Dangerous
Holly Mims was a dangerous omnipresence, teak-tough and crafty, always ready to fight. He had entered the boxing through the local amateur clubs in Washington, helped by his brother James, and went on to win the Washington Golden Gloves middleweight title. Holly turned professional in 1948 and it wasn’t long before he was swimming in the deep end of a very talented pool.
A stand-up boxer with guile, toughness and a versatile box of tricks, Mims could box and fight and handle any situation. He was adept at picking off opponents’ punches with apparent ease and his sense of anticipation rivalled that of a top chess player.
Fluid of movement, Holly could box traditionally or slug when slugging was required. Many an opponent had a rude awakening when he forced Mims to the ropes or into a corner. With his long arms, which he used to maximum effect, Mims would lash back with a volley of punches that left the aggressor stunned. Holly loved the ropes, springing from their haven as an octopus springs from its lair.
Mims held his left hand low, teasing his opponents to move into him. Many a puncher grabbed the tempting invitation, like a fish chomping at the angler’s bait, but Mims was a hub of constant and slippery movement and incredibly difficult to hit cleanly. His excellent head movement was consistently confusing to his opponents and he took a punch well when he had to, barely reacting to it.
Holly learned his trade well and learned it quickly. By the Spring of 1951 and still only 23 years of age, he had been a professional for less than three years when he gave middleweight champion Sugar Ray Robinson a very testing time in their non-title 10-rounder at the Miami Stadium. Only two months before, Robbie had butchered Jake LaMotta to win the championship.
Mims lost a unanimous decision to Robinson but refused to be discouraged throughout the lively encounter and kept coming back to Robbie with all the quirky danger of a boomerang. Blaming a virus for his poor form, Robinson apparently told Mims after the fight that he thought Holly had won. “I guess the virus had me worse than I thought,” Ray said after the fight. “A couple of times I had him lined up but I couldn’t get him.”
Mims was buoyant despite the loss and told reporters, “Robinson never hurt me bad any time.”
Rollicking
It was a rollicking good fight in which Robinson repeatedly tried to steady the ever active Mims and take him out. But nobody ever did knock out the remarkably durable and energetic Mims, who suffered only one loss inside schedule. That was at the tail end of his career in 1964 when a badly cut left eye ruled him out of his fight with Joe Louis Adair in the sixth round.
Tough as nuts, Mims had great bounce-back ability and wasn’t at all deterred when the great Robinson decked him in the second round with a right and a left to the head. It was Holly who was the aggressor, surprising Ray on several occasions by punching out of a crouch and catching him with solid blows to the jaw.
Ray endeavored to keep Mims at distance with the jab, but the Washington underdog showed scant respect for Ray’s reputation as he continually surged forward. In an exciting fourth round, Mims connected with a trio of solid lefts to the jaw, but Ray countered by driving his opponent into the ropes with a pair of whipping lefts and a right. Mims’ commitment was evident in the sixth round when Robbie stepped on the gas and dominated heavily, only to have his tenacious opponent fire back at the end of the round with several looping right hands.
In the eighth round Robinson launched a big effort to stop Holly, punishing him with both fists, but back came Mims again with a spirited attack of his own. In the ninth, Robinson’s frustration showed as he missed the mark with a big right hand and lost his balance. It wasn’t too often in his glittering career that Ray was made to look inelegant.
Dedicated
A dedicated professional, Mims never stopped learning the tricks of his trade. In 1958, ten years after he joined the pro ranks, Holly discovered that his right hand was a more effective tool than he had believed and gave him additional punching power. Two great results in succession catapulted Mims to number seven in The Ring’s world ratings, where the eternal Robinson still reigned as world champion. Holly fought a draw with Bobby Boyd in Miami Beach and then upset Spider Webb on a unanimous decision in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The new-found wallop was clear to see as Mims floored Boyd in the eighth round of their meeting and dumped the highly fancied Webb for a nine count.
Webb, one of the best boxer punchers of the era, had become a hot star of the division by knocking out another fine operator in Rory Calhoun just a month before. With a possible title tilt against Robinson on the horizon, the match against Mims was a risky venture and Spider’s trainer Carl Nelson wasn’t comfortable about it. The popular Mims was appearing for the ninth time on a national television boxing show and Nelson knew all about his reputation as a busy puncher and a danger man on the ropes. “We are not going to dig him out of the ropes,” Nelson said firmly.
