View source for World White Heavyweight Championship

The '''White Heavyweight Championship''' was a title in pretense created when the "[[Great White Hope (disambiguation)|White Hopes]]"  of the time that African-American [[Jack Johnson (boxer)|Jack Johnson]] was the world heavyweight champion had failed to wrest the title from him after four and one-half years.<ref>{{cite web|title=White Hopes -- 1908-1915|url=http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/w-hope.htm|publisher=Cyber Boxing Zone Encyclopedia}}</ref> The first of the Great White Hopes, former world heavyweight champ [[James J. Jeffries]] had [[Jack Johnson vs. James J. Jeffries |failed to vanquish Johnson in 1910]], leading to an elimination tournament of "White Hopes" in New York City in 1911.

==White Hopes==
[[Al Palzer]] won the "White Hope" tournament organized by promoter Tom O'Rourke at New York City's National Sporting Club that was held in May 1911. O’Rourke had managed the legendary African American boxers [[Barbados Joe Walcott|Joe Walcott]] and [[George Dixon (boxer)|George Dixon]]. He also had signed Palzer to a contract before the tournament, and likely manipulated it so that Palzer could win. Other White Hope tournaments were created in response to O'Rouke's contest.<ref>{{cite web|last=Acevedo|first=Carlos|title=Nasty, Brutish, Short: Al Palzer & The White Hopes|url=http://www.boxinginsider.com/history/nasty-brutish-short-al-palzer-the-white-hopes/|publisher=Boxing Insider|accessdate=5 June 2012}}</ref>

On 19 December 1911, Palzer fought [[Al Kaufman]] in Brooklyn and scored a [[knock out|K.O.]] in the fifth round of their 10-round bout. Kaufman had fought Jack Johnson for the world heavyweight title in San Francisco on 9 September 1909. The 10-rounder ended in a no-decision, and the two fighters met in Reno, Nevada to box an exhibition in July 1910.

On New Year's Day 1913, Palzer met [[Luther McCarty]] in [[Vernon, California]] to determine the "White Heavyweight Championship" of the world. McCarty won the title by way of a T.K.O. in the 18th round. It would be a title he would hold for the rest of his life which would only be a short five months.

On 24 May 1913, Canadian [[Arthur Pelkey]] vied for McCarty's title at [[Tommy Burns (Canadian boxer)|Tommy Burns]]'s Arena in [[Calgary, Alberta]]. Burns had been the world heavyweight champ who had lost his title to Jack Johnson on [[Boxing Day]] in 1908.

Approximately two minutes into the first round of the scheduled 10-round bout, the 210&nbsp;lbs. Pekley [[knock out|K.O.-ed]] the 200&nbsp;lbs. 
McCarty. Eight minutes later, McCarty was pronounced dead. Pelkey reportedly broke down and wept when told of McCarty's death. Tommy Burns's Arena burned down the following day, likely as a result of arson.<ref>{{cite web|title=Arthur Pelkey vs. Luther McCarty|url=http://boxrec.com/media/index.php?title=Fight:95064|publisher=BoxRec|accessdate=26 May 2012}}</ref>

A coroner's jury ruled that McCarty had died of a [[cerebral hemorrhage]]. The ruling held that he had not been killed by a blow delivered by Pelkey but that the hemorrhage probably was the result of a previous injury, likely suffered while riding a horse. Pelkey later claimed that his legal expenses linked to McCarty's death bankrupted him.

Pelkey reportedly was never the same fighter after killing McCarty. He lost the white heavyweight title to [[Gunboat Smith]] on New Year's Day 1914 at Coffroth's Arena in [[Daly City, California]] via a T.K.O. in the 15th round of the scheduled 20-round bout.

In [[London]] on 16 July 1914, Smith lost the title to European heavyweight champ [[Georges Carpentier]] when he was disqualified in the sixth round of their scheduled 20-round bout.<ref>{{cite web|title=Georges Carpentier - Record|url=http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=10604&cat=boxer|publisher=BoxRec|accessdate=26 May 2012}}</ref> The white heavyweight title bout sported a purse worth 9,000 pounds sterling (equivalent to approximately ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|42300|1914|r=0}}}} in today's funds{{inflation-fn|US}}). Carpentier would be the last to hold the world white heavyweight crown. He fought one more fight, beating Kid Jackson in [[Bourdeaux, France]] on July 26 before joining the French military with the outbreak of [[World War I]].

