Boxing Biographies

摘要

On a sweltering Labor Day in 1906, Joe Gans (1874-1910) went 42 rounds with a white bruiser, Oscar "Battling" Nelson, to retain his world lightweight championship. Sportswriter Gildea {Washington Post) details how nothing was easy for an African American boxer at the turn of the 20th century. Unlike the bombastic heavyweight Jack Johnson, who first became champion in 1908, Gans regularly won over white audiences with his cerebral fighting style and modest personality. But he still faced mistreatment from his white manager, white opponents, and newspapers that regularly referred to him using racial pejoratives.