World Colored Heavyweight Championship
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The World Colored Heavyweight Championship was a belt issued to black boxers in the early twentieth century. This was the only heavyweight championship available to blacks prior to Jack Johnson being crowned World Heavyweight Champion. The WBC attempted to create a similar championship in 2004 called the All African World Championship but was met with worldwide astute criticism and ultimately abandoned the idea.
[edit] List of champions
22 men were recognized as World Colored Heavyweight Champion, combining for 28 total reigns.[1]
| # | Name | Reign | Date | Days held |
Location | Defenses | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles C. Smith | 1 | 1876 | Unknown | — | 0 | Smith claimed the title and offered to take on all challengers. |
| 2 | Morris Grant | 1 | 1878 | Unknown | New York City, New York, USA | 0 | |
| 3 | Charles Hadley | 1 | January 14, 1881 | 770 | New York City, New York, USA | 3 | |
| 4 | George Godfrey (b. 1853) | 1 | February 23, 1883 | 2009 | Boston, Massachusetts, USA | 2 | |
| 5 | Peter Jackson | 1 | August 24, 1888 | 3041 | San Francisco, California, USA | 0 | The title was vacated in 1896. |
| 6 | Bob Armstrong | 1 | December 21, 1896 | 404 | New York City, New York, USA | 1 | Defeated Charley Strong. |
| 7 | Frank Childs | 1 | January 29, 1898 | 228 | Chicago, Illinois, USA | 2 | |
| 8 | George Byers | 1 | September 14, 1898 | 913 | Chicago, Illinois, USA | 4 | Frank Childs defeated Bob Armstrong on March 4, 1899 in Cincinnati, Ohio in a fight announced as being for the title, despite Childs' loss to Byers six months earlier. |
| 9 | Frank Childs | 2 | March 16, 1901 | 345 | Hot Springs, Arkansas, USA | 0 | |
| 10 | Ed Martin | 1 | February 24, 1902 | 346 | Chicago, Illinois, USA | 2 | Childs continued to claim the title until losing to Jack Johnson on October 21, 1902.[2] |
| 11 | Jack Johnson[3] | 1 | February 5, 1903 | 2151 | Los Angeles, California, USA | 17[4] | The title was vacated after Johnson won the World Heavyweight Championship on December 26, 1908. |
| 12 | Sam McVea | 1 | February 20, 1909 | 56 | Paris, France | 1 | Defeated Joe Jeanette. |
| 13 | Joe Jeanette | 1 | April 17, 1909 | 507 | Paris, France | 1 | Sam Langford claimed the title during Jeanette's reign after Jack Johnson refused to defend the World Heavyweight Championship against Langford. |
| 14 | Sam Langford | 1 | September 6, 1909 | 841 | Boston, Massachusetts, USA | 3 | |
| 15 | Sam McVea | 2 | December 26, 1911 | 104 | Sydney, Australia | 0 | |
| 16 | Sam Langford | 2 | April 8, 1912 | 753 | Sydney, Australia | 2 | |
| 17 | Harry Wills | 1 | May 1, 1914 | 209 | New Orleans, Louisiana, USA | 1 | |
| 18 | Sam Langford | 3 | November 26, 1914 | 403 | Los Angeles, California, USA | 0 | |
| 19 | Harry Wills | 2 | January 3, 1916 | 39 | New Orleans, Louisiana, USA | 0 | |
| 20 | Sam Langford | 4 | February 11, 1916 | 349 | New Orleans, Louisiana, USA | 0 | |
| 21 | Bill Tate | 1 | January 25, 1917 | 97 | Kansas City, Missouri, USA | 0 | |
| 22 | Sam Langford | 5 | May 2, 1917 | 347 | St. Louis, Missouri, USA | 1 | |
| 23 | Harry Wills | 3 | April 14, 1918 | 3103 | Panama City, Panama | 25[5] | The title was vacated after Wills lost by disqualification to Jack Sharkey on October 12, 1926. |
| 24 | George Godfrey (b. 1897) | 1 | November 8, 1926 | 628 | Buffalo, New York, USA | 3 | Defeated Larry Gaines. |
| 25 | Larry Gaines | 1 | August 15, 1928 | Unknown | Buffalo, New York, USA | 0 | The title was later vacated. |
| 26 | George Godfrey (b. 1897) | 2 | August 24, 1931 | 777 | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | 3 | Defeated Seal Harris. |
| 27 | Obidiah Walker | 1 | October 9, 1933 | 649 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA | 0 | |
| 28 | Larry Gaines | 2 | July 20, 1935 | Unknown | Leicester, England | 0 |
[edit] References
- ^ "Lineage of the coloured heavyweight title" eastsideboxing.com
- ^ "Frank Childs - Boxer". BoxRec. http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=11620&cat=boxer. Retrieved August 23, 2011.
- ^ ESPN Ron Flatter: Johnson boxed, lived on own terms, accessed Sep 2, 2010
- ^ "Jack Johnson - Boxer". BoxRec. http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=1187&cat=boxer. Retrieved August 23, 2011.
- ^ "Harry Wills - Boxer". BoxRec. http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=17615&cat=boxer. Retrieved August 23, 2011.
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