Editing Jack Johnson (boxer) (section)

==="Fight of the Century"===
{{main| Jack Johnson vs. James J. Jeffries}}
In 1910, former undefeated heavyweight champion [[James J. Jeffries]] came out of retirement to challenge Johnson, saying "I am going into this fight for the sole purpose of proving that a white man is better than a Negro".<ref>Remnick, David "[http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0,,1072750,00.html Struggle for his soul]", ''The Observer'', 2003-11-02. Retrieved on November 2, 2003</ref> He had not fought in six years and he also had to lose well over 100 pounds to get back to his championship fighting weight. Efforts to persuade Jeffries to "retrieve the honor of the white race" began immediately after the Burns–Johnson fight.<ref name="auto3">Orbach, Barak "[https://ssrn.com/abstract=3803516 The Fight of the Century: On the Exploitation of Social Divides]", ''NYU Journal of Law & Liberty'' (2020)</ref> Initially Jeffries had no interest in the fight, being quite happy as an alfalfa farmer.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Jeffries Barn |url=http://wesclark.com/burbank/jeffries_barn.html |access-date=2022-03-13 |website=wesclark.com}}</ref> On October 29, 1909, Johnson and Jeffries signed an agreement to "box for the heavyweight championship of the world" and called promoters to bid for the right to orchestrate the event.<ref name="auto3"/>

In early December 1909, Johnson and Jeffries selected a bid from the nation's top boxing promoters — [[Tex Rickard]] and John Gleason. The bid guaranteed a purse of $101,000 ({{Inflation|US|101000|1909|fmt=eq|r=-3}}) to be divided 75 percent to the winner and 25 percent to the loser, as well as two-thirds of the revenues collected from the sales of the right to film the fight (each boxer received one third of the equity rights).<ref name="auto3"/> Although it was well understood that a victory for Jeffries was likely to be more profitable than a victory for Johnson, there were no doubts that either way the event would produce record profits.<ref name="auto3"/> Legal historian Barak Orbach argues that in "an industry that promoted events through the dramatization of rivalries, a championship contest between an iconic representative of the white race and the most notorious [black fighter] was a gold mine".<ref name="auto3"/>

[[File:Johnson jeff.jpg|thumb|[[James J. Jeffries]] fights Johnson in 1910]]
Jeffries mostly remained hidden from media attention until the day of the fight, while Johnson soaked up the spotlight. [[John L. Sullivan]], who made boxing championships a popular and esteemed spectacle, stated that Johnson was in such good physical shape compared to Jeffries that he would only lose if he had a lack of skill on the day of the fight. Before the fight, Jeffries remarked, "It is my intention to go right after my opponent and knock him out as soon as possible". While his wife added, "I'm not interested in prizefighting but I am interested in my husband's welfare, I do hope this will be his last fight". Johnson's words were "May the best man win".<ref name="RR">{{cite web|title=Jack Johnson vs James Jeffries Race Riots |date=July 4, 1910 |url=http://able2know.org/topic/196794-1 |publisher=Able2know.org |access-date=November 27, 2014}}</ref>

Racial tension was brewing in the lead up to the fight and to prevent any harm from coming to either boxer, guns were prohibited within the arena along with the sale of alcohol and anyone who was under the effects of alcohol. Apples and all other potential weapons were barred. Behind the racial attitudes which were being instigated by the media was a major investment in gambling for the fight, with 10–7 odds in favor of Jeffries.<ref name="RR" />

The fight took place on July 4, 1910, in front of 20,000 people, at a ring which was built just for the occasion in downtown [[Reno, Nevada]]. Jeffries proved unable to impose his will on the younger champion and Johnson dominated the fight. By the 15th round, after Jeffries had been knocked down twice for the first time in his career, Jeffries' corner [[Submission (combat sports)|threw in the towel]] to end the fight and prevent Jeffries from having a knockout on his record.<ref name="biography.com" />

Johnson later remarked he knew the fight was over in the 4th round when he landed an [[uppercut]] and saw the look on Jeffries face, stating, "I knew what that look meant. The old ship was sinking". Afterwards, Jeffries was humbled by the loss and what he had seen of Johnson in their match. "I could never have whipped Johnson at my best", Jeffries said. "I couldn't have hit him. No, I couldn't have reached him in 1,000 years".<ref name="biography.com" />

The "Fight of the Century" earned Johnson $65,000 (over ${{Inflation|US|0.065|1910|r=1|fmt=c}} million in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars) and silenced the critics, who had belittled Johnson's previous victory over Tommy Burns as "empty", claiming that Burns was a false champion since Jeffries had retired undefeated. [[John L. Sullivan]] commented after the fight that Johnson won deservedly, fairly and convincingly,

{{blockquote|The fight of the century is over and a black man is the undisputed champion of the world. It was a poor fight as fights go, this less than 15-round affair between James J. Jeffries and Jack Johnson. Scarcely has there ever been a championship contest that was so one-sided. All of Jeffries much-vaunted condition amounted to nothing. He wasn't in it from the first bell tap to the last&nbsp;... The negro had few friends, but there was little demonstration against him. (Spectators) could not help but admire Johnson because he is the type of prizefighter that is admired by sportsmen. He played fairly at all times and fought fairly.&nbsp;... What a crafty, powerful, cunning left hand (Johnson) has. He is one of the craftiest, cunningest boxers that ever stepped into the ring.&nbsp;... They both fought closely all during the 15 rounds. It was just the sort of fight that Jeffries wanted. There was no running or ducking like Corbett did with me in New Orleans (1892). Jeffries did not miss so many blows, because he hardly started any. Johnson was on top of him all the time.... (Johnson) didn't get gay at all with Jeffries in the beginning, and it was always the white man who clinched, but Johnson was very careful, and he backed away and took no chances, and was good-natured with it all&nbsp;... The best man won, and I was one of the first to congratulate him, and also one of the first to extend my heartfelt sympathy to the beaten man.<ref name="Sullivan" />}}

