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    The Great Gordino Newsletter - Issue 263 - Fri 3rd Dec 2004
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    Hi There,

    I hope you've had a good week.

    I spoke about integrity on Wednesday, and someone sent me
    an email saying they wanted to unsubscribe.
    That wasn't exactly what they said, the email was full of F words
    and S words.

    I did consider emailing back and restating my views on integrity,
    but I just took him off my list.

    A recently finished series on TV featured the history of
    heavyweight boxing.

    A violent sport, obviously, with the sole objective being to beat
    your opponent into submission.

    It did though give a couple of great stories I thought I'd pass on.

    Towards the end of the 19th century, boxing was an illegal, bare
    fisted affair which only finished when one boxer was physically
    incapable of getting up, which could last for hours.

    It was only when the Queensberry rules found general
    acceptance that boxing started to become a sport that could be
    marketed for the general public to watch.

    Almost totally exclusive to white people, there was a concerted
    effort at the beginning of the 20th century to keep Jack
    Johnson, a black fighter, from fighting for the world title.
    Johnson found it so difficult to get the fight, that he had to go to
    Australia for a shot at the title, which he won.

    White America was shocked to have a black man as the
    champion, and so began the quest for a 'Great White Hope'.

    When a previous white champ was urged out of retirement to
    face Johnson, he lost, and Johnson was more than happy to
    flaunt all the trappings of being champ, leading a decadent
    lifestyle which did nothing to endear him to the establishment.

    When Johnson was sentenced to jail for transporting women
    across state lines, he fled the country, leaving behind him a
    terrible reputation for black boxers.

    The next black boxer of note to come along was Joe Louis, who
    blitzed his way through the lower ranks, but came across the
    Johnson legacy as he got higher up, finding it difficult to find
    decent opponents.

    In 1936 he fought a German who was past his best, Max
    Schmeling.
    Louis was expected to win easily, but Schmeling had noticed a
    flaw in the Louis style, and gave Louis a beating.

    Louis went on the claim the world title ahead of Schmeling, and
    although he defended it over and over, he didn't consider
    himself the true champion until he had beaten Schmeling.

    Unlike Johnson before him, Louis was carefully marketed as a
    bible reading family man to gain acceptance from white America,
    and by the time the rematch with Schmeling came, in 1938, he
    was viewed as the representative of a free America against the
    Nazi Germany.
    He won the fight in just over 2 minutes, and was feted as the all
    American hero.
    In fact in the 40s he served 4 years in the army, which was still
    segregated, as was most of America.

    That was the irony, that although Louis had taken the American
    perception of black people forward in leaps from the Johnson
    era, so much so that he was the hope of America in the
    Schmeling fight, America was still segregated.

    Boxing is brutal, it's not everyone's cup of tea.
    For a lot of people it has provided an escape from poverty, an
    opportuntity to achieve high goals, through self improvement,
    and strength of mind as well as body, and is still providing
    opportunity today.

    An interesting story indeed, and I'm off to search out the book
    to accompany the series.

    Right then, that's it for today, have a great weekend, and don't
    go smashing anyone in the mouth unless you are in a boxing
    ring!

    'Til Monday,
    Health and Happiness,
    Gordon
    email me at gordon@gordonbryan.com - you'll have to copy and paste
    thanks to the idiot online spammers!



    
    Get my book here!


    

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