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Fighting as an amateur, Gerry Cooney won international tournaments in England, Wales, and Scotland, as well as the New York Golden Gloves titles. He won two New York Golden Gloves Championships, the 1973 160-lb (72.6 kg) Sub-Novice Championship and the 1976 Heavyweight Open Championship.
Johnson became the first black World Heavyweight champion in 1908 which made him unpopular with the predominantly white American boxing audiences. Jeffries, a former heavyweight champion came out of retirement to fight Johnson and was nicknamed the "Great White Hope".
Writer Jack London coined the phrase "Great White Hope" to describe Jeffries in his attempt to win the heavyweight crown from African-American world champion Jack Johnson in 1910. [3] Jeffries came out of retirement for the fight, urged on by London and many others who wished to see a white man once again reign as heavyweight champion. [4]
The Great White Hope is a 1967 play written by Howard Sackler, later adapted in 1970 for a film of the same name. [1] [2]The play was first produced by Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., and debuted on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre in October 1968, directed by Edwin Sherin with James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander in the lead roles.
After Johnson's victory over Burns, racial animosity among whites ran so deep that some, including renowned American author Jack London, [30] called for a "Great White Hope" to take the title away from Johnson. [31] While Johnson was heavyweight champion, he was covered more in the press than all other notable black men combined.
When "The Great White Hope" Jess Willard beat Jack Johnson for the world heavyweight title on 5 April 1915, the world white heavyweight crown became defunct. No heavyweight champ would offer a title shot to a black heavyweight challenger for 22 years, until James J. Braddock lost his title to Joe Louis in 1937.
I remember a reporter asking Red Auerbach, the legendary Celtics owner, if Larry Bird was the new "great white hope." Auerbach looked at his cigar and then said, "No, great hope." Auerbach looked ...
The Great White Hype, a 1996 U.S. boxing sports-comedy film World White Heavyweight Championship , a boxing title in pretense from 1911 to 1914 The White Hope (disambiguation)