====Riots and aftermath====
{{main|Johnson–Jeffries riots}}
[[File:LA Times, 7 July 1910.png|thumb|''The LA Times'' noted the explosive nature of Johnson's victory by featuring this cartoon in which a stick of dynamite suggests that it would not have caused as much violence as the fight did.]]
The outcome of the fight triggered [[Mass racial violence in the United States|race riots]] that evening—the [[Independence Day (United States)|Fourth of July]]—all across the United States, from Texas and [[Colorado]] to New York and Washington, D.C.<ref name="Riots">{{cite news |title=A Black Champion's Biggest Fight |url=https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2020/07/a-black-champions-biggest-fight/ |access-date=March 29, 2023 |work=Saturday Evening Post}}</ref> Johnson's victory over Jeffries had dashed white dreams of finding a "great white hope" to defeat him. Many whites felt humiliated by the defeat of Jeffries.<ref name="Burns" />

Black Americans, on the other hand, were jubilant and celebrated Johnson's great victory as a victory for racial advancement. Black poet [[William Waring Cuney]] later highlighted the black reaction to the fight in his poem "My Lord, What a Morning".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Pool|first1=Rosey E.|title=Beyond the blues: new poems by American Negroes|publisher=Hand and Flower Press|page=81|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=havoAAAAIAAJ|language=en|year=1962}}</ref>

Race riots, initiated by whites and blacks, erupted in New York, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Atlanta, St. Louis, Little Rock and Houston. In all, riots occurred in more than 25 states and 50 cities.<ref name="Riots"/> At least twenty people were killed in the riots and hundreds more were injured.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/305329/contributors |title=Contributors: Jack Johnson (American boxer) |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=November 27, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042462/1910-07-05/ed-1/seq-1/ |title=Los Angeles herald [microform]. (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900–1911, 5 July 1910, Image 1 |date=July 5, 1910 |publisher=Chronicilingamerica.loc.gov |access-date=November 27, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1910-07-06/ed-1/seq-4/ |title=New-York tribune. (New York [N.Y.]) 1866–1924, July 06, 1910, Page 4, Image 4|date=July 6, 1910|page=4|publisher=Chronicilingamerica.loc.gov |access-date=November 27, 2014}}</ref><ref>[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045433/1910-07-06/ed-1/seq-3/ "Deaths Result From Race Riots"]. ''[[The Washington Herald]]''. July 6, 1910. p. 3. Chronicling America, United States Library of Congress.</ref><ref>[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042462/1910-07-05/ed-1/seq-1/ "Fight News is Followed by Race Riots in Many Parts of Country"]. ''Los Angeles Herald''. July 5, 1910. p. 1. Chronicling America, United States Library of Congress.</ref><ref>[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1910-07-05/ed-1/seq-2/ "Whites and Blacks Riot"]. ''[[New York Tribune]]'' July 5, 1910, p. 2. Chronicling America, United States Library of Congress.</ref>

====Film of the bout====
''[[The Johnson–Jeffries Fight]]'' film received more public attention in the United States than any other film to date and for the next five years, until the release of ''[[The Birth of a Nation]]''.<ref name="cinema">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9cc71Uekc_EC&pg=PA502 |date=August 1, 2004 |title=Encyclopedia of Early Cinema |isbn=9780415234405 |last1=Abel |first1=Richard|publisher=Taylor & Francis }}</ref> In the United States, many states and cities banned the exhibition of the Johnson–Jeffries film. The movement to [[Censorship|censor]] Johnson's victory took over the country within three days after the fight.<ref name="ssrn.com">{{cite SSRN|ssrn=1563863 |title=The Johnson–Jeffries Fight and Censorship of Black Supremacy}}</ref>

Two weeks after the match former President [[Theodore Roosevelt]], an avid boxer and fan, wrote an article for ''[[The Outlook (New York)|The Outlook]]'' in which he supported banning not just moving pictures of boxing matches, but a complete ban on all prize fights in the US. He cited the "crookedness" and gambling that surrounded such contests and that moving pictures have "introduced a new method of money getting and of demoralization".<ref name="ssrn.com" /> 

In 2005, the film of the Jeffries–Johnson "Fight of the Century" was entered into the United States [[National Film Registry]] as being worthy of preservation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/film/nfr2005.html |title=National Film Registry 2005: Films Selected to the National Film Registry (National Film Preservation Board, Library of Congress) |publisher=Loc.gov |access-date=November 27, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140208150126/http://www.loc.gov/film/nfr2005.html |archive-date= February 8, 2014 }}</ref>

The six fights for which the major films were made, starring Johnson, were
# Johnson–Burns, released in 1908<ref name="cinema" />
# Johnson–Ketchel, released in 1909<ref name="cinema" />
# Johnson–Jeffries, released in 1910<ref name="cinema" />
# Johnson–Flynn, released in 1912<ref name="cinema" />
# Johnson–Moran, released in 1914<ref name="cinema" />
# Johnson–Willard, released in 1915<ref name="cinema" />