The first Black heavyweight champion. The most hated man in America. The fighter who refused to bow.
Jack Johnson didn't just win the heavyweight title in 1908?he obliterated the color line and dared America to do something about it. He drove fast cars, wore flashy suits, and married white women while the nation seethed with rage. After his victory over the "Great White Hope" in 1910, race riots erupted nationwide and the federal government made him public enemy number one.
This is the story of a man who fought everyone?in the ring and out?and paid the ultimate price for living on his own terms. From the docks of Galveston to exile abroad, from triumph to tragedy, Champion Against the World reveals the true cost of being unapologetically Black and brilliant in Jim Crow America.
"He remained, until the end, champion against the world."
