By John F. McKenna (McJack): Finally a “White Hope” was found who was a legitimate threat to Jack Johnson’s reign as Heavyweight Champion. Jess Willard, a rugged, confident, hard working cowboy from Kansas, who had started his boxing career just six years prior, challenged Johnson for the title. Big Jess at 6’6”, 245 lbs had nowhere near Johnson’s skill as a fighter. What he did possess was a great deal of strength and stamina. The fight between Jack Johnson and Jess Willard was scheduled for 45 rounds and was held on April 5, 1915 (Johnson vs Willard – YouTube) in Havana, Cuba.

Willard’s style was unorthodox, which caused Johnson problems. Johnson found that he could not knock out his huge challenger. Jess Willard, AKA “The Pottawatomie Giant” was a counterpuncher and he forced Johnson to do all the leading. It was a strategy that Willard hoped would tire Johnson out, who at 37 years old was four years older than Willard. Johnson as expected won all the early rounds, drawing on his skill and experience. Whenever Jess had the opportunity, he dug in punches to Johnson’s body. He had noted early on Johnson’s reaction to his powerful body shots. After the 20th round Johnson began to tire and reacted visibly every time Jess scored with a body punch. Finally Jess connected in the 26th round with a powerful right hand to the jaw. Afterwards many people, including Johnson himself insinuated that Jack had taken a dive. The film taken of the fight however, shows a different story. Further, it is illogical to fight for 26 rounds under a hot Havana sun and then decide to fall down. Willard himself stated: “If he was going to throw the fight, I wish he had done it a lot sooner. It was hot as hell out there!” Thus the reign of one of the greatest and the most controversial Heavyweight Champions was over. After Jack Johnson, no black fighter got a title shot for twenty two years, until Joe Louis won the title from Jimmy Braddock in 1937. Joe Louis’s image was carefully cultivated to draw the distinction between him and Jack Johnson, which enabled him to get the shot at Braddock.

Jack Johnson was an extremely complex man, shaped to some degree by the times he grew up in. He snubbed his nose at white America. His preference for white woman was well known and he in fact married three white women. In June of 1913 he was convicted by an all white jury of violating the Mann Act, even thought the acts took place before the law went into effect. It was another “Gotcha” moment for those that wanted to get Johnson. White America was not about to stand idly by while Johnson cavorted around the country with white woman. He was found guilty of taking a white woman across state lines for an immoral purpose. Johnson received a prison sentence of a year and a day. He promptly skipped bail and left the country. Eventually he would report to Leavenworth Penitentiary to serve out his prison sentence.

Johnson, in addition to being years ahead of his contemporaries in his boxing style, was similar to today’s superstars in the celebrity status that he achieved. He wore stylish clothing, drove expensive cars and frequently endorsed various products for which he was handsomely rewarded. He appeared regularly on radio programs and in films.
He was an admirer of Napoleon Bonaparte and enjoyed the opera. In 1920 Johnson opened a nightclub in Harlem. Three years later he sold it to reputed gangster Owney Madden who renamed it the Cotton Club.

Johnson once stated: “I made a lot of mistakes out of the ring, but I never made any in it.”

Another of Johnsons quotes: “The fight between life and death is to the finish, and ultimately death is the victor……I do not deplore the passing of these crude old days.”

Jack Johnson lived life to the fullest. He was killed in an automobile accident near Raleigh, North Carolina in 1946.