Editing Tommy Burns (Canadian boxer) (section)

==Boxing career==
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[[File:Squires vs Burns 1907.ogv|thumb|left|320px|Film of the 1907 heavyweight championship prize fight with Squires, shot by the [[Miles Brothers]]]]
After starting his boxing career under his real name, in 1904 Brusso took the Scottish-sounding name of Tommy Burns. He was {{convert|5|ft|7|in|cm}} tall and about {{convert|175|lb}}, but his relatively small size did not stop him from becoming the world heavyweight boxing champion. When Burns met [[Marvin Hart]] for the heavyweight championship of the world in Los Angeles on 23 February 1906, Burns was a 2-1 underdog and the betting was 10-7 that he would not last ten rounds. Burns won a 20-round decision and went on to defend his title eleven times within a period of less than three years.

All previous gloved world champs had been European-American U.S. citizens (except for [[Robert Fitzsimmons]], of the United Kingdom and New Zealand), who defended their titles only against other white opponents (although Fitzsimmons fought [[Jack Johnson (boxer)|Jack Johnson]] after losing the title). Burns travelled the globe, beating the champions of England, Ireland, France and Australia. It is generally believed that Burns was the first heavyweight champion to fight with a Jewish challenger, defeating British boxer Joseph "Jewey" Smith, in a 1908 bout held in Paris. However, "Jewey" was a diminutive of Joseph, not a reference to Smith's religion. 
However, writing in the Classic Boxing Forum on 12 September 2018, Rochelle Solomon said "Jewey Smith was my great grandfather. He was born Joseph Goldblum. He was indeed Jewish."{{cn|date=July 2023}}

Burns once defended his title twice in one night, although some historians refuse to accept those wins as title defences, insisting they were exhibition bouts. But in newspapers at the time, they were advertised as heavyweight title fights. If those defences are counted in his record, he successfully defended his title 13 times.

{{wide image|Burns-Johnson boxing contest, December 26th 1908 photographed by Charles Kerry.jpg|800px|Burns-Johnson boxing fight, Rushcutters Bay, Sydney, 26 December 1908, by Charles Kerry}}
In December 1908, after months of delaying arranging the fight, Burns agreed to a bout with [[Jack Johnson (boxer)|Jack Johnson]] and became the first fighter to hold to a heavyweight championship bout with an [[African American]]. Burns lost his title in the match held in [[Sydney]]. The fight was ended in the 14th of 20 three minute rounds with Burns failing to land a punch, and being clearly unable to continue.<ref>Jack Johnson: Unforgivable Blackness , PBS America</ref> He had refused to fight Johnson until Australian promoter [[Hugh D. McIntosh]] paid him $30,000 for the fight (Johnson received $5,000).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/unforgivableblackness/ |title=Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson |publisher=PBS |accessdate=2014-05-09}}</ref> Burns was rumoured to be suffering from the effects from jaundice or influenza, and weighed in at {{convert|168|lb}}—{{convert|15|lb}} lighter than his previous fight, and well below Johnson's {{convert|192|lb}}. The fight lasted fourteen rounds before being stopped by the police. Burns later claimed the disruption was due to spectators' concern he had a broken jaw. He also stated numerous right uppercuts from Johnson led to swelling on his face and the request to stop the fight.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1910-07-05/ed-1/seq-17 |title=The San Francisco call. (San Francisco [Calif.]), 05 July 1910,Page 17. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers |publisher=Lib. of Congress |accessdate=2020-06-20}}</ref> Referee Hugh McIntosh awarded the decision and the title to Johnson.
[[File:Tommy Burns sparring.jpg|thumb|Burns (left) during a sparring session]]
In a filmed interview, Burns ranked Johnson as the second-best boxer up to his time, after [[James J. Jeffries]]. Johnson defeated Jeffries in 1910 when Jeffries, who hadn't fought for six years, came out of retirement to fight. It is said that Jeffries was grossly out of shape and had lost much of his muscle, but films of the fight show that Jeffries was in perfect condition on the day of the fight{{cn|date=November 2023}}. It was ring rust, and the natural effects of age, that caused him to fight badly against Johnson.{{cn|date=November 2023}}

In 1909 in Vancouver, B.C., Johnson told a crowd of people that Burns deserved credit as the only white heavyweight who ever gave a black man a chance to win the title. He said, "Let me say of Mr. Burns, a Canadian and one of yourselves, that he has done what no one else ever did, he gave a black man a chance for the championship. He was beaten, but he was game."{{citation needed|date=June 2015}}

Burns continued to box occasionally after dropping the title. During the [[First World War|Great War]] he joined the Canadian army, serving as a physical fitness instructor for troops in Canada. In 1920, one month after his 39th birthday, Burns challenged British champion [[Joe Beckett]]. Burns was stopped in the seventh round when, after suffering two knockdowns, his corner threw in the towel to end the fight.