Book Chronicles First Black Boxing Champ

The book The Longest Fight by journalist William Gildea provides an intriguing look into the life of Joe Gans, who gained fame in the early 1900s as America’s first African-American boxing champ. 

Gans overcame racism to be hailed as the greatest lightweight boxing champ of all time. In spite of the fact that sports writers at the time often referred to him by the most offensive racial epithets, Gans won over fans both black and white because of his reputation as a hard-working athlete with serious skills.

The Longest Fight has short, breezy chapters and is quick read, yet provides plenty of details about the dramatic peaks and valleys of Gans’ life and career.

The book is titled The Longest Fight, in part, because Gans defeated a Caucasian fighter known as Oscar “Battling” Nelson in a 42-round match on Sept. 3, 1906, that lasted an unprecedented two hours and 48 minutes in the blazing sun in Goldfield, Nevada.

The Longest Fight not only chronicles Gans’s too-brief life, which ended in August 1910 at the age of 35 after a long bout with tuberculosis, but also the history of boxing. For example, the book documents the rise and fall of Goldfield, Nevada, a mining town where fights were sometimes staged – a precursor to the glittering lights of Las Vegas.

During the match with Nelson in Goldfield, Gans was in the odd position of having white fans rooting for him and betting on him instead of his white opponent. Part of Gans’ popularity may have been that, unlike future African-American boxing champion Jack Johnson, who was known as being flashy and boastful, Gans was perceived as humble.

When he wasn’t in the boxing ring, Gans made thousands of dollars by touring with vaudeville shows and opening a popular bar and hotel in his native Baltimore.

It’s too bad that Gans’ name isn’t more widely known these days. A filmmaker would be wise to buy the rights to The Longest Fight and turn Gans’ story into either a Ken Burns-style documentary or a dramatic movie that would preserve his legacy for generations to come.