Boxing champions sign contract to fight

The American heavyweight boxer Arthur John Johnson, better known as Jack Johnson (1878-1946), World Heavyweight Boxing Champion between 1908 and 1915, signing a contract with the English heavyweight boxer Bombardier Billy Wells (William Thomas Wells, 1889-1967). The contract is probably an agreement to fight for the Heavyweight Championship of Britain in London in October 1911, but religious opponents of excessive prize money, and opponents of contests between the races, caused the fight to be cancelled by Winston Churchill, who was then Home Secretary. After this a colour bar remained in British boxing until 1947. The opponents were led by Frederick Brotherton Meyer, a Baptist minister

Agreement Bombardier Boxers Contract Heavyweight Opponent Opponents Opposition Prejudice Racist

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