Jack London, Jack Johnson, and the Fight of the Century

By Andrew Rihn

Held in Jim Crow–era Nevada on the 4th of July, the 1910 World Heavyweight Championship was slated to be a fight to remember. Moonlighting as a boxing journalist, novelist Jack London cheered on Jim Jeffries — ringside and on the page — as the “Great White Hope", a contender to take back the title from Jack Johnson, the first Black heavyweight champion. Andrew Rihn examines the contradictions of London’s racial rhetoric, which is more complex and convoluted than it may initially appear. more