Tommy Burns (Canadian boxer)

Template:Short description Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox boxer Tommy Burns (born Noah Brusso; 17 June 1881Template:Spaced ndash10 May 1955) was a Canadian professional boxer. He is the only Canadian-born World Heavyweight Boxing Champion. The first to travel the globe in defending his title, Burns made 13 title defences against 11 different boxers, despite often being the underdog due to his size. Burns took on all challengers as Heavyweight Champion, leading to his legendary bout with the African American Jack Johnson.<ref>Tommy Burns – Encyclopædia Britannica; Retrieved 2011-07-21</ref> According to his biographer, Burns insisted, "I will defend my title against all comers, none barred. By this I mean white, black, Mexican, Indian, or any other nationality. I propose to be the champion of the world, not the white, or the Canadian, or the American. If I am not the best man in the heavyweight division, I don't want the title."

Early life

Noah Brusso was born in Normanby Township near Hanover, Ontario, as the twelfth of thirteen children of an impoverished German-Canadian family. His family lived in several locations around Ontario's Grey County and Bruce County before moving to Galt, Ontario. Noah grew up in difficult circumstances; five of his siblings died before reaching adulthood.<ref>Dan McCaffery. Tommy Burns: Canada's Unknown World Heavyweight Champion. 2000, page 11-2</ref> Brusso began his prizefighting career in 1900 in Detroit, Michigan. In June 1903, he was discovered playing lacrosse under an assumed name for a Detroit team that was playing in Chatham, Ontario.

Boxing career

File:Squires vs Burns 1907.ogv

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 Template:Convert tall and about Template:Convert, 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 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."Template:Cn

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.

Template:Wide image In December 1908, after months of delaying arranging the fight, Burns agreed to a bout with 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>Template:Cite web</ref> Burns was rumoured to be suffering from the effects from jaundice or influenza, and weighed in at Template:Convert—Template:Convert lighter than his previous fight, and well below Johnson's Template:Convert. 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>Template:Cite web</ref> Referee Hugh McIntosh awarded the decision and the title to Johnson.

File:Tommy Burns sparring.jpg

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 fightTemplate:Cn. It was ring rust, and the natural effects of age, that caused him to fight badly against Johnson.Template:Cn

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."Template:Citation needed

Burns continued to box occasionally after dropping the title. During the 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.

Life after boxing

Template:Unsourced After retirement, Burns promoted some boxing shows. In 1928 he moved to New York City where he ran a speakeasy. Although he was wealthy at the end of his boxing career, the Wall Street crash of 1929 and the Great Depression wiped out his fortune. Burns went to work as an insurance salesman and security guard, among other jobs.

In 1948, Burns was ordained as a minister. At the time of his death, he was an evangelist living in Coalinga, California.

He died while visiting a church friend in Vancouver, British Columbia, suffering a heart attack at age 73. Four people attended his burial at Ocean View Cemetery in Burnaby, British Columbia. He was interred in an unmarked pauper's grave. In 1961 a Vancouver sports writer raised funds to commission a memorial plaque for Burns's grave.

Legacy

Template:Unsourced Burns is best remembered today as the man whom Jack Johnson beat to become the first black heavyweight champion. Burns was also the first truly international heavyweight champion, defending his title in America, England, Ireland, France and Australia. His 1907 title defence against Gunner Moir in London was the first World Heavyweight championship fight of the gloved era to be held outside of the United States. Standing at just 5'7", Burns is the shortest heavyweight champion in history, while only Bob Fitzsimmons weighed less in a world heavyweight title fight than Burns's 168½ lbs when losing the championship to Jack Johnson. During his championship reign, Burns typically weighed between 170 and 180 lbs. His reach was 74", three inches longer than Mike Tyson's.

Burns's eight consecutive title defences by knockout or stoppage is equalled only by Larry Holmes and remains a record for the heavyweight division. Burns was the first World Heavyweight champion to win the title on points. Although physically over-matched against Johnson, who handed him his first stoppage loss, it is notable that Burns did not lose inside the distance again until the final fight of his career, at the age of 39. It should be noted, however, that some sources record the result as Johnson having won the title on points after the bout was stopped by the police. The filming of the fight was stopped due to the one-sided nature of the contest, however, and regardless of the official ruling, is generally considered by historians to be a stoppage victory for Johnson.

Burns's reign as heavyweight champion lasted for two years, ten months and three days, the 19th-longest reign in heavyweight history. His eleven consecutive successful title defences is the joint-fourth highest total in heavyweight history, alongside Vitali Klitschko and behind Wladimir Klitschko (18 defences), Larry Holmes (20 defences) and Joe Louis (25 defences). Many of Burns's title challengers, however, were not of World Championship quality, as he frequently defended against the best available local heavyweights while touring the world. In Burns's first defense of the title, for instance, he knocked out James J. Walker in the first round. Walker's record going into the bout was 1–5 and he had lost by stoppage in five of his previous six bouts prior to challenging Burns.

