A Pugilistic Poem

All talk

And balk;

No fight

In sight.

Alack

For Jack,

And slim

For Jim.

Gee whizz

What fizz!

Oct. 21. ‘09

Jack Johnson Johnson was regarded with almost universal disdain, even from fellow blacks. This was not solely because his winning of the title had increased racial tensions throughout the world, but because he had not been at all secretive about his romantic relationships with white women, which was beyond a social taboo for the times. A public outcry arose for anyone who could defeat Johnson and return the championship to the white race, a Great White Hope. The first significant "White Hope" Johnson met in the ring would be Stanley Ketchel, the reigning Middleweight Champion of the World. Though he was at a massive size disadvantage against Johnson (more than thirty pounds and more than four inches in height), Ketchel was a tremendous puncher and was thought by some to have a good shot at taking away Jack's title.

The bout with Ketchel took place on October 16, 1909, at the Mission Street Arena in Colma, California, a suburb of San Francisco. Legend has it that both fighters agreed go the full twenty rounds for the benefit of the motion picture exhibitors. Though Johnson scored a knockdown and appeared to have the edge in the match, it was clear he was holding back and did not want to put Ketchel away. In the twelfth, though, when the champion dropped his hands and provided an opening, Stanley let fly a lunging right hand that surprised Jack and sent him fumbling backward onto the seat of his pants. Ketchel's glory proved short lived, however, as Johnson immediately rose to his feet and fired off a left-right combination to the jaw that left the challenger sprawled on his back. As the referee counted Ketchel out, Johnson brushed his challenger's teeth from his glove.

On Independence Day, 1910, Johnson finally got his long-awaited shot at Jim Jeffries, the man who, five years earlier, had retired as the undefeated Heavyweight Champion of the World. Even before it happened, the meeting between these two fighters became the most anticipated, controversial and talked-about sporting event in a generation. Many whites believed that Jeffries, despite a five year absence from boxing, was the legitimate Heavyweight Champion of the World by virtue of his retiring without tasting defeat. They predicted that Jeffries would be the man to take the laurels from Johnson.

http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Jack_Johnson