When Boxing Was, Like, Ridiculously Racist

Ian Carey

Description

This is the story of the lineage of Boxing's World Heavyweight Championship from 1882-1915 and how it explains a cultural attitude toward race and identity in that era.

The first true national and international sports celebrities were boxers in the late 1800s. Soon after the abolishment of slavery in the United States the first World Champions of the sport were crowned. As the Champion of the World these boxing heavyweights were held on a pedestal of athletic dominance, and in the eyes of some white Americans, and many of those in the boxing community, these champions had to be white, anything else would challenge the belief of white Anglo-saxon superiority that many white Americans were clinging to at the time.

It is the story of the symbol of the World Champion during that period and what it meant in society. It's also a story about a bunch of tough, bad-ass guys from over a hundred years ago that used to beat each other up.

Sujets

• Sport
• Sports de combat
• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Discrimination

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 21 février 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781456613150
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

When Boxing Was, Like, Ridiculously Racist
 
 
by
Ian Carey

Copyright 2013 Ian Carey,
All rights reserved.
 
 
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
http://www.eBookIt.com
 
 
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-1315-0
 
 
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Introduction
Boxing today doesn’t have the cultural significance that it used to. While still enthusiastically followed in much of the world, the sport has faded from the spotlight in the current popular cultures of much of North America and Europe. Some of this can be attributed to the rise in popularity of the UFC and Mixed Martial Arts. The top boxer in the world now does not have an undisputed claim to being the toughest fighter on the planet as he did in the pre-UFC and MMA days. But for a long time the Heavyweight Boxing Championship was the title that declared who was the best of the best, and that meant a lot culturally. In the days of John L. Sullivan, when boxing began to take shape and the first World Title was created, slavery in the United States was a fresh memory. It was only slightly after slavery was abolished that the real history of the sport started to take shape. The United States during this period was very divided by race. While now free, black Americans were treated as second class citizens by government and much of the rest of white Americans, and a belief in white Anglo-Saxon superiority was present and institutionalized.
Before boxing in the 1880s, there was no such thing as a national or international sports celebrity, really. So when boxing began to crown World Champions, with their pictures published in the media all across the world, the Heavyweight Boxing Championship became more than just an award for an athlete; it became an iconic position that transcended sport.
The World Heavyweight Champion was the toughest man in the world, a symbol of strength and dominance not limited by weight sizes. Whoever that person was, he would be held on a pedestal of athletic dominance and superiority, and many in that period believed that this person had to be white, or this would directly challenge the belief of racial superiority that many in white America were clinging to at the time.
The belief that the Heavyweight champion had to be white was so strong that the early boxing champions would refuse to defend their title against black challengers. Black challengers could fight against white fighters in non-title bouts against non-champions, but the champions and their titles were off limits. This was referred to as a champion “Drawing the Color Line”.
The story ahead is the complete lineage of the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship from 1882-1915 and how it explains a cultural attitude toward race and identity in that era. It is the story of the symbol of the World Champion during that period and what it meant in society. It’s also a story about a bunch of tough, bad-ass guys from over a hundred years ago that used to beat each other up.
Chapter One:
Origins of the Heavyweight Title
John L. Sullivan

Name: John L. Sullivan
Alias: The Boston Strong Boy
Birth Name: John Lawrence Sullivan
Born: 1858-10-15
Birthplace: Roxbury, Massachusetts, USA
Died: 1918-02-02 (Age:59)
Nationality: US American
Hometown: Roxbury, Massachusetts, USA
Stance: Orthodox
Height: 5′ 10½″ / 179cm
Reach: 74″ / 188cm
 
Boxing record
Total fights 42
Wins 38 Wins
(by KO 32)
Losses 1
Draws 2
No contests 1
 
