George Dixon (July 29, 1870 – January 6, 1908) was a Canadian

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

. After winning the

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from bantam chickens. B ...

title in 1892, he became the first ever black athlete to win a world championship in any sport; he was also the first Canadian-born boxing champion. '' Ring Magazine'' founder

Nat Fleischer Nathaniel Stanley Fleischer (November 3, 1887 – June 25, 1972) was a noted American boxing writer and collector. Career Fleischer was born in New York City. After he graduated from City College of New York in 1908, Fleischer worked for the ' ...

ranked Dixon as the #1

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, t ...

of all-time. He was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1955, the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1956 and the

International Boxing Hall of Fame The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected by members of the Boxing Writers Association of America. The I ...

as a first-class inductee in 1990."George Dixon"
''Cyber Boxing Encyclopedia'' In 2018 he was named one of the greatest 15 athletes in Nova Scotia's history, ranking sixth.

Boxing career

Dixon was born in Africville, Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. Known as "Little Chocolate" he stood tall and weighed only when he began his professional boxing career. Dixon is widely credited for developing

shadowboxing Shadowboxing is a combat sport exercise in which a person throws punches at the air as though there is an opponent. Practised primarily in boxing, it is used mainly to prepare the muscles before the person training engages in stronger physical ...

. Dixon claimed the world bantamweight title on May 10, 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. The following year, on May 31, 1891, Dixon beat Cal McCarthy in 22 rounds to win the world 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. On October 4, 1897, he lost the title by decision in a rematch bout with

Solly Smith Solomon Garcia Smith (March 6, 1871 – August 28, 1933) was an American professional boxer in the featherweight division. He was a World Featherweight champion and is the first world champion of Hispanic descent. Early life Smith was born in Los ...

, who he had previously defeated by seventh-round

technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving strikin ...

. 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". Dixon was in talks to face champion Solly Smith in a third meeting, however, Smith lost the world title in a surprising upset against Dave Sullivan – the bout was stopped in the fifth round after Smith sustained a broken arm. Dixon instead turned his attention to newly crowned champion Sullivan, and on November 11, 1898, he reclaimed the world featherweight title by decisively defeating him in a tenth round disqualification at New York City's Lenox Club. Sullivan had held the title only forty-six days."Birthday of Dave Sullivan", ''The Atlanta Constitution'', Atlanta, Georgia, pg. 13, 10 May 1919 Terry McGovern

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. Dixon lost his featherweight title in a 15-round decision to

Abe Attell Abraham Washington Attell (February 22, 1883 – February 7, 1970), often referred to by newspapers as "The Little Hebrew", was an American boxer who became known for his record-setting, six year consecutive reign as World Featherweight Champion ...

on October 28, 1901, though other sources credit his loss of the title to

Terry McGovern Terry McGovern may refer to: *Terry McGovern (boxer) (1880–1918), boxer who held the world bantamweight and featherweight titles *Terry McGovern (actor) Terence McGovern (born May 11, 1942) is an American actor, television broadcaster, radio pe ...

on January 9, 1900. By that time, he had moved to Boston, where he had family; it was a destination for other immigrants from Africville. Not long after his last fight, Dixon died on January 6, 1908, in the alcohol ward of

Bellevue Hospital Bellevue Hospital (officially NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and formerly known as Bellevue Hospital Center) is a hospital in New York City and the oldest public hospital in the United States. One of the largest hospitals in the United States ...

. Dixon was living and begging on the streets of New York with no friends. Attempts by Dixon's fans to get Dixon back on his feet failed and the media reported the end was near for the former champion who had fallen on dark times. Dixon would tell doctors he had no friends except for former

world heavyweight champion At boxing's beginning, the heavyweight division had no weight limit, and historically the weight class has gone with vague or no definition. During the 19th century many heavyweights were 170 pounds (12 st 2 lb, 77 kg) or less, tho ...

John L. Sullivan John Lawrence Sullivan (October 15, 1858 – February 2, 1918), known simply as John L. among his admirers, and dubbed the "Boston Strong Boy" by the press, was an American boxer recognized as the first heavyweight champion of gloved boxing ...

. 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 Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. A recreation and community centre adjacent Uniacke Square in Halifax is named in his honour. In 2021, Dixon was named a National Historic Person by the government of Canada, on the recommendation of the national Historic Sites and Monuments Board.

Professional boxing record

All information in this section is derived from BoxRec, unless otherwise stated.

Official record

All

newspaper decision A newspaper decision was a type of decision in professional boxing. It was rendered by a consensus of sportswriters attending a bout after it had ended inconclusively with a "no decision", as many regions had not adopted the National Sporting Club ...

s are officially regarded as “no decision” bouts and are not counted as a win, loss or draw.

Unofficial record

Record with the inclusion of

s to the win/loss/draw column.

References

External links