Burns also defended the title three times against Bill Squires. Squires, the Australian heavyweight champion, was actually a 10–9 favourite to defeat Burns, yet lost in the first round. Nevertheless, Squires obtained two further shots at Burns's title, despite losing two of his next three fights following their first bout. His trilogy with Burns is notable, however, as their title fights took place across three different continents (America, Europe and Australia). This remains the only instance in history where two boxers have fought three times for a World title with each fight taking place on a different continent. Burns's best win as champion was a 20-round points decision over Philadelphia Jack O'Brien, who two years previously had stopped Bob Fitzsimmons to claim the World light-Heavyweight championship.

Footage of his 1907 title defence against Bill Lang shows Burns to have been an aggressive counter-puncher, who was strong on the inside and a good finisher.

Although Trevor Berbick and Bermane Stiverne have also won a version of the World Heavyweight Championship while Canadian citizens, Burns remains the only Canadian-born heavyweight champion in history. (Berbick and Stiverne were born in Jamaica and Haiti respectively.)

Honours

Australian boxer and Welterweight champion Geoffrey Mostyn Murphy would fight under the ring name "Tommy Burns", in honour of his Canadian namesake.

Burns has since been posthumously inducted into the following sporting institutions: the Canadian Boxing Hall of Fame, the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1955, the International Boxing Hall of Fame on 9 June 1996, and the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Professional boxing record