Most boxing historians will credit John L. Sullivan with being the first recognized World Heavyweight Boxing champion, though he only twice officially competed outside of the United States. Close your eyes and picture what you think a boxing champion from the late 1800s would look like and there is a good chance the image that will flash in your mind would bear a striking resemblance to John L. Sullivan: short, close-cropped hair with a curly handlebar moustache; always posed with his bare chest puffed out in the typical turn of the century boxing pose, a sharp bend formed at both elbows with fists pointing straight out in front of him. Sullivan is thought to have been the first national sports celebrity in the United States, and as the iconic boxing champion of the world in the sport’s premier division, he represented the pinnacle of ruggedness and masculinity.
Sullivan’s career bridges the gap between London Prizefighting rules, which included bare fists and wrestling, to the Marquis of Queensbury rules, which closely resemble the rules of today’s sport. Sullivan is considered the first champion under the latter rules and the last under the former. Sullivan was the son of Irish immigrants and lived during a period where prejudice toward the Irish and Catholics was strong. He worked menial jobs around Boston to support himself as he indulged in his two favorite hobbies: drinking and fighting. In fact even today his reputation as a drinker is just as strong as his reputation as a fighter, with bottles of John L. Sullivan whiskey sold around the world. Sullivan was known for walking into saloons and pronouncing that he could “lick any man in the house,” and those that he didn’t beat up, he would just out-drink. Additionally, Sullivan played Minor League baseball and was offered a contract by the Cincinnati Red Stockings to play pro, but he declined to focus on the then-illegal sport of boxing.
Boxing in the late 1800s was banned most places, even though the sport was popular with many and given mainstream coverage in the media at the time. It wasn’t until the Marquis of Queensbury rules gained prominence in the boxing world that many states and countries legalized the sport, and much of that can be credited to Sullivan. He preferred to fight with gloves, and as the recognized champion of the world, he popularized that style of fighting, which was seen as more sportsmanlike to the general public, allowing just enough of a concession for policymakers to legalize the sport under their jurisdiction.
Often, when boxing was not legal in an area, fighters could perform gloved boxing matches in “exhibitions of skill,” where the police would be stationed nearby and given the authority to stop a fight if it was found that either fighter was throwing punches with intent to injure his opponent or if any fighter got hurt. But under bare-knuckle rules, boxing barely resembled a sport at all and was much more similar to bar fights with a few minor rules. Wrestling and eye-gouging were legal, there was no such thing as time limits, and it would still be several decades before you had to wait in a neutral corner for a downed opponent to get to his feet. A fighter could just wait for his opponent to stagger to a standing position and in an instant be back on the attack and knock him right down again. Despite its being illegal over much of the country, America loved boxing.
In the early 1880s Sullivan began a public feud with a reporter named Richard Fox. Fox was a publisher for the Police Gazette, and the feud between the two allegedly started after an altercation in a bar. Legend has it that Sullivan wasn’t interested in pandering to Fox in exchange for positive media exposure, and this irked Fox enough that he held a vendetta against Sullivan. In that time champions weren’t governed by any commissions and were often given the title by the media as much as by how they performed in the ring. Richard Fox lauded a fighter by the name of Paddy Ryan as the American Champion at the time. Sullivan’s success and dominance in the ring, however, could not be ignored by Fox, as much as he might have liked to, as the undefeated Sullivan continued to knock out opponents in the opening rounds.
A fight between Sullivan and Ryan was scheduled for February 7, 1882 that was dubbed by Fox and the rest of the media as being for “the Championship of the World,” despite Ryan only being the American champion at the time. The location of the fight, of course, was a mystery, as the sport was still quite illegal. As a result, everyone involved with the fight, as well as over 1000 fans, boarded a train for an undisclosed location three hours away from Mississippi. While many of the fight’s organizers and participants were taking a legal risk by staging the bout, one attendee was risking a bit more than the others just by attending. Wanted dead or alive in seven states, outlaw Jesse James couldn’t turn down a chance to see Ryan and Sullivan fight for what many historians believe was the inaugural World Heavyweight Title and was among the attendees for the spectacle. Upon arrival, the ring was assembled and the fight began the next morning. The fight would only last nine rounds, after which Ryan’s corner threw in the sponge, which apparently meant they were calling for mercy for their fighter. John L. Sullivan had just become the first World Champion of the sport, although the international-ness of the title was still in dispute. Just two short months after witnessing boxing’s then most historic moment, Jesse James was assassinated in his home, shot from behind as he was hanging a picture on his wall.
While many historians believe 1882 to be the debut of the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship, some point to the day in 1887 when another title was presented to Sullivan, which labeled him the champion of champions, with flags of the United States, Ireland and the United Kingdom adorning this belt, as the true debut of the title. No matter the date, almost all boxing historians credit John L. Sullivan with being the original World Title holder.
The last time Sullivan, or anyone for that matter, would defend the title under bare-knuckle rules is considered one of the bloodiest battles in boxing history. Sullivan’s arch-nemesis