World Colored Light Heavyweight Championship

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The World Colored Light Heavyweight Championship was a title created in 1921, when African American boxers were prevented from contending for the world light heavyweight title by the color bar.

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On 30 May 1921, Kid Norfolk fought Lee Anderson for the new colored light heavyweight title in a scheduled 10-round bout in Phoenix, Arizona. Anderson won on a T.K.O. when Norfolk returned to his corner in the ninth round, being unable to continue to fight. (They would meet another three times in non-title bouts between 1922 and 1924, and The Kid prevailed each time.) [1]

Kid Norfolk American boxer

Kid Norfolk was an American professional boxer who fought as a Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight from 1910 through 1926, holding wins over many notable boxers of his day including Joe Jeanette, Billy Miske, Jack Blackburn, Harry Greb, Tiger Flowers, Battling Siki, and Gunboat Smith. Norfolk was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2007.

Lee Anderson was a boxer who fought between and 1914 and 1929. The 5'10" Anderson fought out of Oakland, California as a light heavyweight. He was the last holder of the World Colored Light Heavyweight title.

Anderson defended the title on the Fourth of July 1921 in a 10-round bout in Phoenix, Arizona, beating Rough House Ware on points. [2]

Phoenix, Arizona State capital city in Arizona, United States

Phoenix is the capital and most populous city of Arizona, with 1,626,078 people. It is also the fifth most populous city in the United States, and the most populous American state capital, and the only state capital with a population of more than one million residents.

When Norfolk fought The Jamaica Kid on 20 December 1921 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, he had claimed the world colored light heavyweight title. He beat the Jamaica Kid on points in an eight-round bout. In Atlanta on 30 January 1922, Norfolk faced Tiger Flowers, the boxer who would become the first African American world middleweight champ in 1926, K.O.-ing him in third round of a 10-rounder. [3] He apparently had vacated the title when he met reigning colored heavyweight champ Harry Wills on 2 March 1922 in Madison Square Garden in New York City for a 15-round bout, losing to the great champion via a K.O. in the second round. Wills outweighed him by 25¾ lbs.

The Jamaica Kid was a boxer born Robert Buckley in British Honduras who fought out of New Orleans and New York City as a professional from 1916 to 1928, primarily as a light-heavyweight. When he was based in Louisiana in the first year of his pro career, he won the World Colored Middleweight title from Eddie Palmer in New Orleans, a title he did not defend as he moved to New York City later that year.

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The City of New York, usually called either New York City (NYC) or simply New York (NY), is the most populous city in the United States and thus also in the state of New York. With an estimated 2017 population of 8,622,698 distributed over a land area of about 302.6 square miles (784 km2), New York is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. Located at the southern tip of the state of New York, the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass and one of the world's most populous megacities, with an estimated 20,320,876 people in its 2017 Metropolitan Statistical Area and 23,876,155 residents in its Combined Statistical Area. A global power city, New York City has been described as the cultural, financial, and media capital of the world, and exerts a significant impact upon commerce, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, art, fashion, and sports. The city's fast pace has inspired the term New York minute. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy.

On May 9 of that year, Lee Anderson took on Tiger Flowers in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico for a 15-round bout to determine the colored light heavyweight title. Anderson won his second colored crown when he K.O.-ed Flowers in the seventh round.

Anderson apparently vacated the title in turn, and Kid Norfolk took the crown title for the second time one day short of a year later, on 8 Mary 1923, when he K.O.-ed Tiger Flowers in the at 2:50 in the first round of a scheduled 12-rounder in Springfield, Ohio. The title then went into abeyance.

Springfield, Ohio City in Ohio, United States

Springfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River, Buck Creek and Beaver Creek, approximately 45 miles (72 km) west of Columbus and 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Dayton. Springfield is home to Wittenberg University, a liberal arts college.

John Henry Lewis became the first black world light heavyweight champion in 1935.

List of champions

#NameReignDateDays
held
LocationDefensesNotes
May 30, 1921Unknown Phoenix, Arizona
USA
Defeated Kid Norfolk by a TKO in the 9th round.
December 20, 1921Unknown New York City
USA
Defeated The Jamaica Kid for vacated title.
May 9, 1922Unknown Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua
USA
Defeated Tiger Flowers for vacated title.
May 8, 1923Unknown Springfield, Ohio
USA
Title became defunct.

See also

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References

  1. "Kid Norfolk - Record". BoxRec.
  2. "Lee Anderson - Record". BoxRec. Retrieved 26 May 2012.
  3. "Tiger Flowers - Record". BoxRec.