Sunday September 22, 2013 11am - 5pm.
Halifax Waterfront, around the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic
Steven Laffoley
Event Info: 'Remarkable Reads with Halifax Magazine' Stage at 3:00 - 3:30, reading with Francis Mitchell
Steven Laffoley has been a writer, teacher, and dues-paying member of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He is the author of Mr. Bush, Angus and Me; Hunting Halifax: In Search of History, Mystery and Murder; Death Ship of Halifax Harbour and The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.
Books
Shadowboxing
Before Mohammad Ali and Joe Louis, before Sugar Ray Robinson and Jack Johnson, before Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard, before all the great black boxing champions of every age and every weight class, there was George Dixon. He was the first. He was the greatest. And this is his story. George Dixon (1870-1909) was the finest boxer of his generation and arguably among the finest ever. His accomplishments in the ring were extraordinary: the first black boxing champion, the first Canadian champion, the first champion of multiple weight classes, and the first to lose and then regain his title. He defended his titles more than any other champion – then or since – and he fought in an unprecedented 800 bouts. Making these achievements more astonishing was that George Dixon publicly fought and beat hundreds of white boxers in an age when black men were ostracized for simply being black.
