By JOHN C. COTEY, Times Staff Writer
Published April 12, 2005
President George W. Bush has pardoned a man sentenced to probation in 1962 for manufacturing untaxed whiskey, a postal worker who served a year in jail for stealing $10.90 from the mail, and another man sentenced to three years probation for altering an odometer.
Shouldn't it be Jack Johnson 's turn next?
Efforts to get Johnson, boxing's first black heavyweight champion, a pardon for his 1913 conviction for violating the outdated Mann Act are heating up. Congress is urging Bush to pardon the flamboyant former champion, who was convicted for transporting a woman across state lines for "immoral purposes."
The woman, with whom Johnson had a consensual relationship, was white.
"No one should be punished for choosing to go their own way," said Sen. John McCain , R-Ariz., who is leading the effort in Congress after a Senate version of his bill was not voted on.
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson , a documentary by filmmaker Ken Burns that aired on PBS in January, has been credited with giving the pardon efforts a boost.
Johnson, who served 10 months in jail but only after fleeing the country for seven years, saw his life and career ruined by racial prejudice.
He was far from a perfect human being, but his biggest crime was being black in America at the wrong time.
It's a crime that deserves to be cleared from the records by Bush, who declared Johnson's birthday "Jack Johnson Day" for five straight years when he was governor of Texas.
LOCAL BRAWL: One Punch Productions will hold the next installment of its "Ballroom Brawl" series on April 29 at the Tampa Westshore Doubletree Hotel.
New York-based Russian Andrey Tsurkan (21-2, 13 KOs) headlines the card. A former WBC Youth champion, Tsurkan is trying to climb the junior middleweight ranks and has fought on Showtime numerous times.
Undefeated Oldsmar featherweight Carlos Manuel Rivera fights in the co-main event. Neither have opponents yet.
The undercard features Georgia middleweight Craig Robinson (7-1-2, 6 KO's), Hudson middleweight Brian Chiary (7-4-1), Tampa lightweight Marcus Broadnax (2-0-1) and female Alexandra Maloy (1-0-1).
For more information, call 813-503-8109 or visit www.onepunch.net
SELL OUT: Tickets for the Floyd Mayweather- Arturo Gatti megafight in June are sold out, according to Main Events, the fight's promoter.
DON'T MISS: Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story premieres April 20 at 9 p.m. on USA Network commercial free.
Ring of Fire centers around Emile Griffith 's famous 1962 bout against Benny Paret , who was killed in the ring during a live telecast of their third fight.
Griffith emigrated to New York from the Virgin Islands in 1957 and became a Golden Gloves champion. His dream was derailed by his tragic win over Paret, which brought attention to boxing's morality and placed Griffith in the center of the storm.
But that's just part of the story, as Griffith's race and rumored homosexuality play significant roles in the film.
The story is told through interviews with Griffith and film footage of his fights.
IRON MIKE: A news conference is scheduled for today in Washington to announce the return of Mike Tyson , who fights Kevin McBride on June 11.
The fact Tyson is actually fighting again is ridiculous, but not nearly as much as the fight being pay-per-view.
