Jack Johnson was the first black boxer to conquer the heavyweight championship of the world.
He suffered the discrimination and racial abuse of power, which caused him jail time but most importantly the loss of his honor, as his name was tainted for generations to come.
It was the wish from thousands, even millions to see this wrong corrected. It was the efforts of thousands for decades to get this pardon to become a reality.
The WBC proudly led some of the efforts with the support of thousands of signatures of boxers and members of the boxing community, including the efforts of U.S. Senators like John McCain, Harry Reid, and Representative King throughout the years, and then the leadership of the greatest ambassador that boxing has ever had after Muhammad Ali, Sylvester Stallone, who was able to present the petition to President Trump.
I would like to thank all of you who participated in this process in one way or another as the end result is what all have been expecting for many years and today the name of legendary boxing hero, Jack Johnson, has been cleaned for eternity.
