On 27th of June 1890, George Dixon defeated Edwin ‘Nunc’ Wallace , and became the world’s first black boxing world champion.

Born in 1870 in Africville Nova Scotia, George Dixon was only 5ft 3 1/2 Inches tall and weighed only 87lbs but this superb boxer was to become a world champ. He is also credited with developing the technique of shadow boxing.

Despite his title fight wins and his incredible boxing career, George Dixon was to end his days on the streets of New York. He died on January 6, 1909 in the alcohol ward of the city’s Bellevue Hospital.

It was only in 1955 that he was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame. In ‘Shadowboxing: the rise and fall of George Dixon’ author Steven Laffoley states that George Dixon was:

the finest boxer of his generation and arguably among the finest boxers ever. His accomplishments in the ring were extraordinary: the first black boxing champion, the first champion of multiple weight classes, and the first champion to lose and regain the title.