When Jack Johnson beat Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia in 1908, he became the first black heavyweight champion of the world. Because of his colour he had not been given his deserved shot at the title and he followed Burns around the world until he was given his chance. When he won the championship, and with it fame and money, he outraged America with his arrogance. The final straw was his white mistress and all America was looking for "The Great White Hope" to regain the heavyweight crown. First middleweight champion Stanley Ketchel had a go. But although flooring Johnson in the 12th, he was kayoed by one punch in the 14th. So former champion James J Jeffries was persuaded to come out of retirement to put Johnson in his place once and for all. The fight was fixed for Reno, the first major promotion by the legendary Tex Rickard, who sold the film rights for over $100,000. Jeffries, who hadn't fought since he retired as undefeated world heavyweight champion in 1904, trained hard for the fight. But he was no match for Johnson, who dominated the whole fight and won when he pleased, eventually knocking him out in the 15th round. Although the film of the fight was not shown, Johnson's win led to race riots in some American cities and made him even more unpopular. A spurious charge was made against him and he went into exile to avoid prison. He defended his crown abroad several times before he was beaten by the giant Jess Willard in Havana in 1915.
In the early 20s Jack Dempsey was America's hero and one of their most recognisable stars. The Manassa Mauler had fought his way up from humble beginnings as an itinerant miner and fruit-picker, to be heavyweight champion of the world, the true embodiment of the American dream. He had won the title in Toledo in 1919 when he out-boxed the much heavier Jess Willard to win by a technical knock-out in the third. He defended his title five times, defeating the French champion Georges Carpentier and the Argentinian Luis Angel Firpo. Dempsey's promoter Tex Rickard kept him apart from the main contender, Harry Wills, because he refused to stage a mixed-race bout and instead signed him up to fight Gene Tunney. Tunney had been in the Marines in World War One and this was where he refined his scientific boxing skills. Back in civvy street Tunney fought as a light-heavyweight, losing only once in a brawl with the notorious Harry Greb. He took revenge on Greb the following year and then set his sights on the world heavyweight crown. He studied film of Dempsey, prepared for the fight by using the champion's old sparring partners and when they met for the first time in September 1926 in Philadelphia, he held the upper hand from the start to win on points. The rematch was eagerly anticipated and more than 100,000 fans crowded into Soldier Field, Chicago to see the confident Tunney get his come-uppance. In the early rounds Tunney held the advantage, but in the seventh Dempsey caught him with a right cross to the side of the head and followed up with a series of punches. Tunney hit the canvas as Dempsey waited over him poised for the kill. But under Illinois boxing rules, unlike New York, a boxer had to retreat to a neutral corner before the count could begin. It was at least five or six seconds before Dempsey retreated and referee Dave Barry could begin the count. These extra seconds proved invaluable to Tunney and he took full advantage as his head cleared. At the count of nine Tunney was back on his feet, able to regain control of the fight and win a unanimous decision. The controversial "Long Count" proved decisive. Dempsey reckoned he should've won and, had the fight have been in New York, he probably would have done. Tunney fought once more before retiring as heavyweight champion the following year. The disappointed Dempsey never fought again.
Sugar Ray Robinson, one of boxing's legends, won his first world crown in 1946 when he beat Tommy Bell to take the vacant welterweight title. He then moved up a division and took the undisputed middleweight title when he beat his perennial rival Jake LaMotta in Chicago in 1951. They met six times from 1942 and LaMotta won only once. After his victory Robinson set off on a "royal" tour of Europe, accompanied by an entourage including his personal hairdresser, to see the sites, play a little golf and box. His first opponent was the unconsidered British boxer Randolph Turpin, who pulled off one of the greatest surprises of the ring when he outpointed Sugar Ray over 15 rounds in London. The rematch was arranged for later in the year back in New York. This time Robinson did not take the British boxer so lightly. The Polo Grounds in New York were sold out and the gate amounted to nearly $800,000, a record for a non-heavyweight fight. Although Turpin was seven years Robinson's junior, the older man was trained to the minute. Up to the 10th, it was an even affair. Then Robinson was cut, one that might probably cost him the fight. He launched into one final desperate attack. He caught Turpin on the jaw, then again. Turpin went down. He staggered back to his feet and Robinson went all out for the win. Turpin was pinned on the ropes for a full 30 seconds while he took some dreadful punishment. Ruby Goldstein, the referee, stepped in with eight seconds of the round remaining and Sugar Ray had regained his title. He would lose and regain the title twice more, until he finally lost it, aged 38, to Paul Pender in 1960. Turpin, after the severe beating he took, was never same boxer again.