Mims had lost a decision to Webb nearly two years before in a bout where both men came in as substitutes. Holly received only three days’ notice of the fight and was coming off a four-month layoff. “I wasn’t sharp and my legs weren’t strong,” he said. “I can lick this guy and I’ll prove it.” Mims did so emphatically and sent Spider tumbling from third to sixth in the world ratings.
The victory over Webb and the draw with Bobby Boyd revived Holly’s career in a big way. His talent had always been acknowledged by boxing insiders, many of whom ranked him as the middleweight division’s most accomplished operator behind Robinson. Sadly, unlike Ray, Mims wasn’t fashionable and the trials and tribulations of being perceived as a reliable opponent inevitably made his form erratic. He had once climbed as high as number two in the world ratings, but circumstances constantly prevented him from gaining any consistent momentum.
How good was he? Consider that all the way back in 1950, when still learning his trade, Holly was thrown in with the highly talented Johnny Bratton at the Baltimore Coliseum. Bratton was heading for the welterweight championship but got a rude awakening from Mims, who won a unanimous decision. No fluke, that result. Three weeks later, Mims repeated the feat at the same venue. Four months after that, Bratton won the vacant NBA title from Charley Fusari.
Best
It was in 1953 that Holly hit his best and most consistent form, starting with a breakthrough victory in his hometown of Washington when he stopped the previously undefeated Willie Troy in eight rounds. Mims knocked Troy down in the eighth and Willie was in no fit state to continue. Mims, for the first time in his stop-start career, was suddenly flying. He won his next eleven fights and became a top three contender along with Joey Giardello and Rocky Castellani. It was the tough Castellani who snapped Holly’s winning streak with a unanimous win in Cleveland. Years later Rocky would describe Mims as ‘the real deal’ and one of his toughest opponents.
How tough it must have been to fight Mims. He never gave you a moment’s rest. Keeping him at bay was akin to trying to fend off a swarm of bees. The crafty Washington hustler was always ready to rock and roll and ruin a man’s day.
His 1959 match with Joey Giardello was a peach, another ‘squeaker’ that went to the wire, full of give-and-take action as well as a generous helping of Giardello’s blood. Joey finished the fight strongly to win a split decision (yes, another split decision!) but suffered a seriously messed up face from Holly’s ripping punches. Joey’s left eye was cut in the opening round and the right side of his face was badly gashed in a torrid eighth round as Mims went all out for the win. He stunned Giardello with a left-right combination and then buckled his knees with a powerful left towards the close of the round.
However, Giardello, ever courageous, came on like a train in the tenth and final round, winning that vital frame to capture the tightest of decisions.
Tough of mind as well as body, the admirably persistent Mims never wailed about his losses. With a shrug of his shoulders and some gentle sarcasm, he took life’s hits and just kept rolling on. He was the ‘nearly man’ of the middleweight division who, two months after the Giardello war, met another nearly man in the highly skillful George Benton. To this day, people still ask how good George Benton really was, just as they ask the same question of Mims. They want a definitive answer and there isn’t one because there are too many variables and too many ifs and buts getting in the way.
In their 1959 clash at the Miami Beach Auditorium, Mims defeated Benton decisively, seven years after dropping an eight-round verdict to George in Philadelphia. Holly punished Benton with a consistent body attack. Keeping the fight in close and forcing the elegant Benton to fight against type, Mims dominated the bout and had George staggering in the seventh round from a left-right combination.
Beans
Still full of beans and busy-bee menace, Mims extended his career deep into the 1960s and remained every top ranking fighter’s least favorite pest right to the end. In 1964 at Madison Square Garden, Mims got the sympathy vote after losing an unpopular split decision to top contender Joey Archer. Joey described Holly as “a real cutie” and added, “I learned plenty from him.”
Holly’s response summed up the philosophy of every nearly man in boxing. “That’s OK with me,” he said. “I beat Archer even if I didn’t get the decision. But that’s an old story with me.”
It would be another three years before Holly Mims fought his last battle to end his rollercoaster career with a nice little run of six straight wins. In the Summer of Love of 1967, he outpointed Georgie Johnson in Portland, Maine — by split decision!
You know, reading that article above about Holly Mims, brilliantly written by Mike Casey by the way, one thing jumped out at me. When he says Holly Mims was dangerous, he wasn't kidding, Mims was a real spoiler of a fighter, you stick him in with the best middleweight on the planet and Mims is just liable to beat him, Mims was that good. Another thing about Mims, opponents that thought they could pin Mims against the ropes or back him into a corner were absolutely in for a rude awakening. Mims was more than willing to slug It out, and he could turn from boxer to demon in an instant. He could really let it rip, and a lot of the exchanges he would get into resembled a car wreck, the concussive power being thrown around was hellacious. It's crazy because Mims wasn't known as a knockout puncher, but man he could throw some serious leather when need be.
