Groundbreaking Heavyweight

Since we are only a few days removed from Martin Luther King day I felt it would be fitting to give mention to a man who broke color barriers in the sport of boxing. Jack Johnson (not the singer), pictured above, was the first ever black heavyweight champion of the world, in a time when boxing was one of the three most popular sports in the United States. For years he was the target of vicious racism, after he had reached the pinacle of what was seen as a "white man's sport". However, Johnson persevered and in the face of tremendous adversity he is remembered not only as one of the best boxers ever, but as the man who paved the way for the likes of Muhammed Ali, George Foreman, and Floyd Mayweather.