2-832-072 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

"Fight of the Century" between Jack Johnson and James J. Jeffries in Reno, Nevada. The boxers are pictured separately but facing each other. Each man's name is written below his feet. Jeffries is perhaps most famous for being United States "Great White Hope", since the nation expected him to come out of his retirement to beat the African-American boxer Jack Johnson. Johnson, the first Black American world heavyweight boxing champion, won the match and and retained the title.