When "The Great White Hope" [[Jess Willard]] beat Jack Johnson for the world heavyweight title on 5 April 1915, the world white heavyweight crown became defunct. No heavyweight champ would offer a title shot to a black heavyweight challenger for 22 years, until [[James J. Braddock]] lost his title to [[Joe Louis]] in 1937.

==Max Baer==
[[Max Baer (boxer)|Max Baer]] was awarded a belt declaring him the “White Heavyweight Champion of the World” after he scored a first round T.K.O. over Pat Cominsky in a bout at Roosevelt Stadium in [[Jersey City, New Jersey]] on 26 September 1940, but it was a publicity stunt. The fight was not promoted as being for the white heavyweight championship, and Cominsky would not have won the belt had he beaten Baer.

The belt was a publicity stunt dreamed up by boxing promoters who were trying to pressure promoter [[Mike Jacobs (boxing)|Mike Jacobs]] into giving the ex-world heavyweight champion a rematch with current champ [[Joe Louis]]. (Louis had K.O.ed Baer in his first fight after losing his title to [[James J. Braddock]], who would later lose his title to Louis.) Jacobs did not give Baer another bout with Louis.<ref>{{cite web|last=Marcus|first=Norman|title=Gunboat Smith: "White Heavyweight Champion of the World"|url=http://www.boxing.com/gunboat_smith_white_heavyweight_champion_of_the_world.html|publisher=Boxing.com|accessdate=5 June 2012}}</ref> Baer retired after his next fight, when he lost via a T.K.O. to [[Lou Nova]], who did get a shot at Joe Louis.

==List of champions ==

{| class="wikitable sortable" width=98% style="text-align:center;"
!width=0%|#
!width=14%|Name
!width=0%|Reign
!width=13%|Date
!width=5%|Days<br/>held
!width=19%|Location
!width=5%|Defenses
!width=44% class="unsortable"|Notes
|-
|{{sort|01|1}}
|{{sort|McCarty, Luther|[[Luther McCarty]]}}
|{{sort|01|1}}
|{{dts|January 1, 1913}}
|{{age in days|month1=1|day1=1|year1=1913|month2=5|day2=24|year2=1913}}
|[[Vernon, California]]<br>[[United States|USA]]
|{{sort|01|1}}
|align=left|{{small|McCarty wins title with 18th round T.K.O. of Al Palzer.}}
|-
|{{sort|02|2}}
|{{sort|Pelkey, Arthur|[[Arthur Pelkey]]}}
|{{sort|01|1}}
|{{dts|May 24, 1913}}
|{{age in days|month1=05|day1=24|year1=1913|month2=01|day2=01|year2=1914}}
|[[Calgary, Alberta]]<br>[[Canada]]
|{{sort|03|3}}
|align=left|{{small|McCarty died after first round [[knock out|K.O.]]}}
|-
|{{sort|03|3}}
|{{sort|Smith, Gunboat|[[Gunboat Smith]]}}
|{{sort|01|1}}
|{{dts|January 1, 1914}}
|{{age in days|month1=01|day1=01|year1=1914|month2=07|day2=16|year2=1914}}
|[[Daly City, California]]<br>[[United States|USA]]
|{{sort|01|1}}
|align=left|{{small|Smith wins title via 15th round T.K.O.}}
|-
|{{sort|04|4}}
|{{sort|Carpentier, Georges|[[Georges Carpentier]]}}
|{{sort|01|1}}
|{{dts|1914|07|16}}
|Unknown
|[[Kensington, London]]<br>[[United Kingdom]]
|{{sort|00|0}}
|align=left|{{small|Title became defunct when [[Jess Willard]] defeated [[Jack Johnson (boxer)|Jack Johnson]] for world heavyweight crown on April 5, 1915.}}
|-
|}

==See also==
*[[World Colored Heavyweight Championship]]

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Defunct boxing titles]]