{"product_id":"the-longest-fight-in-the-ring-with-joe-gans-boxings-first-african-american-champion","title":"The Longest Fight: In the Ring with Joe Gans  Boxing's First African American Champion","description":"\u003cp\u003eMany people came to Goldfield  Nevada  Americas last gold-rush town  to seek their fortune. However  on a searing summer day in September 1906  they came not to strike it rich but to watch what would become the longest boxing match of the twentieth century--between Joe Gans  the first African American boxing champion  and \"Battling\" Nelson  a vicious and dirty brawler. It was a match billed as the battle of the races. In The Longest Fight  the longtime Washington Post sports correspondent William Gildea tells the story of this epic match  which would stretch to forty-two rounds and last two hours and forty-eight minutes. A new rail line brought spectators from around the country  dozens of reporters came to file blow-by-blow accounts  and an entrepreneurial crews film of the fight  shown in theaters shortly afterward  endures to this day. The Longest Fight also recounts something much greater--the longer battle that Gans fought against prejudice as the premier black athlete of his time. It is a portrait of life in black America at the turn of the twentieth century  of what it was like to be the first black athlete to successfully cross the nations gaping racial divide. Gans was smart  witty  trim  and handsome--with one-punch knockout power and groundbreaking defensive skills--and his courage despite discrimination prefigured the strife faced by many of Americas finest athletes  including Jesse Owens  Jackie Robinson  and Muhammad Ali. Inside the ring and out  Gans took the first steps for the African American athletes who would follow  and yet his role in history was largely forgotten until now. The Longest Fight is a reminder of the damage caused by the bigotry that long outlived Gans  and the strength  courage  and will of those who fought to rise above.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44946979192885,"sku":"ByrdShop_0374280975","price":48.63,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780374280970_74f35eed-a8b0-4bf4-9a2a-ec6869bedb12.jpg?v=1770696540","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-longest-fight-in-the-ring-with-joe-gans-boxings-first-african-american-champion","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}