Rubin Carter Holding the Writ of Habeas Corpus That Freed Him From Prison Image Ownership: Public domain Rubin Carter was an American middleweight boxer, who is best known not because of his sports career but because of his murder conviction in 1967 and exoneration in … Read MoreRubin “The Hurricane” Carter (1937-2014)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Afro-Italian boxing champion Leone Jacovacci (a.k.a. John Douglas Walker and Jack Walker) was born in 1902 in the village of Pombo in the Belgian Congo (now Democratic Republic of the Congo), the son of Umberto Jacovacci, a contracted Italian agronomist, and … Read MoreLeone Jacovacci (1902–1983)
“Image Courtesy of Clay Moyle” Sidney Walker, world champion boxer in world light heavyweight class, was born in Augusta, Georgia on April 1, 1921. He was raised by his grandmother, Evie Mixom, on her small farm near Augusta. Walker quit school by the second grade … Read MoreSidney/Beau Jack Walker (1921-2000)
Laila Ali, the daughter of former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, and Jacqui Frazier, the daughter of former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier, became the first woman in history to headline a pay-per-view event when they fought on June 7, 2001. It was also the first time … Read MoreLaila Ali (1977- )
Photograph by Carl Van Vechten, courtesy of The Van Vechten Trust Canada Lee (the adopted name of Lionel Cornelius Canegata) was a noted 20th Century jockey, boxer, and actor. Born on May 3, 1907 in New York City’s San Juan Hill district, he attended Public … Read MoreCanada Lee (1907-1952)
Image Ownership: Public Domain Muhammad Ali, arguably the most famous professional boxer in the 20th Century and the only fighter to win the heavyweight championship three times, was born Cassius Clay in 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky, to Cassius Marcellus Clay, Sr. and Odessa Grady Clay. At the age … Read MoreMuhammad Ali (1942-2016)
Henry Jackson Jr., better known as Henry Armstrong, was born on December 12, 1912, in Columbus, Mississippi to a sharecropper of black, Indian and Irish descent, and a mother who was an Iroquois Indian. At age four his family moved to St. Louis, where he … Read MoreHenry Armstrong (1912-1988)