GEORGE DIXON, BOXER
- Type: Athlete
- Sport(s): Boxing
- Year: 2016
GEORGE DIXON, BOXER
George Dixon (1870-1908), also known as “Little Chocolate”, a native of Africville, N.S., left his mark on the sport of boxing both inside and outside the ring. He was the first black champion, the first Canadian boxing champion, the first boxer to hold multiple championships, and the first to regain a belt after a defeat. Standing just 5’3” and weighing about 120 lbs., he had a twenty-year career, defending his title more than any other champion. His official win/loss record is given as 63 wins, 29 losses, and 48 draws. However, it is estimated that he may have fought as many as 800 bouts throughout his career. He is said to have fought as many as 20 times in a week, with one of his bouts reportedly lasting 70 rounds.
As much as anyone, George Dixon defined what we recognize today as the sport of boxing, introducing and refining many training and fighting techniques still used more than one hundred years later. These included short and long-distance running, the punching bag, shadowboxing, and any number of combination punches and defensive manoeuvers – the list of Dixon’s contributions to boxing is uniquely long. Renowned boxing historian and Ring Magazine founder Nat Fleischer once said of Dixon, “For his ounces and inches, there never was a lad his equal. Even in the light of the achievements of John L. Sullivan, the critics of his days referred to ‘Little Chocolate’ as the greatest fighter of all time. I doubt there ever was a pugilist who was as popular during his entire career.” Adding to this, Fleischer said, “[Dixon was] a marvel of cleverness, yet he could hit and slug with the best of them. He was fast, tricky, combative, canny, courageous, a master in every respect of the art of self-defense, a great ring general. His left hand was one of the best in the business. His double left to the body has never been equalled. His right was equally good.” Simply put, said Fleischer, “He had everything.”
Sam Austin, the larger-than-life sports editor at America’s first tabloid newspaper, the Police Gazette – which, more than any other newspaper of the age, helped take boxing from illegal backroom brawling to the most popular sport of the age – described George Dixon as “The Fighter Without a Flaw.” In a long article, published in 1899, Austin wrote, “Even in the light of John L. Sullivan’s splendid achievements in the ring, the fact cannot be disputed that the greatest fistic fighter, big or little, that the world has ever known is George Dixon.” In 1968 a recreational centre in north-end Halifax, the George Dixon Centre, was dedicated in his honour and in 1988 the play, Shine Boy, written by George Boyd, played in Halifax. The life of George Dixon was immortalized in a book published in 2012 and written by Steven Laffoley. It is aptly titled Shadowboxing – The Rise and Fall of George Dixon.
George Dixon was inducted into the Canadian Sport Hall of Fame in 1955, the Ring Magazine Hall in 1956, the International Boxing Hall in 1990, and is an original member of the N.S. Sport Hall of Fame.
At this time I would like to ask author Steve Laffolley (George Dixon biographer) to present the picture of George Dixon to Jim Cuvelier who in turn will present it to Wilfred Jackson (Black Sports Hall of Fame) and Irvine Carvery (Africville Historical Society) to mark the induction of George Dixon to the Maritime Sport Hall of Fame.