Godfrey George (Old Chocolate) by Rob Snell

[Mofo2]

GODFREY, GEORGE (Old Chocolate), boxer; b. March 1852 in Charlottetown, son of William Godfrey, a labourer, and Sarah Byers; m. in the United States and had six children; d. 17 Oct. 1901 in Revere, Mass.

George Godfrey was born in the Bog, a poor part of Charlottetown’s West End. The area had a high concentration of blacks, almost all of whom were descended from slaves brought to the Island in the 1780s as a result of the American revolution. The Bog was notorious locally for its poverty and for bootlegging, prostitution, and other minor crimes. A member of his mother’s family, Peter Byers*, was hanged for theft in 1815, and the year after Godfrey was born his father was convicted of petty larceny and served two weeks in jail for stealing a cow.

Godfrey received his first boxing instruction in Charlottetown from Dick Cronin. Around 1870 Godfrey moved to Boston, where he worked as a porter. He played baseball, trained in a gymnasium, and took boxing lessons from a “Professor†Bailey. An 1879 win in the heavyweight class at a local boxing competition led to a career as a boxer. Despite being rather old to begin prize-fighting (he was then 27) and somewhat light for his division (at 5 feet 10 1/2 inches he weighed only 175 pounds), he went on to become the “first U. S. colored heavyweight champion†boxer and one of the leading fighters in the world.

Beginning in 1880, Godfrey, under the name Old Chocolate, fought an estimated one hundred bouts across the United States in the next 16 years. The origin of his professional nickname is difficult to fathom because he was not especially aged and was fairly light-skinned. A similar ring name, Little Chocolate, was given to George Dixon, a contemporary black boxer from Halifax.

Boxing was then largely segregated by race, and although Godfrey fought many of the top black and white heavyweights of his era he was denied the opportunity to cross what contemporaries called the “colour-line†and contend for a championship outside his race. For years he challenged the white boxer John Lawrence Sullivan to fight him but Sullivan, despite claiming he would do so any time the money to be won was sufficient, consistently refused to fight Godfrey or any other black. None the less, Godfrey gained notoriety from a story that an attempt to match him with Sullivan at a private club in Boston was foiled only by the arrival of the police. Godfrey won his title as “the first American colored heavyweight champion†around 1883 and apparently held it until 24 Aug. 1888 when he was defeated in San Francisco after 19 rounds with Australia’s Peter Jackson.

Godfrey concluded his career in Baltimore, Md, with a victory on 11 Nov. 1895, but continued giving boxing exhibitions, returning to Prince Edward Island for this purpose a few years later. He also operated a gymnasium and boxing school in Boston and invested carefully in property in the area. Consistent with the temperate habits that were frequently cited as playing a role in his long and successful career, he died at his home of natural causes.

Godfrey was followed to the Boston area by several other black fighters from the Bog, notably George (Budge) Byers, a prominent turn-of-the-century middleweight and light heavyweight. Philadelphian Feab Williams, a leading black heavyweight contender and sparring partner of Jack Dempsey’s in the late 1920s, fought under the name George Godfrey, apparently in tribute to the Island-born boxer.

Fitchburg Daily Sentinel

17 May 1892

Godfrey Defeats Lannon

FOUR ROUNDS SETTLED IT.

Godfrey Comes Out the Victor In the

Fight with Lannon

NEW YORK, May 17.—The large crowd that was looked for to attend the boxing contest between George Godfrey and Joe Lannon at the Coney Island Athletic club did not turn out. The small attendance was attributed to Longstreet's failure to win the Brooklyn handicap, on the theory that the patrons of boxing are big betters, and the big betters were generally backers of the favorite that did not win the horse race. The crowd that did assemble were of the enthusiastic kind, and they were Lannon champions as a rule.

The men who put out money on the result of the fight, however, were rather in Godfrey's favor. The colored boxer ruled the odds at 100 to 85 just before the time of entering the ring, although the price fluctuated considerably.

The men were both in good condition. Gofrey gave his weight as 175 pounds and Lannon his at 185. Lannon looked stout for his announced weight. Godfrey was apparently in his best shape. Godfrey bad Howie Hodgkins, Frank Steele and Jim Godfrey, his brother. in his corner, and Lannon was helped out by Jack Barnitt, Billy Mahoney and Dan Murphy. Charley Johnson held the watch for Lannon and Tom Kenny did the same

for Godfrey. All those men are Bostonians , except. Johnson, who is the backer of John L Sullivan. Al Smith was referee .

Only four rounds were fought, but they were of the warmest species. The men were plainly in to fight out a grudge, and they went at each other with all the vim that was in them. Godfrey had the best of it all the way through. Occasionally, Lannon would land a punch with his right hand in Godfrey's stomach, but the colored man never lost his smile, and sent back as good as he received He knocked Lannon down clean in the fourth round, and again went down with him in a clinch, in which Godfrey thumped the white man several times before falling. Lannon was plainly groggy as he tried to rise from the knockdown. He was thoroughly played out from the blows on the ribs and face that Godfrey had put upon him.

Just before the end of the fourth round Godfrey rushed his man to a corner, smashed him against the ropes and punched him hard and often. After the gong sounded Godfrey continued to punch and landed a stiff right-hander to Lannon's ribs. Everybody cried "foul," and Lannon tried to fight back, but he was tired and winded, and his blows had no effect.

After the men went to their corners, Lannon's seconds claimed the decision, and refused to allow their man to go out for another round. The referee would not allow the claim of foul, and gave the verdict to Godfrey. Lannon's friends entered a protest, but Godfrey will probably receive $2200 of the £3000 purse.

Lannon was pretty well puffed in the face and he had red marks on the ribs and stomach, covering quite an area, when the show was over. Godfrey had a small cut over the left eye and some red on his breast, but otherwise was free from bruises.