Boxing

Joe Louis was the World's Most Popular Athlete; Racist Businessmen Refused to Let Him Endorse Fords

by Silke-Maria Weineck

Market research documents related to the Ford Motor Company's refusal to grant retired champ Joe Louis a dealership franchise reveal a combination of middle-class prejudice and the willingness of the business world to accommodate Jim Crow. 

Is Ali the Last American Hero? Who Else is There?

by Robert Lipsyte

"I’ve been wondering lately just how Ali actually reached such heights. There are plenty of people alive today who once hated him and yet, in American popular culture, he’s now a secular saint."

New Documentary on 1996 De La Hoya vs. Chavez Fight Digs Into Complexity of Mexican Ethnicity Across the Border

Director Eva Longoria Bastón's documentary on the 1996 match between Mexican champion Julio César Chávez and LA-born Oscar De La Hoya examines how the fight revealed tensions between Mexican and Mexican-American communities expressed in citizenship, language and sports allegiance.

Jack Johnson and Africa: Boxing and Race in Colonial Africa

by Abraham Tapiwa Seda

Jack Johnson's achievement as the world heavyweight champion had cultural significance far beyond the United States, as European colonial regimes that had used sports like boxing as instruments of social control found that they could also be instruments of rebellion and rejection of white supremacy.

Ken Burns's "Muhammad Ali" Well-Crafted, But Not Groundbreaking

Ken Burns has an irresistable subject for his latest project. The problem isn't the quality of his film, but that so many others have gotten there first. 

On this Day in 1938, Joe Louis and Max Schmeling Went to War

Although his title fight with Joe Louis was treated as a symbol for both racial conflict and the looming battle between fascism and democracy, the German heavyweight was relieved to be dumped as a mascot of the Nazi party after a decisive loss to the African American champion.

Cassius Marcellus Clay and Muhammed Ali: What’s in a Name?

by Joshua M Casper

They were born with the same moniker, and both changed history. Two names. Two men. Two identities, Muhammed Ali and Cassius Marcellus Clay will forever be linked.

Trump Pardons Jack Johnson, Heavyweight Boxing ChampionTrump Pardons Jack Johnson, Heavyweight Boxing Champion

Decades after Johnson was convicted under the Mann Act, his case drew significant attention as a gross miscarriage of justice and a symbol of the depths of racism in the American justice system.

Ten Rounds of History: The All-American Boxing Film Is Back with Creed

by Bruce Chadwick

Why have we loved boxing movies so much for over a hundred years?