He was black, American and the world champion boxer. The fascinating story about him was the bouts with the German, Max Schemling or some such name. In his first bout staged in Germany during World War II, he was knocked out in the early rounds by the German. In the return match in the US, the Brown Bomber dispatched the German in under three minutes. The story that spread in youth circles was dramatic in tone: Late-comers to the stadium met the punctual fans exiting the stadium. It was, game over! I relished the story of a Niger humiliating an Aryan in the boxing ring.
A black knocking out a white racist in the ring implied blacks would one day overcome white oppression. It was a good omen for oppressed blacks; that was my interpretation of the event. Our boarding school was ecstatic. We started hoisting self-made punching bags on tree branches on the school premises to practise boxing skills, until the principal discovered the bags and ordered them to be dismantled! Later when I went to live in the township, I made new friends who had genuine punch and pedestal bags on residential premises.