Sonny Liston was huge and fearsome, a great bear of a man. Even though he was the main contender, world heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson avoided giving him a title shot. Apart from his undoubted boxing skills, Liston had a conviction for armed robbery - he first learnt his boxing in prison - and, it was said, underworld connections. None of these made him an attractive proposition, but finally Patterson had to face him in 1962 at Chicago's Comiskey Park. It didn't last long. Liston knocked him cold in the first round and he did it again less than a year later in the rematch in Las Vegas. Liston looked invincible. Cassius Clay had won the Olympic light-heavyweight title in Rome in 1960 and immediately turned professional on his return to America. Overflowing with self-confidence and good at self-promotion, he advanced up the heavyweight ranks, beating the ancient Archie Moore on the way. He nearly came unstuck against British champion Henry Cooper, who surprised the brash youngster with a left hook in his final bout before his title fight with Liston. That fight took place in Miami and Liston was odds-on favourite. It looked a mismatch, man against boy. But the fight was not to follow the expected pattern. Clay was far too nimble for lumbering Liston and danced out of range of the champion's ferocious lefts. Clay won the first round, Liston came back to take the second, Clay took the third, cutting Liston. The fourth went to Liston, but the fifth was one of the strangest rounds in all world title fights. Clay complained that he couldn't see properly, claiming that Liston had something on his gloves that had got into his eyes. Clay spent the whole round avoiding Liston and not throwing any punches. The end seemed in sight, but not for Clay. In the sixth he startled Liston with a left, right combination and kept on top for the whole round. When the bell sounded for the start of the seventh, Liston remained on his stool, complaining of an injured shoulder and so the era of "The Greatest" had begun. The rematch the following year proved even easier for Muhammad Ali, as Clay had become after converting to Islam. This time he knocked Liston out in the first round with what looked like an innocuous blow, his so-called "anchor punch". Liston's failures in both fights, even allowing for Clay's matchless talent, has never been satisfactorily explained.
Somehow President Mobutu of Zaire was persuaded, by Don King among others, to underwrite the cost of a world heavyweight title fight in the capital Kinshasa between champion George Foreman and challenger Muhammad Ali - "The Rumble in the Jungle". George Foreman had taken the world title from Joe Frazier in 1973 when he demolished him in less than two rounds in Jamaica. Ali had fought Frazier both before and after the Foreman fight. He lost the first and won the second, but both had been close fight, going the full distance. How could he possibly live with the seemingly invincible Foreman? As both boxers prepared for the fight in Africa, Foreman sustained a cut eye and the bout was postponed for a month. While Foreman got bored with his enforced stay in Zaire, Ali, forever the showman, built up a real affinity with the locals, who came to idolise him. He encouraged them to chant "Ali boma ye ", literally "Ali kill him" and come the fight the whole of Zaire was rooting for him. Ali referred to Foreman as "The Mummy" and his training routine seemed to involve taking much punishment on the body from his sparring partners. This became part of Ali's grand tactical plan, his "rope-a-dope" strategy. Before the fight, Ali's trainer Angelo Dundee went around the ring loosening all the ropes until he was satisfied they were slack enough. When the fight started, Ali surprised everyone, Foreman included, by not adopting his usual dancing routine to stay out of trouble, but staying on the ropes, absorbing punishment. He went with Foreman's punches, many of which landed harmlessly on his forearms. Occasionally he would burst into action with a quick one-two. As the fight progressed Foreman's punching became noticeably slower and slower. Eventually he had punched himself out and Ali's left jab began to take over. By the eighth round the champion had nothing left and Ali was able to finish the exhausted Foreman off with a couple of combinations, catching him with a final right on the side of the jaw as he crashed to canvas and was counted out. Ali, against all the odds, had regained his world title. Then, totally drained in the humid African night, Ali promptly fainted. George Foreman had to wait another 20 years until he regained his title as a 45-year-old when he kayoed Michael Moorer.
The Thrilla in Manila was the third and final in the epic fights between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Their first meeting was in March, 1971 at Madison Square Gardens in New York. Ali had been stripped of the heavyweight title in 1967 because of his refusal to be called-up into the US Army. After a series of elimination bouts, Joe Frazier was eventually crowned as his successor as undisputed champion when he beat Ali's old sparring partner, Jimmy Ellis, in 1970. By 1971 Ali was free to return to the ring. After a couple of warm-up fights, Ali was ready for a tilt at the world title. It was estimated that 300 million people worldwide saw a fantastic fight with Frazier working in close as Ali tried to keep on the move. By the eleventh round they both seemed to holding each other up, but Frazier finished the stronger, knocking Ali down in the fifteenth and he won on points, inflicting on Ali his first-ever defeat. They met again in New York three year later, when neither were world champion. Frazier had been deposed by George Foreman, but the fight everyone wanted to see was the Ali-Frazier rematch. Again it lived up to expectation, but this time Ali out-boxed Smokin' Joe over 12 rounds to take the decision. The decider was in the Philippines. By now Ali had regained his title after beating George Foreman in Zaire and Frazier was the challenger. There was also a lot of personal animosity between the two champions, which gave the fight that extra edge. This time the worldwide audience was 770 million as Ali took the early initiative. Frazier came back in the middle rounds so by the tenth the fight was even. It was in the twelfth that Ali again established his dominance with a devastating two-handed attack. This continued for the next two rounds until Eddie Futch, Frazier's trainer, threw in the towel at the end of the fourteenth. Ali was a gracious winner, describing his opponent as "one hell of a fighter".
