Young Peter Jackson (April 15, 1912 – April 9, 1979) was an African American boxer active from 1929 to 1939. Born Peter Martin in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, he renamed himself in honor of the great colored heavyweight champ

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand filmmaker. He is best known as the director, writer, and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy (2012–2014), both of which ar ...

and the welterweight contender

. The 5'7" Jackson fought as a lightweight, making his professional debut on August 14, 1929 at the Wilmington Bowl in

Wilmington, California Wilmington is a neighborhood in the South Bay and Harbor region of Los Angeles, California, covering . Featuring a heavy concentration of industry and the third-largest oil field in the continental United States, this neighborhood has a high p ...

, when he knocked out Herb Yales via a

knock out A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several Contact sports, full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of World Taekwondo Federation#Sparri ...

in the first round of a scheduled four-round bout. Jackson won the USA California State lightweight title on January 12, 1932, defeating Young Manuel (Manuel Villa I), then won the vacant Pacific Coast Lightweight title on July 25, 1933 by defeating Ah Wing Lee. He held and defended both titles and added the Mexican Lightweight title by defeating Young Manuel on March 31, 1935. On 26 July 1936, he met Herbert Lewis Hardwick ("The Cocoa Kid") at Heinemann Park in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

for the new World Colored Welterweight Championship. In the scheduled 10-round title bout referred by

Harry Wills Harry may refer to: Television * ''Harry'' (American TV series), 1987 comedy series starring Alan Arkin * ''Harry'' (British TV series), 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons * ''Harry'' (New Zealand TV series), 2013 crime drama starring Oscar K ...

, the former three-time World Colored Heavyweight Champ, The Cocoa Kid won via a technical knock-out in the second round. After losing the colored welterweight title (he never defended any of his other titles after that loss), his career floundered. In his last 18 fights through his retirement in 1939, he lost nine times, drew once and had a no decision in another fight. In his career, he racked up a record of 51 wins (25 by

K.O. 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 striking, a ...

) against 19 losses (he was K.O.-ed three times) and four draws.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Young Peter Lightweight boxers Boxers from Los Angeles American male boxers African-American boxers 1912 births 1979 deaths 20th-century American sportsmen