Holly Mims vs Rubin "Hurricane" Carter in 1962 is a classic, Mims was past his prime and wasn't even supposed to be Carter's opponent that night but was called in as a replacement. This is what made Mims so dangerous, you would think a past prime Mims called up on short notice would get blitz by one of the most murderous punchers in middleweight history who happened to be in his prime. Not the case. He gave Carter hell.
Boxing over Broadway
Holly And The Hurricane
Carter Vs Mims
Learning While Fighting
By: Bobby Franklin
Holly Mims
Recently, I watched the 1962 fight between Ruben Hurricane Carter and Holly Mims. The fight took place on December 22, 1962 at Madison Square Garden. It is a highly interesting bout to watch. In it you can see how Carter had to adapt from depending on his powerful punch in order to deal with the wily veteran Mims.
Carter’s original opponent for that night was Gomeo Brennan. Brennan pulled out the morning of the fight when he woke up with a head cold. A call was put in to Mims who lived in Washington, DC and he agreed to fill in for Brennan. He caught a flight to NY and by that evening was in the ring facing the hard punching Carter.
Mims was a savvy boxer and was always in shape. he had fought just a month earlier. However, stepping in with short notice against such strong opponent may not have seemed like a wise move. Of course, it could also be argued that in what was only his 16th bout Carter may have been smart to avoid such a ring wise veteran as Mims who could make him look bad even if Carter won. It actually proved to be a good move on Ruben’s part even though Holly gave him all he could handle.
Ruben "Hurricane" Carter
Two months earlier Carter had destroyed Florentino Fernandez in the first round with a devastating knock out. Carter had raw power and a solid chin, but was he beginning to rely too much on that power to score victories? That is the curse of the heavy hitters. They get lazy when it comes to learning the finer points of the game. The list of promising superstar punchers who never quite made it because of this lack of learning is a long one.
This is where the Mims fight showed a lot about Carter. Ruben was the favorite going into the match. The odds were large in his favor probably due to the fact that Mims only had a few hours notice before taking the fight. Holly had 82 fights at that point in his career and had never been stopped. Ruben was in only his 16th fight. Eleven of Carter’s victories were by kayo with the Fernandez stoppage putting him on the fistic map.
Mims came into the fight with 59 wins, 23 losses, and 6 draws. He had been fighting since 1948 and had faced the likes of Joey Giardello, Rocky Castellani, Spider Webb, George Benton, and Henry Hank.
Holly Mims (Left) Blocks A Right By Ruben Carter
When the bell rang in the Garden that night Carter came out in explosive fashion. Memories of his destruction of Fernandez were still fresh in his mind, and he probably felt he could repeat what he did that night. He did hurt Mims, and for a moment it looked as if he would score an early kayo. However, Mims was no Fernandez. He was a complete fighter who knew how to handle any situation in the ring. When hurt, he knew how to cover up, how to hold, how to fight back and let his opponent know he’d better not get too wild or he will pay a price.
Carter was not able to pull off a first round victory, but he kept the attack up in the second round. By now Mims was figuring Ruben out and was hitting him with beautiful jabs from a distance, and when Carter would get within power punch range, Holly would move in close where he was the superior in-fighter.
In the fourth round Mims dropped Carter with a left hook right hand combination near the ropes. Carter was up immediately, but he had been shaken. He didn’t see this coming and you can see by his face he was recalculating his strategy. At the end of the round he tapped Mims on the shoulder in a sign of respect for the veteran.
Carter (Left) and Mims Mix It Up Inside
Starting in round five Carter showed he was more than just a powerful puncher. He had the mind of a good boxer. He came out shortening up his shots. He had been made to pay for swinging too widely, but what differentiated him from so many other punchers, he was able to adapt mid-fight. It turns out he had more than a punch, he had the mind of a good boxer. Sure, Mims was still frustrating him, but he didn’t allow that to discourage him as so many others would have.
Watching this fight is a pleasure for a couple of reasons. First, you get to see the brilliant boxing of Holly Mims. He is amazing in the ring. The term “educated left hand” could have been coined just for him. He was the consummate counter-puncher, could fight in close and at long range with equal skill, and was very difficult to hit with a solid blow.
