Photo credits: Croydon Publishing Company

Peter “The Black Prince” Jackson (pictured) was an outstanding professional boxer. He was born on July 3, 1860, in St. Croix, Virgin Islands.

A victim of racial discrimination, he was denied a chance to fight for the world heavyweight championship while in his prime. Jackson won the Australian heavyweight championship on September 25, 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 was retrospectively considered by many to have been the first true world heavyweight champion under the Marques of Queensberry rules.

Jackson died on July 13, 1901, Roma in Queensland, Australia.

Source: The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica via Britannica.com

*Black Then writer/historian Victor Trammell edited and contributed to this report