- World heavyweight boxing champion, 1908-1915.
- First black heavyweight boxing champion.
- Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, 1990.
- Inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame, 1980.
- The play "The Great White Hope" and the subsequent film (The Great White Hope (1970)) are based on Johnson's career and life and the brutal racism he faced as both the first African-American heavyweight boxing champion of the world and as a black man with a white wife.
- Holder of three patents, including U.S.patent #1,413,121 for an improved wrench.
- Fluent in French and Spanish, Jackson boxed in Montreal, Mexico City and Madrid when banned from the sport in the U.S.
- His October 24, 1909 bout with Middleweight Champion Stanley Ketchel, is on most "Greatest Fights" highlight reels. After appearing to be ahead on points, Johnson survived a 12th round "knockdown" only to get up and immediately knock Ketchel unconscious. To most observers, it can be clearly seen, even without slow motion, that Ketchel threw a looping right towards Johnson.s head, though Johnson begins his ascent to the canvas before Ketchels' punch finds its' mark. Regardless, Johnson, as stated, quickly rose from the canvas and immediately knocked Ketchel out. He then can be seen pulling Ketchel's teeth out of his glove, in slow motion or "real" time.
- Trained a young boxer named Joe Louis, and often sparred with him.
- Convicted of violating the Mann Act, ""transporting women across state lines for immoral purposes". in 1913, even though the events on which the prosecution was based, occurred before the Mann Act became law. He fled to Canada and, later, to Europe. In 1920 he returned to the U.S. and served less than a year in Leavenworth Penitentiary. On 24 March 2018 he was pardoned by President Donald Trump.
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