Joe Butler (18 May 1866 - 1 January 1941) was an

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 ...

boxer who was the colored middleweight champion of the world in the

Gay Nineties The Gay Nineties is an American nostalgic term and a periodization of the history of the United States referring to the decade of the 1890s. It is known in the United Kingdom as the Naughty Nineties, and refers there to the decade of supposedl ...

. Born in

Paoli, Pennsylvania Paoli ( ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Chester County near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is situated in portions of two townships: Tredyffrin and Willistown. At the 2020 census, it had a total population of 6,002. H ...

, the 6′ 0½″ Butler fought out of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

during his career. Known as "The King of the Middleweights", Butler had quick hands and fast footwork and was known as canny fighter who could box or slug it out with an opponent.

Colored Championship

Butler fought colored middleweight champ Ed Binney on November 13, 1892 in Philadelphia and prevailed. Binney had won the title from Harris Martin, "The Black Pearl", the self-declared world colored middleweight champion. Binney had also defeated the former "Negro Middleweight" title holder

Johnny Banks Johnny Banks (born December 25, 1861, in Richmond, Virginia), was an African American boxer who fought under the sobriquet "The Darkey Wizard" and was the Negro Middleweight Champion of the World during the mid-1880s. Standing 5'6" tall (some s ...

, "The Darkey Wizard", in a non-title fight in 1888. Butler lost his title in his only defense, when he was defeated by

Frank Craig Frank Craig (April 1, 1868 – January 1, 1943) was an American boxer who was the colored middleweight champion of the world in the Gay Nineties. The 5′10" Craig fought at a weight of between 153 and 169 lbs. as a middleweight and l ...

on 20 February 1894 in Philadelphia. In his career, Butler won 40 fights (

knocking out A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

his opponent in 33 of the bouts), lost 23 (and was knocked out 13 times), and drew three. He also had six

newspaper decision A newspaper decision was a type of decision in professional boxing. It was rendered by a consensus of sportswriters attending a bout after it had ended inconclusively with a " no decision", as many regions had not adopted the National Sporting Club ...

s, winning two and losing four.

References

1866 births 1941 deaths American male boxers African-American boxers Middleweight boxers World colored middleweight boxing champions People from Paoli, Pennsylvania Sportspeople from Chester County, Pennsylvania Boxers from Pennsylvania 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-boxing-bio-stub