Did Johnson Throw Fight?

(The following excerpt is from Shooter in a Worked World: John Pesek and the 1920s Promotional Wars.)

Curley’s standing with the New York State Athletic Commission reached an all-time low in early 1921. John R. Robinson, a newspaper reporter functioned as publicity press agent for the Jack Johnson-Jess Willard title fight in Havana, Cuba on April 5, 1915. Robinson wrote a series of articles about the fight in Collyer’s Eye.

(The United States Government convicted Jack Johnson of a violation of the Mann Act by misusing the law to charge Johnson with taking a women, who Johnson was in a relationship with and later married, accross state lines, where they had sex. Instead of serving prison time, Johnson fled to Europe, where English and French authorities refused to extradite Johnson.)

With Johnson’s main sources of income cut off and reports from America that Johnson’s mother was ill, Johnson hoped to make a deal with the United States government for a reduced or suspended sentence.

Johnson knew the federal government would not listen to Johnson’s request for a reduced sentence if Johnson still held the world title. Needing money and homesick, Curley found Johnson in the perfect position for Curley’s business proposition. Curley offered Johnson $20,000 to drop the title to Willard.

Johnson agreed. Willard knocked Johnson out in the twenty-sixth round. The United States government did not agree to Johnson’s offer to surrender for a reduced or suspended sentence, so Johnson took his large payday from the Willard fight and lived abroad until 1920. Johnson served his one-year sentence in 1920 and then exposed he and Curley fixing the Willard fight.

Curley denied Johnson’s claims, but John R. Robinson wrote six or seven articles about the fight, Robinson’s involvement in the fight, and the fact that Curley fixed the fight.
Editors at Collyer’s Eye, a weekly newspaper dedicated to sports reporting with a focus on exposes, brought widespread attention to the fight fixing. Collyer’s Eye also broke the White Sox World Series Scandal of 1919.

Robinson started the series on Saturday, February 5, 1921. Robinson authored an article for every Sunday edition until April 1921.

Robinson never names Jack Johnson’s travelling companion other than to call him Young Cummins of Chicago. Cummins travelled with Johnson from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Havana. Johnson shared with Cummins his reasons for considering Curley’s offer to take a dive.

Johnson told Cummins if he won the fight, he would only win the $30,000 purse and had no more legitimate fights in front of him. Willard and Jim Moran were the only legitimate white heavyweights.

Johnson beat Moran in 1914. If Johnson beat Willard, Johnson would not be able to schedule another fight for three years. Johnson felt he would be too old to reach top shape for such a fight.

Johnson also told Cummins that if he beat Willard no one in America or Europe would buy the films of the fight. However, if Johnson lost, the fans of America, England, and France, who wanted to see a white man beat Johnson, would buy the films for an immense profit.
Johnson told Cummins he had decided to throw the fight but only if Jack Curley agreed to Johnson’s terms. Johnson wanted $20,000, the film rights for the films sold to England and France, and Johnson’s part of the gambling winnings for taking a dive.

Johnson met with Curley, and Curley’s promotional partners Tom Jones and Harry Frazee at Camp Columbia outside of Havana. Curley agreed to Johnson’s terms.

Johnson told the promoters that he would take a dive after the twentieth round of the forty-five-round fight. Johnson believing that athletic commissions would not question the outcome of the fight if Willard knocked Johnson out later in the fight.

Johnson was right. Even after Johnson’s admission and Robinson’s articles with specific evidence of the scheme, a handful of officials and newspaper reporters still thought Willard defeated Johnson legitimately.

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