BoxRec

It's the centennial of the Tommy Burns v Jack Johnson bout in Sydney Australia. I found this article an interesting read on the event.

http://angryfightfan.wordpress.com/2008 ... tters-bay/

Les Darcy wrote:It's the centennial of the Tommy Burns v Jack Johnson bout in Sydney Australia. I found this article an interesting read on the event.

http://angryfightfan.wordpress.com/2008 ... tters-bay/

I also read an article in the local paper with the title
"Australia commemorates Canadian's historic fight" - i.e. Johnson vs Burns.
My only problem with the article is it gave the appearance that Jack Johnson was the first
black fighter to win a world title and be in a inter-racial title bout.
It seems even the Canadian press overlooked the great GEORGE DIXON (aka Little Chocolate).
Not only did George win one title,but he won a second and the rest is real boxing history,
not history for the convenience of a good story to remember something that happened 100
years ago.

I think they meant heavyweight

ben geoghegan wrote:I think they meant heavyweight

With all due respect to "them", it's not what they meant, but what a story indicates.
The reader of a newspaper shouldn't have to guess what the meaning of the words are.

It is always nice to read about positive boxing stories in the "local rag", but
not at the expense of greats like George Dixon, Joe Gans or Joe Walcott.

The logical conclusion is the local paper ran with a nice "Canwest News Service" story
without checking the facts. As a minimum, it would have been cool for a Canadian newspaper
to add a footnote about Canada and Boston's pwn GEORGE DIXON.

Have you seen the footage of Dixon in an exhibition (term used loosely)?

It is probable that the heavyweight title bout between Jack Johnson and Tommy Burns was the most significant sports event ever staged in Australia due to the fact that Johnson became the first black man to win the title and went on to be such an important figure in history.

- Chuck Johnston

Zelley wrote:

ben geoghegan wrote:I think they meant heavyweight

With all due respect to "them", it's not what they meant, but what a story indicates.
The reader of a newspaper shouldn't have to guess what the meaning of the words are.

It is alwats nice to read about positive boxing stories in the "local rag", but
not at the expense of greats like George Dixon, Joe Gans or Joe Walcott.

The logical conclusion is the local paper ran with a nice "Canwest News Service" story
without checking the facts. As a minimum, it would have been cool for a Canadian newspaper
to add a footnote about Canada and Boston's pwn GEORGE DIXON.

After the omission was brought to his attention, the author edited his piece to acknowledge the earlier achievements of Messrs. Dixon, Gans and Walcott.

http://angryfightfan.wordpress.com/2008 ... tters-bay/

You can thank me later.

raylawpc wrote:

Zelley wrote:
With all due respect to "them", it's not what they meant, but what a story indicates.
The reader of a newspaper shouldn't have to guess what the meaning of the words are.

It is always nice to read about positive boxing stories in the "local rag", but
not at the expense of greats like George Dixon, Joe Gans or Joe Walcott.

The logical conclusion is the local paper ran with a nice "Canwest News Service" story
without checking the facts. As a minimum, it would have been cool for a Canadian newspaper
to add a footnote about Canada and Boston's pwn GEORGE DIXON.

After the omission was brought to his attention, the author edited his piece to acknowledge the earlier achievements of Messrs. Dixon, Gans and Walcott.

http://angryfightfan.wordpress.com/2008 ... tters-bay/

You can thank me later.

The author editing his story is the right thing to do, but not sure all the newspapers running the story will do a follow-up

The funny or crazy side of the story is it is claimed that the Johnson - Burns fight was held in Australia because several cities around the world refused to hold an inter-racial fight.
Funny thing is that many locations held inter-racial bouts before and after December 26, 1908.
e.g. July 4, 1908: Battling Nelson KO's Joe Gans, San Francisco.
e.g. Dec. 21, 1908: Sam Langford KO's Jim Flynn, San Francisco

Pleased to report, the local newspaper mentioned George Dixon in the January 6 th issue

Anyone know what is at the present site of the stadium(which was built just for that fight).
Perhaps a Super-Walmart or an Out Back Steakhouse?

Brutu wrote:Anyone know what is at the present site of the stadium(which was built just for that fight).
Perhaps a Super-Walmart or an Out Back Steakhouse?

Sydney Stadium was built in 1908, but the first major event there was Burns' bout with Bosher Bill Squires in August, not Burns-Johnson in December. The Stadium eventually got a roof. It endured to the mid-1970s when it was demolished to make way for an elevated railway.

Chuck1052 wrote:It is probable that the heavyweight title bout between Jack Johnson and Tommy Burns was the most significant sports event ever staged in Australia due to the fact that Johnson became the first black man to win the title and went on to be such an important figure in history.

- Chuck Johnston

The city also hosted an Olympics, though.

I'd go with the Olympics too

I thought about the two Olympics staged in Australia , but Jack Johnson was such a pivotal sports figure in history, which wouldn't have happened if he hadn't become the first black world heavyweight champion. As a result, I feel the bout between Johnson vs. Tommy Burns was the most historically significant Australian sports event in history by a huge margin.

- Chuck Johnston

It's certainly a unique event, what transpired, I'll give you that, as opposed to the Olympics, which happen with routine, though they are immeasurably bigger global events than Johnson-Burns was (even for its time).

The Olympics happen every four years, & have happened twice in Australia. You're certainly not going to be able to say that of Johnson-Burns, so it is the more historic event in that case. It's also the only Heavyweight championship bout in the history of the country, someone correct me if I'm wrong? Pretty sure. It'll most likely be the last, too.

Burns vrs Johnson
Tale of the Tape

Tommy Burns/ Jack Johnson
age.. 27/ / age ..30
height.. 5 ft.7.25 / height.. 6 ft. 1.75
weight.. 176 lbs/ weight... 196 lbs
reach... 74.5 inches/ reach.. 72.75 inches

forearm... 12 inches/ forearm.. 13 inches
biceps... 13.25 in./ biceps.. 14.5 in.
chest...40.5 inches/ chest 43.5 inches

Here is a bump to another past thread(2008) on the subject.

Goodnight, Irene wrote:It's certainly a unique event, what transpired, I'll give you that, as opposed to the Olympics, which happen with routine, though they are immeasurably bigger global events than Johnson-Burns was (even for its time).

The Olympics happen every four years, & have happened twice in Australia. You're certainly not going to be able to say that of Johnson-Burns, so it is the more historic event in that case. It's also the only Heavyweight championship bout in the history of the country, someone correct me if I'm wrong? Pretty sure. It'll most likely be the last, too.

Actually, Burns had a couple of previous defenses in Australia. He beat Billy Squires (their 3rd fight) and Bill Lang in Sydney.

What was considered Australia's biggest sporting event prior to Johnson-Burns?

As far as show business,I think it may have been the Cole Bros.Circus visiting from America in 1881.