US News

Pols fight to pardon boxing icon

REP. PETER KING
Leading pardon fight.

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers are going another round in their fight to get a posthumous presidential pardon for the world’s first black heavyweight champion, who was imprisoned nearly a century ago because of his romantic ties to a white woman.

Long Island Rep. Peter King and Arizona Sen. John McCain, both Republicans, plan to reintroduce a congressional resolution urging a pardon for boxer Jack Johnson.

Racial resentment boiled over after Johnson defeated white boxer James J. Jeffries in the “Fight of the Century” 100 years ago last summer.

Three years later, Johnson — whose flamboyant lifestyle and relationships with white women inflamed white sensibilities — was convicted of violating the Mann Act, which made it illegal to transport women across state lines for immoral purposes.