February is Black History

Month
George Dixon

Born in Africville, Halifax, Nova Scotia on July 29th, 1870, George Dixon
was a professional boxer who is widely credited for developing
shadowboxing. Although he was not the tallest athlete (he was 5’
3.5” tall), he packed quite a punch. In 1890, after winning the
bantamweight title, he became the first black athlete to win a world
championship in any sport. He also won the featherweight title in
1891. Ring magazine ranked Dixon as the #1 featherweight fighter of
all time. He was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in
1955, the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1956, and was a first inductee
to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. In 2018, he was
ranked 6th of the top 15 greatest athletes from Nova Scotia.