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Len Johnson (boxer)

Len Johnson
Johnson at Prescot in 1936
Born
Leonard Benker Johnson

(1902-10-22)22 October 1902
Clayton, Manchester, England
Died28 September 1974(1974-09-28) (aged 71)
Oldham, Greater Manchester, England
Other names
  • Len
  • English Flash[1]
Statistics
Weight(s)
Height6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Reach74+1⁄2 in (189 cm)
StanceOrthodox
Boxing record
Total fights135
Wins96
Wins by KO37
Losses32
Draws7

Leonard Benker Johnson[2] (22 October 1902 – 28 September 1974), known simply as Len among his admirers, and dubbed "Len Johnson" by the press, was a British boxer who competed from 1920 to 1933. He held the British Empire middleweight title, the first non-white boxer to hold a major title during the British colour bar era, de facto reigning from 20 February 1926 to 12 July 1926. He also held the Northern Area championships at middleweight and light-heavyweight, respectively. A strategic and intelligent boxer, Johnson was considered to be one of the best middleweights of his era. He was known for his exceptional boxing skill, using an educated left-hand, as well a slippery defence that made him difficult to hit,[3][4] while leaving his features largely unmarked throughout his thirteen-year career.[5] Additionally, Johnson possessed a very long reach and rather good height.[6]

Johnson was regarded as one of the greatest middleweight boxers of his generation in the years between the world wars.[7] As an amateur, Johnson learnt the fundamentals of boxing in the boxing booths of Bill Moore and Bert Hughes.[8][9] After turning professional later in 1920, he defeated current and former champions,[N 1] including former world welterweight champion Ted "Kid" Lewis in 1925. Due to then Home Secretary Winston Churchill's decision in 1911 to support a colour bar, he was banned from competing at both the Royal Albert Hall and National Sporting Club.[17] Additionally, the British Boxing Board of Control would not sanction a championship bout with Johnson for the Lonsdale Belt,[18] due to their Rule 24, which stated that title contestants "[...] must have two white parents",[19] though despite this he defeated Harry Collins in Australia for the middleweight championship of the British Empire in 1926. Johnson became famous in Britain for his impressive victories, defeating European and British middleweight champion Roland Todd in 1927. In the same year, he also defeated future middleweight champion Len Harvey, and rounded up the decade thrashing European middleweight champion Leone Jaccovacci in 1928 and European light-heavyweight champion Michele Bonaglia in 1929.[20]

Johnson was a major boxing figure of the mid-20th century Britain, and though he never held any titles,[N 2] he was important activist in the labour movement in Manchester in the 1940s and 1950s.[23] Following the Second World War, Johnson joined the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and was a key member until his death.[24] He was a co-founder of the New International Club in Manchester, which provided a vehicle for black political and social self-organisation in the city and campaigning against racism at home and abroad,[25] including organising a concert and a rally featuring his hero Paul Robeson[24] in support of the Trenton Six, which were both attended by 10,000 people.[26] He was instrumental in influencing the dissolving the British colour bar in 1947, wherein Dick Turpin became Britain's first Black boxing champion in 1948; the decolonisation of Africa taking place in the 1950s to 1970s, with Ghana becoming the first sub-Saharan African country to gain its independence from European powers, led by Kwame Nkrumah, a delegate alongside Johnson at the 5th Pan-African Congress; and the implementation of the Race Relations Act 1965, making racial discrimination in public places unlawful.[27]

  1. ^ ""Sunny Jim" Trains Hard". Sydney Sportsman. 16 March 1926. p. 5. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  2. ^ Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916-2007. Gives name at birth as "Leonard Benker Johnson".
  3. ^ "Len Johnson vs Alf Stewart". The Register. 17 April 1926. p. 10. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  4. ^ Aldred, Tanya (28 January 2014). "Len Johnson: Boxing's radical hero with scrapbook shrine". The Telegraph. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  5. ^ Howard, Rob (26 October 2004). "BLACK DYNAMITE LEN JOHNSON". Greater Manchester County Record Office. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  6. ^ "LEN JOHNSON'S ABNORMAL REACH". The Referee. 3 March 1926. p. 7. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  7. ^ First part of accolades, the second part are in the dedicated section below:
  8. ^ "A Few Punches More - The Fairground Boxing Shows". University of Sheffield. 20 July 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  9. ^ "A Product of Booths". The Shields Daily News. 24 November 1925. p. 6. Retrieved 14 January 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ^ "McAllister v. Johnson". The Dublin Sport. 1 September 1923. p. 5. Retrieved 12 January 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. ^ "Johnson Beats Van't Hof". The Westminster Gazette. 16 June 1925. p. 10. Retrieved 15 January 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. ^ "Other Sport In Brief". The Daily Mirror. 1 September 1925. p. 15. Retrieved 15 January 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  13. ^ "Dutch Champion's Draw with P Calladine". The Birmingham Daily Gazette. 29 December 1925. p. 9. Retrieved 15 January 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  14. ^ "Big Fight for the Ring". The Belfast News-Letter. 21 December 1926. p. 5. Retrieved 15 January 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference Australian was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ "Sport in Australia". The Sportsman. 29 September 1917. p. 4. Retrieved 15 January 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  17. ^ Runstedtler, Theresa (16 December 2010). "White Anglo-Saxon Hopes and Black Americans' Atlantic Dreams: Jack Johnson and the British Boxing Colour Bar". University of Hawaii Press. p. 687. JSTOR 41060854. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  18. ^ "Black Boxers in Hull & East Yorkshire". African Stories in Hull & East Yorkshire. 4 November 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  19. ^ "The uncrownable champion". BBC. 4 November 2008. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  20. ^ Barnett, Marcus (24 July 2017). "In the Red Corner". Jacobin. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  21. ^ "Len Johnson's Claim - Colour Bars Contest for Empire Title". The Herald. 4 February 1926. p. 6. Retrieved 14 January 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  22. ^ Dainton, Fraser (28 October 2020). "Len Johnson: Manchester's finest and Britain's uncrowned boxing champion". Sky Sports. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  23. ^ Irving, Sarah (17 August 2009). "Len Johnson; Manchester boxer and Communist". Manchester's Radical History. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  24. ^ a b Meddick, Simon; Payne, Liz; Katz, Phil (2020). Red Lives: Communists and the Struggle for Socialism. UK: Manifesto Press Cooperative Limited. p. 102. ISBN 978-1-907464-45-4.
  25. ^ Chan-Wyles, Adrian (28 July 2017). "BRITISH (BLACK) BOXER LEN JOHNSON (1902-1974) AND PAUL ROBESON". The Sangha Kommune. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  26. ^ Goodman, Jordan (8 October 2013). "Paul Robeson: A Watched Man". Verso Books. Verso Books. p. 308. ISBN 9781781681312. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  27. ^ Chu, Jason (19 June 2020). "LEN JOHNSON: A LEGEND DENIED". Research Hive. Retrieved 15 January 2021.


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