THE RUMBLE IN RUSHCUTTERS

One thing I love about boxing in Rushcutters Bay is knowing that it was there, over a century ago, that Jack Johnson made history and became the first black heavyweight world champion.

Johnson had been denied a shot at the title by champion Jim Jeffries, who proclaimed, “When there are no more white men to fight I will quit the business.” His successor, Marvin Hart, also drew the colour line.

Canadian Tommy Burns, who beat Hart for the title, wasn’t in a hurry to face Johnson, either. The Galveston Giant had followed Burns across the globe for two years, challenging him to a fight. It took an audacious Australian promoter, Hugh D. McIntosh, to raise $30,000 to lure the champ to Sydney and make it happen.

Throughout the lead-up to the match, the champ treated Johnson with contempt. “I’ll beat this n—r,” or my name isn’t Tommy Burns,” he said. Maybe he realised how the fight would run – he was born Noah Brusso.

Before the fight, there was a dispute over the referee. Johnson refused to accept Reginald “Snowy” Baker, the golden boy of Australian sport. No doubt thinking of the discrimination he faced on account of his colour, he told McIntosh why he objected: “He’s a blond and I don’t like blonds.”

Ready to Rumble at Rushcutters Boxing Stadium

Some 20,000 people packed into Sydney Stadium in Rushcutters Bay on November 26, 1908, to watch the historic match up. Once the fight started, it was one-way traffic. Jackson waved Burns in, inviting him to attack, and chatted with the ringside crowd as he battered his opponent.

Novelist Jack London wrote, “Johnson was too big, too strong, too clever. Burns never had a show. He was hopelessly outclassed.”

“No Armenian massacre would compare with the hopeless slaughter that took place in the Stadium… A golden smile tells the story, and the golden smile was Johnson’s.”

"And the new heavyweight champ..." Jack Johnson boxing Tommy Burns at Sydney Stadium, Rushcutters Bay.

In the 14th round, police stepped in to stop the beat down. “I could have put him away quicker but I wanted to punish him.” Johnson said. “I had my revenge.”

Last year, a plaque commemorating the historic fight was unveiled where Sydney Stadium once stood, thanks to photographer Joseph Sarkodie. He nominated the site for the Woollahra Council Plaque Scheme, realising how significant the event was not just for Australian sport, but for world boxing and the history of race relations in America.

My favourite part of the Jack Johnson story actually comes after he left Sydney. On Johnson’s voyage home, the RMS Makura docked in Brisbane. During the stopover, the newly crowned champ drove to Toowong Cemetery, to visit the grave of Peter Jackson, an Australian heavyweight boxer born in the West Indies.

Jackson was one of the greatest fighters of his era but never got to fight for the world title. The reigning champion at the time, John L. Sullivan, boasted, “I have never fought a negro and I never shall.”

The Black Prince, as Jackson was known, did fight top contender “Gentleman” Jim Corbett to a draw after 60 rounds. Once Corbett became the champ, he also refused to fight a black man. Jackson went on to live a hard life, and died of tuberculosis in Roma, Queensland, in 1901.

The Brisbane Courier recorded Johnson’s pilgrimage to Jackson’s final resting place.

“The living champion spent a few moments in silent contemplation of the spot where rested the mortal remains of the dead. It was an impressive sight indeed to see the splendid form of the living gladiator bending for a moment over the tomb of he who was Australia’s fistic idol, and the solemnity of the occasion for the time, swept his now famous smile from Johnson’s face.”

• About the author: Chris Ryan, a former amateur boxer, is a freelance writer and personal trainer with Rushcutters Boxing.