Jack+Johnson Entries

Entries tagged with "Jack+Johnson":

Is Boxing Committing Suicide? – August 11th, 2018
Boxing is the easiest sport to manipulate. Attempting to fix a baseball game requires the participation of many people. Not so with boxing…
How I Learned to Love Jack Johnson – May 31st, 2018
The timing of the launch, coming as it does hot on the heels of a posthumous presidential pardon, smacks of opportunism...
Trump Unexpectedly Does What's Right, Pardons Jack Johnson – May 24th, 2018
Johnson had become a hated figure in a race-conscious early 20th century white America for his brash, outspoken ways and unapologetically lavish lifestyle…
President Trump Pardons Jack Johnson – May 24th, 2018
It took no less a man than Donald Trump to bring this strange and bitter low-hanging fruit to fruition…
Should Trump Pardon Jack Johnson? – April 23rd, 2018
Sacrosanct on one hand and counterfeit on the other, symbols both refine and diminish the genuine for a simulation…
You Can Call Me Ray – February 18th, 2018
All he could hope for in order to keep himself and his family in his adopted hometown was quite the simple assignment. Just win…
Ranking the best boxing US states – January 27th, 2018
Floyd Mayweather Jr. is one of the standout boxers from a state which includes Stanley Ketchel, Kid Lavigne, Ad Wolgast and James Toney…
Gus Christie’s last fight – December 14th, 2017
Several generations of Milwaukee youngsters learned to box from him, among them Spencer Tracy, later one of the greatest actors in movie history...
Local hero – November 25th, 2017
Dempsey wasn’t taking any risks on the exhibition tour he’d kicked off. His opponents were strong, willing but limited bruisers like Pat McLaughlin…
Rocky Marciano: A Crown of Gold – November 3rd, 2017
Rocky Marciano last fought on September 21, 1955, his sixth title defense, knocking out Archie Moore, "The most unappreciated fighter in the world…”
When The Cub Meets The Lion – October 17th, 2017
Experience is to one’s vocation what seasoning is to a dish. Like wine, there’s just a bolder taste that only time can conjure…
Boxing Hall of Shame Honors Luis Ortiz – September 29th, 2017
Deontay Wilder may be a “clean champion,” but the jury is still out on his greatness; drug cheat Ortiz was supposed to put that to the test…
My Most Vivid Memory of Gleason's at 83 Front Street in Brooklyn (Part 3 of 4) – September 9th, 2017
Gleason’s Gym is a mystical environment, pulsing with passion, where a fighter can punch himself out of his own personal darkness…
An Orgy for the Old and Outraged – July 17th, 2017
Boxing has become the old man on the block, standing in his pajamas on his front porch, shaking his fist at those noisy kids next door…
The Long Count in Color – June 29th, 2017
If vintage fight films were to be colorized, how they might provide a fresh look at the styles and skills of the great champions of the past…
Ward vs. Kovalev II—Moving on to Monday – June 20th, 2017
Visa may boast that its credit card gets you "everywhere you want to be," but the race card needs to stay in one's wallet…
Ward Krushes Kovalev – June 17th, 2017
While sitting ringside watching Andre Ward in a rematch with Sergey Kovalev, the Johnson-Burns fight came to mind…
Oscar: Don’t Stop Believing – May 25th, 2017
The death knell continues to ring like clockwork. All that seems to change are the dramatis personae and century…
The Bearcat Wrights: Like Father, Like Son – March 23rd, 2017
Senior must have been pleased that his son's last bout — which took place on May 13, 1974, at the Charlotte Coliseum — was at least some sort of boxing match…
Tell Tchaikovsky the News – March 19th, 2017
Chuck took up boxing while in prison and fought under the ring moniker Wild Man Berry, so he knew how to use his fists…
Mickey Riley: “The Joe Grim of the West” – March 16th, 2017
Battling Nelson fought Riley fought four times. “That’s one fellow I never could lick,” lamented Nelson in his autobiography…
Boxing Is Alive & Well – December 1st, 2016
Boxing is here to stay. Much like any other sport, it has its stumbles, but the sport itself is too strong to wither away and die…
Desperately Seeking Oscar – August 21st, 2016
Boxers have an aura of nobility and menace that titillated my soul. I’ve seen presidents, media moguls, and Hollywood stars, kowtow to champion fighters…
May 27, 1960: When Vegas Became King – May 27th, 2016
Around the time the Tropicana and the Dunes were headlining "Jayne Mansfield and a few sequins"— boxing in Nevada has been all Las Vegas…
Boxing by the Book: “In the Ring with Jack Johnson, Part II: The Reign” – May 23rd, 2016
Adam Pollack doubles down on the compound historical microscope that made the first book so remarkable…
Mr. Bombo’s bombastic year – April 11th, 2016
Gertrude instructed Bombo to blow his nose for the assembled press. Globs of Vaseline laced with black pepper came out…
What We Have Here Is a Failure to Communicate – February 19th, 2016
Between rounds Siki’s manager berated him for taking the fight to Carpentier, “What are you doing?” “He hit me!” was Siki’s answer…
Why Jack Johnson is Not as Great as You Were Told! – January 12th, 2016
Jack Johnson—if he were teleported from his championship days to a modern ring—would not do well against many of the more contemporary greats...