With Carter you see a young fighter developing right before your eyes. After he was dropped in the 4th round he could have let his frustration take hold and he would have lost. Instead, he realized he had to do something different, and he did even if that meant having to give up on scoring a knockout.
Ruben Carter won a unanimous decision that night, one he worked hard for. Even if he had lost the fight to Mims it would have been worth it for what he learned that night. Ten rounds in the ring with Holly Mims was like going to boxing graduate school for Carter. He came out of that fight a much better fighter than he was going in.
In 102 career fights Holly Mims was only stopped once, and that was on cuts and near the end of his career. In 40 fights Carter was also stopped only once, and that was also on cuts. Mims was not known as a puncher having only scored 13 knockouts in his career. Carter will always be remembered as a knockout artist having scored 19 knockouts in his 27 victories. Both will be remembered as being fighters who were next to impossible to kayo.
Watch the Mims/Carter fight, then watch it again. It is a very interesting fight and you will not only be entertained by it, you will learn a lot from it.
Holly Mims lands a body shot on George Benton in 1959 en route to winning a unanimous decision. Benton was from Philadelphia and he was a brilliant defensive fighter, Benton is the one that developed the famous "Philly Shell". The Philly Shell defense was pioneered and popularized by Benton in the 1950s, refining earlier "crab" or "Michigan" defensive styles to create the iconic shoulder roll, figures like James Toney and Floyd Mayweather later adapted and mastered it.
Holly Mims floors Ellsworth "Spider" Webb in 1959, Webb was a great fighter and a very dangerous puncher. They fought twice, splitting the series.
Mims and Jesse Turner slug it out in 1953.
Holly Mims lands a right to the face of Moses Ward in 1954.
Holly Mims lands a body shot to Bobby Boyd in 1959.
Holly Mims vs Sugar Ray Robinson in 1951, Robinson was in his prime at the time of this fight and Mims took him the distance and gave Robinson hell.
Holly Mims vs Rocky Castellani in 1955, Castellani was a damn good fighter and one tough Italian SOB.
Great shot here, left to right, Jimmy Ellis, Holly Mims, Willie Besmanoff, and a young Muhammad Ali in 1961.
Final thought about Holly Mims, he was an all-time great fighter IMO, he was right there with the best of his era, Sugar Ray Robinson, Joey Giardello, Dick Tiger, Rocky Castellani, Henry Hank, George Benton, Johnny Bratton, Ellsworth Webb, Joey Archer, he could hang with them all. Drop him in any era and he raises hell. He was a smart fighter who seemed to know what to do in any situation, he could box, he could bang, and he had a chin made of granite. Great fighter, one of my favorites.
Racial prejudice was the only thing that kept Peter Jackson from his chance to win the world heavyweight crown. A world-class fighter, Jackson was not always granted the kind of competition he deserved. Born in the Virgin Islands, Jackson moved with his family to Australia when he was six years old. When his parents returned to the Caribbean, Jackson stayed in his new homeland. He became an excellent swimmer and diver and found work on ships at the age of fourteen. As a young man, Jackson used his fists to help quell a mutiny, and the incident received attention in the Australian press. Larry Foley, who had also handled Young Griffo, sought Jackson out and started him on his professional career.
Jackson won the Australian heavyweight title in 1886 with a knockout of Tom Leeds in the 30th round. Having difficulty securing bouts in Australia and eager to prove his worth, Jackson traveled to the United States in 1888. However, most top fighters shunned him for racial or competitive reasons. John L. Sullivan, the heavyweight champion and the most famous American boxer, stated, "I will not fight a Negro. I never have, and I never shall." Although Sullivan had actually faced a black opponent previously, he would not change his stance regarding Jackson.
Jackson knocked out George Godfrey, another black fighter, and several white opponents who agreed to fight him as he traveled across the country. He then journeyed to England where he beat Jem Smith in two rounds to claim the championship of the British Empire. Jackson dominated the fight and forced Smith to resort to wrestling to avoid a knockout.
Back in the U.S., Jackson found an adequate foe in future heavyweight champion James J. Corbett. In 1891, at the California Athletic Club in San Francisco, the two battled to a 61-round draw. Jackson displayed great boxing ability, although some observers believed that the 30-year-old fighter's punches were not the incredibly powerful weapons they had once been. Corbett later stated in his autobiography that Jackson could have beaten any heavyweight Corbett ever saw. Over the next several years, Jackson fought when he could obtain a match, acted, and ran a boxing school in London. In 1898, an over-the-hill Jackson lost to future champion James J. Jeffries on a fourth-round knockout. Shortly thereafter, Jackson returned to Australia to fight the tuberculosis which ultimately killed him.
