Early Boxing Career
Johnson made his debut as a pro on 1 November 1897 in Galveston, when he knocked-out Charley Brooks in the second round of a 15-round bout for what was billed as the Texas State Middleweight Title. In his third pro fight on 8 May 1899, he battled "Klondike" (John W. Haynes or Haines), an African American heavyweight known as "The Black Hercules", in Chicago. Klondike (so called as he was considered a rarity, like the gold in The Klondike), who had declared himself the "Black Heavyweight Champ", won on a technical knock-out in the fifth round of a scheduled six-rounder. The two fighters met again in 1900, with the first contest resulting in a draw as both fighters were on the their feet at the end of 20 rounds. Johnson won the second fight by a TKO when Klondkie refused to come out for the 14th round. Johnson did not claim Klondike's unrecognized title.
Read more about this topic: Jack Johnson (boxer)
Famous quotes containing the words early, boxing and/or career:
“In the true sense one’s native land, with its background of tradition, early impressions, reminiscences and other things dear to one, is not enough to make sensitive human beings feel at home.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)
“I can entertain the proposition that life is a metaphor for boxing—for one of those bouts that go on and on, round following round, jabs, missed punches, clinches, nothing determined, again the bell and again and you and your opponent so evenly matched it’s impossible not to see that your opponent is you.... Life is like boxing in many unsettling respects. But boxing is only like boxing.”
—Joyce Carol Oates (b. 1938)
“In time your relatives will come to accept the idea that a career is as important to you as your family. Of course, in time the polar ice cap will melt.”
—Barbara Dale (b. 1940)