Peter Jackson Biography

(born July 3, 1861, St. Croix, Virgin Islands—died July 13, 1901, Roma, Queensland, Australia) an outstanding professional boxer. A victim of racial discrimination (Jackson was black), he was denied a chance to fight for the world heavyweight championship while in his prime.

Jackson won the Australian heavyweight championship in 1886 and the British Empire title in 1892. On May 21, 1891, in San Francisco, he fought a 61-round draw with Gentleman Jim Corbett, who would later, in 1892, win the world heavyweight title from John L. Sullivan. On March 22, 1898, Jackson, who was 36 years old and had not fought for six years except for a few exhibition matches, was knocked out in three rounds by James Jackson Jeffries. As a consequence of this victory and his subsequent knockout of Bob Fitzsimmons (June 9, 1899), Jeffries is retrospectively considered by many to have been the first true world heavyweight champion under the Queensberry rules.