Forgotten Texas History: Jack Johnson's first public fight

[seamusTX]

On February 25, 1901, 21-year-old Galveston native Jack Johnson entered the boxing ring with a seasoned fighter, Joe Choynski. Choynski knocked out Johnson in the third round. Immediately after the fight ended, Texas Rangers arrested the two men for felony prizefighting (according to Texas law at the time).

In a remarkable early display of racial integration, the two men were locked up in the same cell and spent their time sparring.

The grand jury did not indict either man.

Johnson went on to become the first African-American heavyweight champion in 1908.

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Watch the trigger discipline there, amigo.

- Jim