Template:Abbr	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
61	Template:No2Loss	47–5–9	Joe Beckett	RTD	7 (20)	16 Jul 1920	Template:Small	Template:Small
60	Template:Yes2Win	47–4–9	Bob Bracken	KO	4 (10)	19 Sep 1918	Template:Small
59	Template:Yes2Win	46–4–9	Battling Brandt	KO	4 (10)	26 Jan 1914	Template:Small
58	Template:DrawDraw	45–4–9	Arthur Pelkey	NWS	6	2 Apr 1913	Template:Small
57	Template:Yes2Win	45–4–8	Bill Rickard	TKO	6 (15)	8 Aug 1912	Template:Small	Template:Small
56	Template:Yes2Win	44–4–8	Bill Lang	PTS	20	11 Apr 1910	Template:Small	Template:Small
55	Template:No2Loss	43–4–8	Jack Johnson	PTS	14 (20)	26 Dec 1908	Template:Small	Template:Small
54	Template:Yes2Win	43–3–8	Bill Lang	KO	6 (20)	3 Sep 1908	Template:Small	Template:Small
53	Template:Yes2Win	42–3–8	Bill Squires	KO	13 (20)	24 Aug 1908	Template:Small	Template:Small
52	Template:Yes2Win	41–3–8	Bill Squires	KO	5 (10)	13 Jun 1908	Template:Small	Template:Small
51	Template:Yes2Win	40–3–8	Jewey Smith	KO	5 (10)	18 Apr 1908	Template:Small	Template:Small
50	Template:Yes2Win	39–3–8	Jem Roche	KO	1 (20), Template:Small	17 Mar 1908	Template:Small	Template:Small
49	Template:Yes2Win	38–3–8	Jack Palmer	KO	4 (20)	10 Feb 1908	Template:Small	Template:Small
48	Template:Yes2Win	37–3–8	Gunner Moir	KO	10 (20)	2 Dec 1907	Template:Small	Template:Small
47	Template:Yes2Win	36–3–8	Bill Squires	KO	1 (45), Template:Small	4 Jul 1907	Template:Small	Template:Small
46	Template:Yes2Win	35–3–8	Philadelphia Jack O'Brien	PTS	20	8 May 1907	Template:Small	Template:Small
45	Template:DrawDraw	34–3–8	Philadelphia Jack O'Brien	PTS	20	28 Nov 1906	Template:Small	Template:Small
44	Template:Yes2Win	34–3–7	Fireman Jim Flynn	KO	15 (20)	2 Oct 1906	Template:Small	Template:Small
43	Template:Yes2Win	33–3–7	James J Walker	KO	1 (10), Template:Small	28 Mar 1906	Template:Small	Template:Small
42	Template:Yes2Win	32–3–7	Jim O'Brien	KO	1 (10), Template:Small	28 Mar 1906	Template:Small	Template:Small
41	Template:Yes2Win	31–3–7	Marvin Hart	PTS	20	23 Feb 1906	Template:Small	Template:Small
40	Template:No2Loss	30–3–7	Jack Twin Sullivan	PTS	20	17 Oct 1905	Template:Small	Template:Small
39	Template:Yes2Win	30–2–7	Dave Barry	TKO	20 (20), Template:Small	31 Aug 1905	Template:Small	Template:Small
38	Template:DrawDraw	29–2–7	Hugo Kelly	PTS	20	28 Jul 1905	Template:Small
37	Template:DrawDraw	29–2–6	Hugo Kelly	PTS	10	7 Jun 1905	Template:Small	Template:Small
36	Template:Yes2Win	29–2–5	Dave Barry	PTS	20	2 May 1905	Template:Small	Template:Small
35	Template:DrawDraw	28–2–5	Jack Twin Sullivan	PTS	20	7 Mar 1905	Template:Small	Template:Small
34	Template:Yes2Win	28–2–4	Joe Schildt	KO	6	31 Jan 1905	Template:Small
33	Template:No2Loss	27–2–4	Philadelphia Jack O'Brien	Template:Abbr	6	7 Oct 1904	Template:Small
32	Template:DrawDraw	27–1–4	Billy Woods	PTS	15	16 Sep 1904	Template:Small
31	Template:Yes2Win	27–1–3	Cyclone Kelly	KO	4 (20)	19 Aug 1904	Template:Small
30	Template:Yes2Win	26–1–3	Hans Erickson	KO	3	9 Jul 1904	Template:Small
29	Template:Yes2Win	25–1–3	Joe Wardinski	KO	1	1 Jul 1904	Template:Small
28	Template:Yes2Win	24–1–3	Tony Caponi	PTS	6	9 Apr 1904	Template:Small
27	Template:DrawDraw	23–1–3	Tony Caponi	PTS	6	18 Mar 1904	Template:Small
26	Template:DrawDraw	23–1–2	Mike Schreck	PTS	6	27 Feb 1904	Template:Small
25	Template:Yes2Win	23–1–1	George Shrosbree	KO	5	26 Feb 1904	Template:Small
24	Template:Yes2Win	22–1–1	Ben O'Grady	KO	3 (10)	28 Jan 1904	Template:Small
23	Template:Yes2Win	21–1–1	Tom McCune	PTS	10	31 Dec 1903	Template:Small	Template:Small
22	Template:Yes2Win	20–1–1	Jack O'Donnell	KO	11	25 Nov 1903	Template:Small	Template:Small
21	Template:Yes2Win	19–1–1	Jack Butler	KO	2	8 Nov 1903	Template:Small	Template:Small
20	Template:DrawDraw	18–1–1	Billy Moore	Template:Abbr	10	24 Oct 1903	Template:Small	Template:Small
19	Template:Yes2Win	18–1	Jack Hammond	KO	3 (10)	12 Oct 1903	Template:Small	Template:Small
18	Template:Yes2Win	17–1	Jim Duggan	KO	9	25 Sep 1903	Template:Small	Template:Small
17	Template:Yes2Win	16–1	Earl Thompson	KO	3	18 Apr 1903	Template:Small
16	Template:Yes2Win	15–1	Dick Smith	KO	3 (6)	25 Mar 1903	Template:Small
15	Template:Yes2Win	14–1	Reddy Phillips	DQ	2 (6)	25 Mar 1903	Template:Small
14	Template:Yes2Win	13–1	Jim O'Brien	PTS	10	13 Feb 1903	Template:Small
13	Template:No2Loss	12–1	Mike Schreck	PTS	10	16 Jan 1903	Template:Small
12	Template:Yes2Win	12–0	Tom McCune	KO	7 (10)	26 Dec 1902	Template:Small
11	Template:Yes2Win	11–0	Reddy Phillips	TKO	9 (10)	6 Nov 1902	Template:Small
10	Template:Yes2Win	10–0	Jack O'Donnell	KO	11	19 Sep 1902	Template:Small
9	Template:Yes2Win	9–0	Dick Smith	PTS	10	8 Jul 1902	Template:Small
8	Template:Yes2Win	8–0	Dick Smith	Template:Abbr	2	27 Jun 1902	Template:Small
7	Template:Yes2Win	7–0	Ed Sholtreau	PTS	10	16 May 1902	Template:Small
6	Template:Yes2Win	6–0	Ed Sholtreau	TKO	1 (10), Template:Small	18 Apr 1902	Template:Small
5	Template:Yes2Win	5–0	Billy Walsh	Template:Abbr	6	4 Apr 1902	Template:Small
4	Template:Yes2Win	4–0	Archie Steele	Template:Abbr	2 (6)	5 Mar 1902	Template:Small
3	Template:Yes2Win	3–0	Harry Peppers	Template:Abbr	2 (8)	3 Mar 1902	Template:Small
2	Template:Yes2Win	2–0	Billy Walsh	TKO	5 (8)	5 Feb 1902	Template:Small
1	Template:Yes2Win	1–0	Fred Thornton	Template:Abbr	5 (10)	16 Jan 1902	Template:Small

See also

• List of heavyweight boxing champions
• The Burns-Johnson Fight – contemporary documentary on the fight

External links

• Tommy Burns – CBZ Profile
• Template:Boxrec
• Boxing Hall of Fame
• Tommy Burns at Find a Grave