World Colored Middleweight Championship

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The World Colored Middleweight Championship was a title awarded to black boxers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This was the only recognized middleweight championship available to blacks prior to Tiger Flowers (5 August 1895 - 16 November 1927) winning the world middleweight boxing championship by defeating Harry Greb on 26 February 1926. [1]

Contents

Two world colored middleweight champions, George Byer and Sam Langford, went on to win the World Colored Heavyweight Championship.

Negro Middleweight Champion

Johnny Banks, "The Darkey Wizard", claimed the Negro Middleweight Championship of the World during the 1880s. He lost in a title fight on 26 January 1887 in New York City to James Desverney when he was disqualified in the ninth round on a foul. [2] (Desverney apparently never defended the title.) Banks's next fight was with future colored middleweight champ Ed Binney in Boston, in which they drew in the scheduled 13 rounds. Another three rounds were tacked onto the bout and Binney won the fight. [3]

Colored Champions

Harris Martin, "The Black Pearl", declared himself the world colored middleweight champion after beating "Black Frank" Taylor in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on 2 May 1887, when he knocked out Taylor in the 38th or 40th round of their bout. [4] Martin lost his title to Ed Binney on 30 November 1891 in San Francisco, California.

On 29 February 1892, The Black Pearl fought Charley Turner, "The Stockton Cyclone", in his first fight since losing the title to Binney and was defeated. Turner claimed the title but never defended it. [5] Binney was considered the lineal champ; he had also defeated the holder of the Negro Middleweight title.

20th Century

From 1912 to 1924, there was a continuous line of colored middleweight champs. The last title holder of this era was Larry Estridge, [6] who defeated previous title holder Panama Joe Gans [7] in a fight at Yankee Stadium on July 26, 1924. He defended the title against Gans at Queensboro Stadium in Long Island City, Queens, New York on August 11 of that year. It was his sole title defense.

Gans had won the title from George Robinson in Madison Square Garden on October 8, 1920. He defended the title twice in 1923, racking up no decisions (and thus keeping his title) against Whitey Black on May 14 in Detroit and against Tiger Flowers in Toledo, Ohio on May 25. He knocked out Willie Walker via a 9th round K.O. in New York City on June 30. [8]

After Tiger Flowers lost the title in 1926, there was one more African American middleweight champ, Gorilla Jones, who reigned for six months in 1932. There would not be another black middleweight champ until Sugar Ray Robinson in 1950.

Revived Title

The colored middleweight title was revived in the early 1940s. Charley Burley, who had been the colored welterweight champ, fought Holman Williams for the championship on 14 August 14, 1942, and won on a 9th round TKO. Williams won the title on a decision in their rematch on 16 October 1942, then lost the title on 15 January 1943 to the Cocoa Kid in a 12-round decision. The Kid never defended the title.

List of champions

#NameReignDateDays
held
LocationDefensesNotes
1 Harris Martin 1May 2, 18871673 Minneapolis, Minnesota
USA
1"The Black Pearl" declared himself the world colored middleweight champion after fighting "Black Frank" Taylor to a draw.
2 Ed Binney 1November 30, 1891349 San Francisco, California
USA
1Charley Turner claimed the title after defeating Harris Martin on 29 February 1892 in San Francisco but never defended it.
3 Joe Butler 1November 13, 1892464 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
USA
2Defeated Frank Craig in title defense on 18 March 1893 in Philadelphia.
4 Frank Craig 1February 20, 1894Unknown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
USA
0Vacated title without defending it.
5 George Byers 1December 9, 1897Unknown Waterbury, Connecticut
USA
UnknownByer defeated Harry Peppers, the Pacific Coast middleweight champion; won the World Colored Heavyweight Championship in 1898.
6 Sam Langford 1November 12, 1907Unknown Los Angeles, California
USA
UnknownDefeated Young Peter Jackson; won World Colored Heavyweight Championship in 1909.
7 Eddie Palmer (boxer) 1September 26, 19121331 New York City
USA
4Claimed title after scoring no-decision in bout with "Young" Tommy Coleman.
8 Jamaica Kid 1May 19, 1916Unknown New Orleans, Louisiana
USA
0Did not defend title.
9 Panama Joe Gans 1October 8, 19201387 New York City
USA
5Defeated George Madison at Madison Square Garden; lost title to Larry Estridge at Yankee Stadium.
10 Larry Estridge 1July 26, 1924Unknown The Bronx, New York
USA
1Title became extinct after Tiger Flowers won the World Middleweight title on February 26, 1926.
11Harry Smith1November 16, 1929UnknownKingston, Jamaica
Harlem, New York, US
1Title revived; Smith beat Jack McVey with 15 round PTS.
11 Charley Burley 1August 14, 194263 New Orleans, Louisiana
USA
1Title revived; Burley beat Holman Williams with 9th round TKO.
12 Holman Williams 1October 16, 194291 New Orleans, Louisiana
USA
1Williams beat Burley via points in 15 round decision.
13 Cocoa Kid 1January 15, 1943Unknown New Orleans, Louisiana
USA
UnknownCocoa Kid beat Williams via points in 12-round bout.

See also

References

  1. [https://www.nytimes.com/1926/02/27/archives/flowers-is-victor-lifts-grebs-title-20000-see-negro-beat-1-to-5.html "Flowers Is Victor; Lifts Greb's Title— 20,000 See Negro Beat 1 to 5 Favorite for World's Middleweight Crown", The New York Times, February 27, 1926, p.9
  2. "John Banks (the "Darkey Wizard")". Cyber Boxing Zone. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  3. "Johnny Banks". Box Rec. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  4. ""Black Frank" Taylor". Cyber Zone Boxing. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  5. "Charley Turner (the "Stockton Cyclone")". Cyber Zone Boxing. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  6. "Larry Estridge". BoxRec. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  7. "Panama Joe Gans". BoxRec. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  8. ""Panama" Joe Gans". Cyber Zone Boxing. Retrieved 24 May 2012.