Home > Jess Willard

A working cowboy, he did not begin boxing until he was almost thirty years old. In an era when racism was part of the American vernacular, Willard was dubbed as The Great White Hope, a reference to the desire to see the then African-American champion defeated.

Despite his late start, Jess Willard proved successful as a boxer, defeating top-ranked opponents to earn a chance to fight for the championship. On April 5, 1915 in front of a huge crowd at the Vedado Racetrack in Havana, Cuba, in the 26th round he knocked out the black champion Jack Johnson to win the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship.

At 6' 7" (2.01 m), Jess Willard was the tallest heavyweight champion in boxing history. However, age caught up with him and the 37-year-old champion lost his title to Jack Dempsey on July 4, 1919Events January January 1 Edsel Ford succeeds his father as head of the Ford Motor Company January 5 Spartacist uprising Socialist demonstrations in Berlin turn into attempted communist revolution with Spartacist League in the forefront January 9 Spartacus in Toledo, OhioToledo is a city in Lucas County on the northern border of Ohio. In the 2002 census, the city had a population of 309,106, which is down as from the 2000 census, in which the city had a total population of 313,619. Toledo is known as the Glass City becaus.

On his passing in 1968, Jess Willard was interred in the Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

In 2003, he was inducted posthumously into the International Boxing Hall of FameThe modern International Boxing Hall of Fame is located in Canastota, New York, within driving distance from the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, and the International Soccer Hall Of Fame. The first Boxing Hall of Fame was sponsored by Rin.