Peter Jackson: The Greatest Heavyweight Champ of The Victorian Era
By: Andrew Leitch
A Boxer so feared, His Opponents Created the Colour Line
When we think of the greatest heavyweight champions, we may think of Mike Tyson, Muhammed Ali, perhaps Joe Louis. We may even harken back further to Jack Dempsey, Jack Johnson, or John Sullivan. And yet, many of us don’t immediately consider the holders of the World Coloured Heavyweight Championship of the prewar era. Even today, white fighters such as Jim Corbett, John Sullivan and Jim Jeffries enjoy greater recognition than early black fighter, after all they were the World Heavyweight Champions. Right?
On May 12, 1888, a young pugilist from Australia arrived in San Francisco by the name of Peter Jackson. Jackson, who originally hailed from the West Indies and later developed his boxing skills in Australia, had come to the United States in hopes of getting a shot at the newly formed World Heavyweight Championship title, which had belonged to the Boston Strong Boy John Sullivan since 1885.
Known as “the Black Prince”, Jackson was the complete package: lightning fast, a powerful punch with exceptional reach, and nimble footwork. His physique was so impressively proportioned that an article in the 1894 San Francisco Examiner directly compared his perfection to the inventor of body building Eugen Sandow, a.k.a. the Prussian Hercules, and the Apollo Belvedere statue.
Only three months after arriving in America, he had already won the World Coloured Heavyweight Championship title from George Godfrey. In the period that followed between 1888 and 1892, Jackson fought twenty-eight of the best fighters of England and America, without a single defeat.
His most memorable and likely most difficult bout was a 61-round no contest to Gentleman Jim Corbett, who would go on to win the Heavyweight Championship title from Sullivan only 18 months later.
It is evident that Corbett admired Jackson as looking back on his career, Corbett reflected:
“Jackson could beat any heavyweight I ever saw, …. my fight with Peter lasted four hours, so I should know whereof I speak. He has everything, could do everything.”
Jim Corbett From the Roar of the Crowd 1925
Boxing historians generally agree that had Jackson been given a title fight, he likely would have become the World Heavyweight Champion. However, despite being considered the top contender, Jackson was never given a shot at the title because Sullivan famously drew what became known as the “colour line”. Sullivan declared that “I have never fought a negro fighter and I never will”. Yet, Sullivan’s proclaimed colour line seems inconsistent with reports that he was set to face black fighter George Godfrey in 1881, but the fight was broken up by police before it could begin.
Although Godfrey was a great fighter, he was no Peter Jackson and Sullivan knew it so the creation of the colour line appears to have been nothing more than excuse to dodge Jackson. Nat Fletcher went as far to say: “Peter Jackson was regarded as the greatest fighter of his era, Jackson was so good, champions of his time would not risk a bout with him”.
But it wasn’t just Sullivan that wouldn’t fight Jackson, Jim Corbett also was reluctant to get in the ring again after he won the title from Sullivan. Despite that, or perhaps because, Corbett considered him “the greatest fighter I have ever seen..”, he refused to grant Jackson a title shot. Jackson went to the media to plead his case that he was the most deserving opponent to fight for the Championship, a tactic that Jack Johnson would also employ years later in his bid for a title bout.
In a signed letter to the press, Jackson wrote:
Before age has impaired my powers, I hope to have the pleasure of again meeting Jame J. Corbett in the ring. Not that I have a feeling of animosity for him. On the contrary, I like him very much and yield to no man in admiration for his skill and courage as a fighter. I am simply desirous of proving who is the champion pugilist of the world.
Rocky Mountain News Denver Colorado on July 3, 1893
Jim Corbett also witnessed an exhibition bout between Peter Jackson and Bob Fitzsimmons in 1896 and said “it was like a professor giving a pupil a lesson”(Fleischer 1938 p 123). Bob Fitzsimmons would go onto to win the World Heavyweight Championship a year later in 1897. Nat Fleischer wrote that Fitzsimmons also called Jackson “the greatest fighter who ever breathed”. (Fleischer 1938 p 124)
Another one of the fights during this period was in London against Frank Slavin, whom Jackson knocked out in the 10th round to win the Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship. Prior to the fight, Slavin had stated publicly “To be beaten by a black fellow … is a pill I shall never swallow.”
