Lowering the Bar: Larry Gains’s Heavyweight Battle for a Title Shot, 1927–1932

• Published in: Sport history review 2016-11, Vol.47 (2), p.125-145
• Main Authors: Nzindukiyimana, Ornella, Wamsley, Kevin B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1087-1659; 1543-2947
• DOI: 10.1123/shr.2015-0027

In the space of five years, only four years after turning professional, a Black Canadian heavyweight boxer named Lawrence "Larry" Gains claimed the Canadian title (1927), the World Coloured title (1929), and the British Empire title (1932). This remarkable boxing record could have earned Gains a shot at the world title, but when Gains became the Canadian champion, 12 years had passed since Black boxers were last permitted to challenge for the title. Jack Johnson's victory in 1908, which crowned him as the first Black world champion, ignited the dominant view of the era that the heavyweight title belonged in the "White supremacy trophy case."1 Once the title was "reclaimed" in 1915, super(2) the color bar was most resolutely raised. Larry Gains faced the post-Johnson racial barriers head-on by the time he reached his prime in the late 1920s.