Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion, whose reign lasted from 1908 to 1915, was also the first African American pop culture icon. He was photographed more than any other black man of ...

refused to fight Johnson or any other black boxer. On May 16, Johnson took on the champion's younger brother, Jack Jeffries. After toying with the younger Jeffries for five rounds, Johnson knocked ...

But in 1908, 39 years before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in major league baseball, there was Jack Johnson -- the first black man to hold the world heavyweight championship. Johnson is ...