Real name George Dixon Wins 73 Martial art Boxing Nickname(s) Little Chocolate Name George Dixon Total fights 163 | Reach 69 ⁄2 in (177 cm) Role Professional Boxer Nationality Canadian Height 1.6 m | |
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Rated at BantamweightFeatherweight Division | ||
George dixon vs chester leon 1906
George Dixon (July 29, 1870 – January 6, 1908) was a Black Canadian professional boxer. He was the first black world boxing champion in any weight class, while also being the first ever Canadian-born boxing champion. Ring Magazine founder Nat Fleischer ranked Dixon as the #1 Featherweight of all-time.
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Dixon was inducted posthumously into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1955. He was also inducted into the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1956 and into the International Boxing Hall of Fame as a first-class inductee in 1990.
George dixon
Boxing career
Dixon was born in Africville, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Known as "Little Chocolate," he stood 5 feet 3.5 inches (1.613 m) tall and weighed only 87 pounds (39 kg) when he began his professional boxing career. Dixon claimed the World Bantamweight Championship on 10 May 1888 after a bout with Tommy Spider Kelly, and was officially considered the champion after knocking out Nunc Wallace of England in 18 rounds two years later on June 27, 1890. Dixon is credited for developing Shadowboxing.
The following year, on May 31, 1891, Dixon beat Cal McCarthy in 22 rounds to win the Featherweight title. While he held the title, Dixon established a vaudeville troupe he called the "George Dixon Specialty Co.," which toured Canada and the United States. It appeared at the Naylor Opera House in Terre Haute, Indiana, on November 8, 1894.
In a close bout, he lost to the British Featherweight Champion Ben Jordan on July 1, 1898 at New York's Lenox Club in a classic twenty five round points decision by referee Charley White. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, "Dixon did the leading but unlike many of those who had previously met the little Colored fighter, Jordan went at him and mixed it all the time." The bout was close, and many believed a draw would have been a better decision. Jordan was down on his hands and knees in the seventh from a blow by Dixon, but the bout contained relatively few knockdowns and no counts. The bout ended with a flurry by Dixon, but the referee did not feel it adequate to award him the decision. The Chronicle actually believed Dixon had the edge in the fighting. The Los Angeles Times also agreed the bout was close and that "Both men fought well and there was little to choose between them".
on November 11, 1898, he decisively defeated Dave Sullivan in a World Featherweight Title match that resulted in a tenth round disqualification at New York City's Lenox Club. Sullivan had held the title only forty-six days. At the time of the fight the betting favored Dixon, but was close, and briefly went to even odds. For nine rounds in front of eight thousand spectators, Dixon had the advantage. In the final round, Sullivan's brother Jack walked into the ring twice to speak to Jimmy Coville the referee about the time remaining in the round, eventually causing Coville to end the fight, in frustration over Jack's infraction. Sullivan could have fought on, though he would have almost certainly lost the fight.
He lost his title in a 15-round decision to Abe Attell on October 28, 1901.
By that time, he had moved to Boston, where he had family; it was a destination for other immigrants from Africville. He continued to live there. Dixon died in New York City in 1908. He was poor and had no place to live. Part of his hospital bills for the illness that took his life was paid for by a charity boxing tournament put on January 23, 1908 at Bower's Minery Theatre in New York. He is interred in the Mount Hope Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts. A recreation centre in downtown Halifax is named after him.