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12/15/2005 Archived Entry: "America On The Ropes"
AMERICA ON THE ROPES:A Pictorial History of the Johnson-Jeffries Fight
By Wayne A. Rozen
Reviewed by Katherine Dunn
Jack Johnson is a haunting figure in American sports. Many of today’s fight fans first learned about the great black champion from Muhammad Ali, who hailed Johnson as a hero and role model. In 2005, the remarkable two-part documentary by Ken Burns, "Unforgiveable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson" was broadcast twice by the Public Broadcasting System. The film maker launched a substantial movement including political and labor leaders, as well as boxers, petitioning President Bush to pardon Johnson from his federal conviction under the Mann Act. Every substantial history of boxing in America pays respects to Johnson, and to the bizarre extravaganza that surrounded his smashing of the original Great White Hope, Jim Jeffries, in their July 4th, 1910 bout. Still, as author Wayne Rozen notes in his introduction, until now there has not been a book solely about this match, which defined Johnson and threw a harsh clear light on the racial conflict in the United States half a century after the Civil War.
Rozen’s big new history of the famous Johnson-Jeffries bout is a gorgeous monster in size and content. It is packed with amazing photographs, posters, cartoons, clippings, and other ephemera, that help bring the men and the era to life. Rozen’s entertaining prose paints dynamic and cranky personalities, and the hurtling momentum of their times. Though it is carefully researched and documented, "America On The Ropes" reads like adventure. We may already know the plot, and the eventual outcome, but Rozen dishes up so much engaging detail, so many obscure or raucous anecdotes, and such a strong day-by-day progression toward the climax that we live the nervy suspense as the big fight approaches.
Rozen sets the scene in that first decade of the 20th century with America still building its Western states, and the economy booming in the wake of the California and Yukon gold rushes. "High button shoes were in style, hats were big, and a new game imported from Great Britain, Ping-Pong, was all the rage." Boxing was still illegal in many jurisdictions. The telephone was gradually replacing the telegraph. Trains carried freight and passengers all over the country. Automobiles were beginning to appear in some Pacific Coast cities. As Rozen writes, "America was the land of opportunity, a land where every man had his own shot at fame and fortune….Unless, of course, he was black…Between 1901 and 1910, 754 blacks were lynched in the United States…In 1910 the social and political rights of blacks were less secure than at any time since slavery."
In this volatile context, Rozen sketches the lives of Johnson and of Jim Jeffries, and of the dashing promoter, Tex Rickard, who orchestrated the historic clash. The story gathers steam as the stalwart heavyweight champion, Jeffries retires, having enforced the color bar and refused to allow any black fighter to challenge for the title. When the Canadian Tommy Burns took the championship, Johnson chased him to Europe--enduring humiliations remarkable even for that era--and then to Australia.
Burns had defended the title twice in Australia, defeating local boys in shows promoted by tough Hugh McIntosh. Buoyed by his popularity with the Aussies, and convinced by McIntosh’s offer of the then-substantial $30,000, Burns agreed to let Johnson challenge for the championship. Johnson was so eager that he accepted the promoter’s offer of $5,000 for the match but he was so grieved at the disparity in pay that in the dressing room on the day of the fight, Johnson threatened to back out of the fight and demanded more money. McIntosh ended the dispute by putting a gun to Johnson’s head.
On Dec. 26th, 1908, Johnson toyed with the out-classed Tommy Burns. The most significant character watching in the huge crowd was the American writer, Jack London. Stopping off in Australia on his way home from covering the Russo-Japanese War for American newspapers, London had a contract to cover the fight for the New York Herald. London was as racist as most people in those days, and his description of the white champion’s humiliation at the hands of Johnson seemed to blanket North America in a matter of days. The crucial paragraph was London’s final plea for Jim Jeffries to come out of retirement and "remove that smile from Johnson’s face." This inflammatory article and the press that followed powered the storm that drove Jeffries and the nation to the events in Reno, Nevada on July 4th, 1910.
Rozen’s history includes the entire London article, which takes on malicious heft given the surrounding circumstances. The saga that follows introduces dozens of clashing or conniving characters including the ring royalty in Jeffries corner---Joe Choynski, J.J. Corbett, Bob Armstrong, Farmer Burns, and others---the former greats then wielding ink for the press—John L. Sullivan, Stanley Ketchel—and a swarm of politicians and gamblers, promoters and profiteers. It’s a rich cast, whose many sub-plots and rivalries Rozen plays out in zesty specifics.
Rozen’s wonderful description of the Johnson-Jeffries bout itself is illustrated by an impressive series of round-by-round photographs of the ring action. The aftermath is swiftly dealt with, but the author sketches each of the fighters lives to their end. The book concludes with the popular Mutt and Jeff cartoon strips that ran on the funny pages of the nation’s daily papers in the weeks leading up to and following the Johnson-Jeffries match. The gritty ink comedians play out their shady triumphs and absurd catastrophes on the way to and from the big fight—a wry mirror for a grand, if grotesque, folly.
America On The Ropes:A Pictorial History of the Johnson-Jeffries Fight
By Wayne A. Rozen
Pub. 2005 By Casey Press, Binghamton, NY
323 pages
Hardcover, 11 3/4 inches by 14 1/2 inches
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Replies: 1 Comment made on this article
A beautifully done coffee table book, well written and illustrated - highly recommended for any sports or history fan.
Posted by Mark Davey @ 12/17/2005 04:55 PM EST
