Cecil Lewis "Young Jack" Thompson (August 17, 1904 – April 11, 1946) was an American boxer who twice held the Undisputed World Welterweight Championship. He was the first

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

to gain the World Welterweight Championship. Born Cecil Lewis Thompson, his name was changed when he decided to become a professional fighter. His father, who was training him, did not think "Cecil" was a fighter's name, so he chose "Jack." To avoid confusion with another fighter named "Jack Thompson," his father decided to use the ring name Young Jack Thompson.

Boxing career

Thompson became a professional fighter in 1922. He reeled off a series of wins, but also had a draw and a loss to future welterweight champion

Young Corbett III Ralph Giordano (born Raffaele Giordano, May 27, 1905 – July 15, 1993), better known as Young Corbett III, was an Italian-born American boxer. He was the Undisputed World Welterweight Champion in 1933 and challenged for the NYSAC Middleweight ...

. In 1928 he fought the welterweight champion,

Joe Dundee Salvatore Lazzara (August 6, 1903 – March 31, 1982), better known by his boxing alias Joe Dundee, was an American boxer. ...

, in a bout over the welterweight limit so that Dundee's title was not at stake. He knocked Dundee out in the second round. In 1929 he received a shot at the vacant

National Boxing Association The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is an international professional boxing organization based in Panama. The WBA awards its world championship title at the professional level. Founded i ...

title stripped from Dundee. However,

Jackie Fields Jackie Fields (Jacob Finkelstein, February 9, 1908 – June 3, 1987) was an American professional boxer who won the Undisputed Welterweight Championship twice. Statistical boxing website BoxRec lists Fields as the #19 ranked welterweight of all ...

beat him in a ten-round decision for the belt. In 1930 Thompson lost to

Jimmy McLarnin James Archibald McLarnin (19 December 1907 – 28 October 2004) was an Irish people, Irish professional boxer who became a two-time list of undisputed world boxing champions#Welterweight, Undisputed Welterweight World Champion and an Internatio ...

but, in his next fight, won the welterweight title by beating his old rival Jackie Fields. After four non-title bouts (including a loss to Young Corbett III), Thompson put his title on the line against Tommy Freeman in September 1930 and lost it by a fifteen-round decision. Freeman gave Thompson a rematch in April 1931 and Thompson regained the title by a twelfth round technical knockout. Thompson again fought a series of non-title bouts. In one of them he lost to

Lou Brouillard Lucien Pierre Brouillard, better known as Lou Brouillard, (May 23, 1911 – September 14, 1984), was a Canadians, Canadian professional boxing, boxer who held the list of undisputed world boxing champions#Welterweight, Undisputed World Welterweig ...

. That loss prompted a match at the welterweight limit with Thompson's title at stake. Brouillard once again beat Thompson, ending his second reign as champion. He continued fighting until he announced his retirement on June 2, 1932. He died on April 11, 1946, of a heart attack in Los Angeles.

Professional boxing record

Titles in boxing

Major world titles

* NYSAC

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term ''welterweight'' was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

champion (147 lbs) (2×) * NBA (WBA) welterweight champion (147 lbs) (2×)

''The Ring'' magazine titles

* ''The Ring'' welterweight champion (147 lbs) (2×)

Undisputed titles

* Undisputed welterweight champion (2×)

References

External links

*
Cyber Boxing Zone biography
* https://titlehistories.com/boxing/na/usa/ny/nysac-wl.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Jack 1904 births 1946 deaths Boxers from California Welterweight boxers American male boxers World boxing champions World welterweight boxing champions