Search

Winner, 2022 NASSH Book Award (Monograph) On September 6, 1892, a diminutive Black prizefighter brutally dispatched an overmatched white hope in the New Orleans Carnival of Champions boxing tournament. That victory sparked celebrations across Black communities nationwide but fostered unease among sporting fans and officials, delaying public acceptance of mixed-race fighting for half a century. This turn echoed the nation's disintegrating relations between whites and Blacks and foreshadowed America's embrace of racial segregation. In this work of sporting and social history we have a biography of Canadian-born, Boston-raised boxer George Dixon (1870–1908), the first Black world champion of any sport and the first Black world boxing champion in any division. George Dixon: The Short Life of Boxing's First Black World Champion, 1870–1908 chronicles the life of the most consequential Black athlete of the nineteenth century and details for the first time his Carnival appearance, perhaps the most significant bout involving a Black fighter until Jack Johnson began his reign in 1908. Yet despite his triumphs, Dixon has been lost to history, overshadowed by Black athletes whose activism against white supremacy far exceeded his own. George Dixon reveals the story of a man trapped between the white world he served and the Black world that worshipped him. By ceding control to a manipulative white promoter, Dixon was steered through the white power structure of Gilded Age prizefighting, becoming world famous and one of North America's richest Black men. Unable to hold on to his wealth, however, and battered by his vices, a depleted Dixon was abandoned by his white supporters just as the rising tide of Jim Crow limited both his prospects and the freedom of Blacks nationwide.

Boxing might not have survived the 1930s if not for Max Baer. A contender for every heavyweight championship 1932-1941, California's'Glamour Boy'brought back the'million-dollar gate'not seen since the 1920s. His radio voice sold millions of Gillette razor blades; his leading-man appeal made him a heartthrob in The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933). The film was banned in Nazi Germany--Baer had worn a Star of David on his trunks when he TKOed German former champ Max Schmeling. Baer defeated 275-pound Primo Carnera in 1934 for the championship, losing it to Jim Braddock the next year. Contrary to Cinderella Man, (2005), Baer--favored 10 to 1--was not a villain and the fight was more controversial than the film suggested. His battle with Joe Louis three months later drew the highest gate of the decade. This first comprehensive biography covers Baer's complete ring record, his early life, his career on radio, film, stage and television, and his World War II army service.

Henry Cooper is best remembered for the night he nearly changed boxing history - 19 July 1963. Fighting an up-and-coming boxer by the name of Cassius Clay, later to become Muhammad Ali, his famous left hook (known as'Henry's Hammer') sent Clay crashing onto the canvas. Arguable Britain's greatest ever heavyweight fighter, Cooper won 40 of his 55 professional bouts, beating most of the true boxing greats along the way. His story is littered with famous names - Rocky Marciano, Floyd Patterson, Sonny Liston, Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, and, of course, Ali. But Cooper's retirement from the sport did not spell then end of his time in the public eye, as he embarked on a successful media career. Disaster struck in the 1990s, however, when his innocent involvement in a scandal surrouding insuracne giants Lloyds of London led to him having to sell his unique collection of three Lonsdale belts topay his bills. He was knighted in the millennium New Year's honours list for his services to boxing, and his death in May 2011 sparkd a huge outpouring of tributes from the sporting community. This is the biography of an intriguing character, a great fighter and a true sporting legend.

'Swimming with Dr Johnson and Mrs Thrale'challenges the popular image of Samuel Johnson as a man who favoured energetic discussion over physical exercise, enthroned in an armchair peering short-sightedly at a book. Thanks to the diarist and author Hester Thrale we have many anecdotes that connect Dr Johnson to a variety of sports, and Julia Allen, following Lytton Strachey's advice to attack her subject in unexpected places, uses entries from Dr Johnson's dictionary and anecdotes about the great man as her window into the world of eighteenth-century sport and exercise. Revealing a world both foreign and familiar, Allen takes the reader through a range of sports and activities, from boxing and cricket to dancing and coach travel to swimming, riding and skating. She reasserts women's place in eighteenth century sport, especially the luckier ones such as Mrs Thrale, and draws on medical treatises and reports to show how dangerous these sports could be, and to explore the theories upon which contemporary notions about health and exercise were based. Combined with fascinating biographies not only of Dr Johnson and Mrs Thrale, but also of a host of eighteenth-century sporting celebrities, Swimming with Dr Johnson and Mrs Thrale gives a fascinating insight into a century where things were done very differently, often with dangerous consequences. This eccentric book brings together pieces of eighteenth-century life to create a vivid picture of the whole, making it essential reading for anybody interested in history or sport.

The story of Britain's greatest boxing hero and his famous left hook Henry Cooper is best remembered for the night when he nearly changed the course of boxing history. On July 19, 1963, he fought the up-and-coming Cassius Clay, later to become Muhammad Ali, and his famous left hook,'Henry's Hammer,'dumped Clay on the canvas, raising'the biggest cheer in boxing history.'Henry went on to record many notable victories. Arguably Britain's greatest ever heavyweight fighter, he won 40 of his 55 professional fights, beating most of the true boxing greats. His story also includes the legendary names of boxing: Rocky Marciano, Floyd Patterson, Sonny Liston, Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, and, of course, Ali. Boxing was not the end of Henry's time in the public eye. He was the ideal elder statesman of the sport, and a successful media career followed his retirement in 1971. Disaster hit, however, when his innocent involvement in the scandal of the Lloyd's Names meant that he lost heavily, and had to sell off his unique collection of three Lonsdale belts to pay his bills. This is the biography of a fascinating man, but even more, an insight into an age now lost to us.

This volume presents fifteen chapters of biography of African American and black champions and challengers of the early prize ring. They range from Tom Molineaux, a slave who won freedom and fame in the ring in the early 1800s; to Joe Gans, the first African American world champion; to the flamboyant Jack Johnson, deemed such a threat to white society that film of his defeat of former champion and'Great White Hope'Jim Jeffries was banned across much of the country. Photographs, period drawings, cartoons, and fight posters enhance the biographies. Round-by-round coverage of select historic fights is included, as is a foreword by Hall-of-Fame boxing announcer Al Bernstein.

Born to former slaves on St. Croix in 1860, Peter Jackson made his name as a boxer with his smooth, fast style and a dangerous one-two combination. After immigrating to Australia, Jackson became that country's national heavyweight champion in 1886 before moving on to the United States and claiming the title of Colored Champion of the World in 1888. For the next ten years Peter Jackson remained undefeated, finally losing to the great Jim Jeffries in 1898. Although he never received a shot at the heavyweight title--reigning heavyweight champion John L. Sullivan refused to defend his title against a black man--Jackson remains one of the greatest heavyweights ever.