Heavyweight champions past and present – and fictional – gathered at the White House, where US President Donald Trump pardoned former boxer Jack Johnson over a century after a terrible miscarriage of justice.
Among the former boxers in Washington DC on Thursday were British-Canadian world champion Lennox Lewis and current WBC title holder Deontay Wilder.
Also present was actor Sylvester Stallone – best known for playing boxer Rocky Balboa in the series of Hollywood films – and he posed for a lighthearted picture with Wilder and Lewis.
Deontay WIlder, Sylvester Stallone and Lennox Lewis at the White House on Thursday
The boxing heroes are there to attend the pardoning of Jack Johnson, former world champion
Johnson was pardoned by President Donald Trump after serving time in prison 98 years ago
Lewis posted to Instagram the snap of him and Wilder with their fists outstretched, resting on the cheeks of Stallone. It was captioned: ‘Me and WBC champ Bronze Bomber turning Stallone into a knuckle sandwich.’
He also wrote that the three were in DC for the pardoning of former heavyweight champion Johnson, who was convicted in 1913 by an all-white jury for travelling with his white girlfriend, Belle Schreiber, across state lines. Johnson was jailed for a year, which he served in 1920.
The conviction of Johnson came at the height of his fame as the first black heavyweight champion – and also amid a time of mass racism in American society.
His case has become a symbolic miscarriage of justice, and President Trump has promised to officially pardon Johnson, 98 years after he served his prison sentence in 1920.
The World Boxing Council – of which Wilder is current heavyweight champion – invited numerous big names of the sport to oversee the pardoning.
Stallone had championed the case of Johnson, America’s first black heavyweight champion
‘I am taking this very righteous step, I believe, to correct a wrong that occurred in our history and to honour a truly legendary boxing champion,’ Trump said during an Oval Office ceremony. ‘It’s my honour to do it. It’s about time.’
Trump had tweeted in late April that Stallone, a longtime friend, had brought Johnson’s story to his attention in a phone call.
‘His trials and tribulations were great, his life complex and controversial. Others have looked at this over the years, most thought it would be done, but yes, I am considering a Full Pardon!’, Trump wrote.
The Oval Office ceremony was a celebratory scene. The guests brought with them a colourful boxing championship belt, which sat front and centre on the president’s desk as he spoke. At one point, Trump jokingly asked Lewis whether he could ‘take Deontay in a fight’ if he really started working out.
At one point, Trump jokingly asked Lewis whether he could ‘take Deontay in a fight’
Lewis said Johnson had been an inspiration to him personally, while Stallone said Johnson had served as the basis of the character Apollo Creed in his ‘Rocky’ films. ‘This has been a long time coming,’ he said.
After Johnson’s conviction, he spent seven years as a fugitive, but eventually returned to the U.S. and turned himself in. He served about a year in federal prison and was released in 1921. He died in 1946 in a car crash.
The son of former slaves, Johnson defeated Tommy Burns for the heavyweight title in 1908 at a time when blacks and whites rarely entered the same ring. He then beat a series of ‘great white hopes,’ culminating in 1910 with the undefeated former champion, James J. Jeffries.