This was the long-awaited clash between Sugar Ray Leonard, welterweight champion from 1979 to 1982, and Marvellous Marvin Hagler, the dominant middleweight champion since he beat Britain's Alan Minter on a controversial night at Wembley in 1980. Since becoming champion, Hagler had gained the reputation as one of the all-time greats in his division, never afraid to take on the best challengers. He had defended his title 12 times and among those victories he had beaten two other magnificent fighters, Roberto Duran and Tommy 'The Hitman" Hearns. Leonard came to the fight from partial retirement. He had not fought for three years and that bout had been his only fight since announcing his retirement in 1982 because of a detached retina. But the prospect of fighting Hagler for the world middleweight title was too tempting and the money, reputedly $11m, also helped. The fight was sold out six months in advance. Hagler was 3-1 on favourite to retain his title, a challenge that Leonard relished. During the bout, Leonard was on the defensive, avoiding Hagler and boxing on the counter. It seemed that Hagler had done enough to retain his title, or so the ringside crowd thought. Even Leonard said as much to Hagler when the fight finished, but the judges decided otherwise. Judge Dave Moretti scored it 115-113 to Leonard, judge Lou Fillippo scored it 115-113 to Hagler, but judge Jojo Guerra scored it 118-110, an extraordinary margin in such a close fight. Observers wondered if Guerra had been watching the same fight. So Leonard had upset the odds and won on a split decision. Hagler retired, but Leonard fought on, beating Duran and Hearns. Eventually he went to the well once too often and was soundly beaten by Terry Norris in 1991.
Mike Tyson had become, at 20 years and 145 days, the youngest-ever heavyweight world champion when he beat Trevor Berbick to take the WBC title in November 1986. The fight was stopped in the second round by referee Mills Lane, who was to play a major part later in Tyson's career. He added the WBA and IBF titles to be recognised as undisputed champion by August 1987. He continued to look unbeatable as he completed a further seven successful defences but, through over-confidence and a lucky punch, he lost his titles to the unconsidered James Buster Douglas in February 1990 in Tokyo in probably the biggest upset in a world heavyweight fight. The bloated Douglas was beaten in his first defence against Evander Holyfield later that year in Las Vegas. Tyson was easing himself back with a few easy fights, when he was charged and convicted with rape and sentenced to 10 years in jail, with four years suspended. Holyfield had been the undisputed world cruiserweight champion before going up to fight as a heavyweight. He defended his title against old champions George Foreman and Larry Holmes before he was beaten by Riddick Bowe in 1992. Holyfield then became the second boxer after Muhammad Ali to regain the heavyweight crown when he won the rematch with Bowe a year later. He promptly lost the title again after an indifferent performance against Michael Moorer. After this defeat it seemed Holyfield's career was over as doctors found something wrong with his heart. He returned to the ring, but another disappointing display saw him lose again to Bowe in a non-title bout. Tyson, meanwhile, had been released from jail in 1994 and he set about regaining his titles. After a couple of warm-up fights he faced British WBC world champion, Frank Bruno, whom he disposed of with minimal trouble. He then regained the WBA title with a one round KO of Bruce Seldon. A fight with Evander Holyfield was next for Tyson - another easy pay-day, if you believed the odds with the champion a prohibitive 25-1 on. However, the experienced Holyfield was not overawed by Iron Mike and refused to be bullied. Both Bruno and Seldon had collapsed mentally before even entering the ring with Tyson, whose job was then more than half done. Holyfield's game plan was to stand up to Tyson and it worked. Tyson, used to powering in and finishing fights early, got frustrated as Holyfield took his best shots and returned them with interest. By the sixth round Tyson had been cut and decked by Holyfield, by the tenth he was out on his feet and by the eleventh the referee stepped in to save him from any more punishment. So in one of the greatest upsets of all time, Holyfield had emulated Ali by regaining the heavyweight title for a third time. In the rematch in June 1997, Holyfield again out-psyched and out-boxed Tyson - so much so that the former champion bit off part of Holyfield's ear. Tyson was disqualified by referee Mills Lane and received a lengthy ban.