John Henry Lewis

CTL-E-6878 · Person · other · 1914–1974

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07750 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6878.

John Henry Lewis (1914–1974) was an American light heavyweight boxer, born in California on May 1, 1914, raised in Phoenix, Arizona, who became, in the words of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, the first Black American to win the light heavyweight championship, a title he held for four years. BoxRec records the title win precisely: Lewis defeated Bob Olin by a fifteen-round unanimous decision on October 31, 1935, and successfully defended the title five times over the next three years. The Hall of Fame biography, excerpted from The Boxing Register, records that Lewis turned professional at fourteen, beat future heavyweight champion James J. Braddock in 1932, and in 1939 challenged his friend Joe Louis for the heavyweight title while almost blind in one eye; Louis knocked him out in one round, the only knockout Lewis suffered in 117 fights, and Lewis retired after that defeat. He died on April 18, 1974, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1994.

Notes

Sports Encyclopedia roster CTL-SPE-0447. Firsts disposition: 'First Black world light heavyweight champion (1935)' ASSERTED — supported by the International Boxing Hall of Fame ('first black American to win the light heavyweight championship') and BoxRec (title win over Bob Olin, October 31, 1935). Curator's Judgment (DRAFT): Lewis's four-year reign is routinely flattened into a footnote to the 1939 Joe Louis fight, but the record runs the other way: a champion who defended five times while losing sight in one eye, and whose final fight was a friend's payday offered before retirement. The graph should hold the reign, not just the ending. Photo: CLEARED — John Henry Lewis 1939 press photo.jpg, Public domain.

Relationships

• Joe Louis — related to
  International Boxing Hall of Fame: in 1939 Lewis signed for a heavyweight title fight against his friend Joe Louis; Louis knocked him out in one round, the only knockout Lewis suffered in 117 fights, and Lewis retired after the defeat.

Sources

• International Boxing Hall of Fame. “John Henry Lewis.” International Boxing Hall of Fame (excerpted from The Boxing Register, Roberts & Skutt, 1999). Accessed 2026-11-03. http://www.ibhof.com/pages/about/inductees/oldtimer/lewisjohnhenry.html (primary source · build store)
• BoxRec. “John Henry Lewis.” BoxRec Wiki. Accessed 2026-11-03. https://boxrec.com/wiki/index.php?title=John_Henry_Lewis&oldid=858937 (build store)

More person records

• Leon Spinks
• Leon Sullivan
• Leon Walker
• Leonard Caston
• Leonard Chess
• Leontyne Price

Browse the full directory: all entity records

Record CTL-E-6878 · Combined Graph record U-07750 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 2 sources · 1 mapped relationship.
Directory: all entity records · the knowledge graph

Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

Cite this record

Citation guidance for teachers, journalists, and funders: How to Cite Us.

From the Archive

The archive in pictures

The people, places, and institutions this work documents. Photographs from the CultureTechLens research record — rights-cleared, credited, and cited like everything else here.