Yes, Virginia, there was a Santa – December 24th, 2015
“The people are intrigued by his mammoth proportions and they flock to gaze at his huge shoulders, his mastadonic feet, his huge hands…”
Dempsey’s Arm and the State of Modern Boxing – December 23rd, 2015
I am still reeling from the experience of watching that awful exhibition (I cannot call it a fight) between Klitschko and Fury…
Klitschko / Fury: Skill and Power vs. Zig-Zags and The Almighty – November 23rd, 2015
Klitschko is a fine architect, calmly deconstructing faces, subtly carving through the resolve of the man opposite…
The Great Race – November 10th, 2015
I’m not big on “aura” and “charisma.” I’m also not sure what “risks” and “chances” Mayweather believes he took…
Philadelphia Jack: Quaker, Faker and Maestro – October 22nd, 2015
Arch faker or misunderstood genius? In Jack’s case, the answer would appear to be a tantalizing and befuddling combination of both!
Tales of Langford and McVea – September 30th, 2015
Despite a controversial verdict the fight itself was proclaimed by most as one of the best fights staged in the history of Australian prize rings...
When Ad and Packey almost got it on – September 19th, 2015
Acting Gov. Morris, Sheriff Arnold and District Attorney Zabel received hosannas from church groups for their zealous protection of public sensibilities…
Animosity: Papa Jack, Corbett and Louis – August 17th, 2015
While Jack smiled at the taunts and whipped back quick and sarcastic replies, the animated Corbett steamed and fidgeted...
Benny Leonard: Golden Talent from a Golden Age – July 27th, 2015
Along with the great care and precision that Benny brought to his ringcraft was the essential nerve of the gambler...
The Story of Boxing – May 24th, 2015
Great Britain is known as the "cradle of pugilism," and for good reason. After boxing collapsed along with the Roman Empire and went into a centuries long hibernation, the wily Brits resurrected the manly art, before civilizing it with rules forbidding the game's more outre techniques. This British-produced…
Boxing and the Black/White Divide – May 24th, 2015
He’s crass. He’s materialistic. He’s megalomaniacal. None of which makes him bad, per se. None of which even makes him different…
“Fights of the Century”—Then…And Now – May 17th, 2015
Ever the showman, Rickard displayed the entire $30,000 purse in twenty-dollar gold pieces in full view through a window of a bank in Goldfield…
Greatest KOs in Boxing History – May 9th, 2015
Everyone loves a knockout. And what's not to love? When one man's fists connect with another man's head and he goes crashing to the canvas, everyone's pulse races a little faster. The knockout can not only change the direction of a fight. It can change the direction of a career, the direction of a life...
Mayweather-Pacquiao: At Last – April 20th, 2015
The May 2 fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao is fast approaching. The consensus number one and number two pound-for-pound fighters, after years of diddling about, are almost ready to get it on. Some call it the most important fight of all time. Others call it the most over-hyped fight…
Jack Johnson's Waterloo – April 5th, 2015
The pace of the fight was more like a baseball game than a boxing match, but it lacked neither drama nor excitement…
Jamie Gillis: Where There’s Smoke – April 2nd, 2015
Gillis was offered a role in “Raging Bull,’ “the part of being Robert De Niro’s erection in the scene where he pours ice down his shorts…”
Woodchopper’s Ball – March 19th, 2015
Pacquiao, like his promoter Bob Arum, felt compelled to comment on Floyd Mayweather resorting to chopping wood...
Is it getting more difficult to defend your love of boxing? – March 11th, 2015
We fans of the sport can reengineer boxing as the sport of tastemakers: the sport of thinkers, history buffs and scribes, rather than the bloodthirsty…
The Dark Side of Celebration – March 9th, 2015
“Sometimes you get great fights when you match up two limited guys because they actually got a feeling they can win…”
The Informer and the Imposter – February 20th, 2015
Victor McLaglen’s high water mark as an actor came in 1935 when he starred in the John Ford-directed drama “The Informer”…
The Cream Rises – February 14th, 2015
One thing that is certain is, no matter the era or the competition, the object of the game is to be the best...
The Hungry Hobby – February 2nd, 2015
For those of you who share my nostalgic yearning for the old and timeless, a word or two on Helmar Brewing Company's collectible cards…