“My involvement with Apla scared people off‚ especially white promoters‚” said Makambi who retired in 2007.
“I do not regret having joined the PAC because we wanted to change the country’s political landscape.”
Today marks the anniversary of “The fight of the century” between the first African American world heavyweight champion Johnson and James Jeffries, which took place in front of 20,000 fans at a ring built for the occasion in downtown Reno, Nevada, on July 4 1910, which is US Independence Day.
It was one of the most eagerly anticipated boxing matches, with betting odds significantly favouring Jeffries who had come back from retirement for that fight.
Jeffries was the chosen representative of the whites and the New York Times editorial wrote: “If the black man wins, thousands and thousands of his ignorant brothers will misinterpret his victory as justifying claims to much more than mere physical equality with their white neighbours.”
Johnson stopped Jeffries in the 15th round, about one hour after the fight began. Jeffries fell three times to Johnson's punches and was being counted out.
That fight earned Johnson $65,000.
A black man was the undisputed world champion.
The outcome triggered race riots across the US, from Texas and Colorado to New York and Washington DC, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Atlanta, St Louis, Little Rock and Houston.
Riots occurred in more than 25 states and 50 cities.
It was reported 20 people were killed and hundreds more injured.
That was because Johnson's victory had dashed white dreams of finding a “great white hope” to defeat him.
Many whites felt humiliated by the defeat of Jeffries while blacks, on the other hand, were jubilant and celebrated Johnson's great victory and viewed it as victory for racial advancement.