However, Slavin would concede to that Jackson was a superior boxer by later remarking on his fight with Jackson:
“My fight with him was my greatest, you do not know,… how he completely mastered me with his speed. Was there ever a big fellow so fast and so sprightly as he was?…. Peter, when I fought him was unbeatable, he was the greatest of all masters.
Daily Herald, January 11, 1923
Jackson’s dominance during this period made him a hero for the black community; however, the unbeatable aura, such as described by Slavin, also made him too feared to be given a title shot. He was forced to use his celebrity to earn a living as an actor in productions such as Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Jackson slowly began to realize that despite being the best fighter of the era, he was never going to fight for the World Heavyweight Championship title. Jackson retired in 1892 only to stage and an ill-fated comeback in 1898 to a much younger Jim Jeffries. Jackson was past his prime, out of shape and disillusioned from the racism he had experienced and was already suffering from tuberculosis. Jackson was knocked out in the third round. Two years later, Jackson would return home to Australia 1900 and die from the disease the following year in a sanitarium.
My question to the reader is this: when “we” as collectors look back on the history of boxing and consider the greatest fighters, are we still bound by this colour line?
Between the period of 1876 when Charles C. Smith declared himself and was recognized as the World Coloured Heavyweight champion until Joe Louis won the (white) Heavyweight Championship title from James Braddock in 1937, African American boxers could only compete for the Coloured Heavyweight Championship during this period.
John L. Sullivan, however, is still revered as the first and one of the greatest Heavyweight Champions of all time. Yet, Sullivan’s reluctance to face the top contender to the title surely taints his legacy and, more importantly the legacy of the World Heavyweight Championship title. I would argue that Sullivan and those that followed him that continued to draw the colour line should not be considered World Heavyweight Champions but rather the White World Heavyweight Champion. Simply adding the qualifier of “white” suddenly puts the title on equal footing as the “World Coloured Heavyweight Champion. And with this balancing, we can now start to be more objective in our assessment of which title was actually superior.
Interestingly, the same case can be made for Jack Johnson, the first African American boxer to win the World Heavyweight Championship. His legacy is also tainted by the fact that he refused to fight other top African American fighters after he won the title. The era that Johnson held the title was ripe with exceptional black fighters such as Joe Jeanette, Harry Wills, Sam McVey and of course, the legendary Sam Langford. Any one of these fighters had a good shot at winning Johnson’s title had they been given the chance. During his time as Heavyweight Champion, Johnson did fight one black boxer named Battling Jim Johnson; however, he was not considered nearly the same caliber as the aforementioned black boxers.
But let’s look at the numbers, since Joe Louis won the title in 1937, 70% of the boxers who have won the World Heavyweight title (all titles) come from African or African American decent. John Sullivan’s title was considered the World Heavyweight title, but truthfully only British, Canadian and American boxers competed during this time. In fact, it wasn’t until Tommy Burns won the the title and travelled around the world taking on heavyweights from other parts of the globe that the belt could really be considered a world title. If we then consider the proportion of African American champions among American, British and Canadian fighters as the pool would have been pre1900s, the statistic is even more pronounced. African American boxers have won the title 92% of the bouts. Not surprisingly then, most boxing historians concur that Peter Jackson was a superior boxer to Sullivan in almost every category. His only limitation was his skin colour.
Collectors today continue to reward Sullivan for his bigotry and cowardice as evidenced through the prices his cards garner. For example, looking at the PSA price guide for 1890 Mayo Plug Cut set, we see that John L. Sullivan commands 10 times the price of Peter Jackson with comparable population reports (Sullivan has slightly more graded cards).
Some might argue that history is history, and we should not try to modify it by imposing our values. To this, I would contend that we are not changing history but rather attempting to view it with more clarity. White World Heavyweight Championship title holders prior to Tommy Burns purposefully chose not to fight the best contenders of their day. Therefore, in retrospect, the World Coloured Heavyweight Championship was at least an equally prestigious title if not more so than the White World Heavyweight title. As collectors, we can and should exercise judgment on how we rank prewar heavyweight champions questioning whether John L. Sullivan would have enjoyed his title and subsequent fame had he not drawn the colour line? More pointedly, we must ask ourselves that if we hold onto the ceremony of history, are we also not somewhat to blame for perpetuating the biases? If the answer is yes, then we must acknowledge that Peter Jackson was the greatest heavyweight boxer of his era without ever holding the “white” Heavyweight Championship title.
Peter Jackson in his prime.
Peter Jackson sparring in the 1890s, man Jackson was one big dude. I love this image, his right fist looks like a sledgehammer.