Before Jack Johnson became popular, there was another black professional athlete to break the color barrier. His name was Major Marshall Taylor. Now many on this forum here don't think of bicycle racing as a real sport? However, in 1900 one of the highest paid athletes in the country was Major Taylor who made about $30,000 that year. To give you an idea of the difference between other Pro Sports, Ty Cobb signed a contract in the year 1911 for $10,000. Professional bike racers were some of the highest paid athletes in the 1890s.

WHAM."Does THAT hurt, Tahmmy?" "It doesn't hurt." WHUMP. "Did that hurt, Tahmmy?"

You mean Burns broke the color barrier.. There's no jack Johnson without a tommy burns

Let's go Stanley!!!

There were three black boxing champions before Johnson in an age when Boxing enjoyed more status than today and the lighter weight champions were nationally known. George Dixon of Canada was Bantamweight Champion in 1890 and Featherweight champion in 1891. The original Joe "Barbados Demon" Walcott was from Guyana in the Caribbean and won the Welterweight championship in 1901. The great Joe Gans of Baltimore was the style model for Johnson according to Johnson and considered the best of the era by too many of his contemporaries for me to remember. Over 20 fighters took up his ring moniker following his reign as Lightweight Champion from 1902 to 1908. Gans first of a trilogy of fights with Battling Nelson resulted in a 42nd round disqualification of Nelson for fouling and racial violence across the country much like following Johnson vs Jeffreys. Gans was invited to corner for Johnson in that fight but was near death of Tuberculosis and had to decline. Johnson is remembered more for his in-your-face style of fight promotion than actually being a barrier breaker. Gans was nationally known as the first Black American champion at that time though more of Johnson's fights were filmed. One of Gans filmed events, the 1900 fight with Featherweight great Terry McGovern was unanimously deemed by ringside pundits and the referee as fixed as were too many turn of the century arrangements.Gans and his manager were hauled into court with nothing proven. Boxing was outlawed in Chicago for over 20 years precisely off the repercussion of it..Contrary to a contemporary narrative of it being based solely on a claim by Gans, he never publicly admitted to it. Johnson was the one claiming to have thrown the Willard fight after a hard fought 26 rounds, McGovern attended Gans victory celebration upon his winning the lightweight championship two years later..

Johnson was one of the Greatest Boxers regardless of Race...Period!

When he died one of the news papers said in the headline he crossed the white line for the last time

🤔💭>🤨 Well they soon found out what it meant to "pee in one hand and hope in the other" and see which one gets full the fastest😁👀Yup❗ G~G.

Surely a film on jacks life . would make an outstanding movie Brad Pitt , could play him 🙃😂😂😂

His first wife killed herself because she couldn't handle the cheating and beatings both physical and psychological and a month after her death he remarried and carried on the process. What a role model.

Should be called "Tommy Burns: The Boxer Who Broke Boxing's Colour Barrier." Burns could have refused to fight Johnson but he wasn't afraid of him and felt he was too fast for him.