Frank Childs
| Frank Childs | |
|---|---|
| Statistics | |
| Nickname(s) | The Crafty Texan |
| Weight(s) | Heavyweight |
| Height | 5 ft 9.5 in (1.77 m) |
| Nationality | American |
| Born |
July 17, 1867 Texas |
| Died | June 20, 1936 (aged 68) Waukegan, Illinois |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 58 |
| Wins | 41 |
| Wins by KO | 25 |
| Losses | 9 |
| Draws | 8 |
Frank Childs (born July 17, 1867, Texas; died June 20, 1936, Waukegan, Illinois), "The Crafty Texan", was an African American boxer who fought professionally out of Chicago from 1892 to 1911 and twice held the World Colored Heavyweight Championship. Fighting at a weight of between 160 and 185 lbs., the short, stocky Childs fought middleweights, light-heavyweights and heavyweights. He had a powerful punch.
He made his pro boxing debut on February 18, 1892 in Los Angeles against French Canadian George LaBlanche from Quebec, knocking him out in the third round. They fought again on March 24, with four-ounce gloves. In the eighth round, LaBlanche grabbed Childs by the waist, threw him to the canvas, and then kicked him. The badly hurt Childs got up and wrestled LaBlanche, putting him in a half-nelson before elevating LaBlanche and throwing him. The police stopped the fight and the referee awarded Childs the decision after disqualifying LaBlanche.
Childs fought 15 more bouts before getting a shot at the colored heavyweight title. Along the way, he fought Bob Armstrong, the colored heavyweight champ, in a six-round non-title contest held on March 7, 1897 in Philadelphia. Childs won on points. His fight before that had been with white heavyweight contender Joe Choynski (the mentor of future colored heavyweight and world heavyweight title-holder Jack Johnson), who won by knockout (K.O.) in the third of a three-round fight.
In the intervening thirteen months before Armstrong gave him a shot for the title, Childs squared off on January 8, 1898 at Chicago's 2nd Regiment Armory against a boxer named Klondike (real name John Haines or John W. Haynes), so called because he was supposed to be a great find (evoking the Klondike Gold Rush). It was Klondike's first fight, and he was K.O.-ed by Childs. Klondike would go on to beat future world heavyweight champ Jack Johnson in Johnson's third pro fight and claim what he called the "Black Heavyweight Championship".
Childs and Klondike would meet again, frequently, as African American boxers were forced to fight one another often due to the color bar.
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