The Complicated Case of Tommy Burns

Why Tommy Burns just might be the greatest Canadian Athlete ever?

The greatest Canadian athlete ever?  Come on.  Well, hold on, hold on. It’s complicated, let me explain. First, let me tell you a little about Tommy Burns and then I will make my case.

Tommy Burns is best known as a professional boxer and the only Canadian-born World Heavyweight Boxing Champion. He held the title for over two years from February 1906 to December 1908, and defended it 13 times. He finished his career 60-4 and only was KOed once in his final fight. Of his 60 wins, he also managed to score thirty-six knockouts.

These are impressive numbers for any fighter, but what really makes Burns so remarkable was that he was only 5’7” tall!  Burns is by far the smallest man ever to win the heavyweight title.  Historically, heavyweight champions have averaged around 6’2”. That’s a seven inch height difference from the average! Most of his competitors towered over him, yet he found success with his artful style of boxing and incredibly hard punch.  In fact, the renowned boxing authority, Nat Fleischer, estimated that  Burns punched harder than either “Gentleman Jim” Corbett or Gene Tunney. Some historians consider Burns one of the best pound-for-pound fighters to ever live.

Tommy Burns Rookie Card: Ogden’s Pugilists 1908. Image Source: Personal Collection

Tommy Burns was actually born Noah Brusso from an Italian Canadian family in Hannover Ontario.  Brusso worked his way up the ranks of the Michigan Boxing circuit, but ran into problems when he knocked one of his opponents into a coma.  He was arrested (later the charges dropped) but when his mom found out he had to promise her he would stop fighting. What made me like him right away, was that he changed his name to Tommy Burns to save his mother from the worry.  

Still not convinced? Okay, let’s continue.

Tommy Burns was also a fiercely proud Canadian. When he finally won the heavyweight championship, the boxing world was shocked and angered.  Not only because of his diminutive stature, but also the fact that he insisted on identifying as Canadian as opposed to American.  He claimed that Canadians were the toughest athletes in the world, who played lacrosse as roughly and toughly as the Mohawks ever did.  It’s not surprising that Burn’s achievements have often been overlooked by American-centric boxing pundits.

So, okay he was stridently patriotic Canadian, lightning fast with an iron jaw and devastating punch as well as a warm-hearted momma’s boy? What else? 

Burns also made it the professional level of Lacrosse.  Burn’s exceptionally quick reflexes and toughness were perfect goal-tending in lacrosse. In fact, his skills were so sought after that in 1910, he was offered $1000, an enormous sum for that day, to play for a single game in Vancouver against their rivals the New Westminster Salmonbellies. Burns would have likely been a part of the “Dream Team” that included Newsy Lalonde, which won the Minto Cup in 1911, but he had gotten injured in a freak road accident in Seattle. 

C59 Lacrosse Card of Tommy Burns (Image Source: Personal Collection)

Many have criticized Burns of racism by dodging fights with African American legendary fighter Jack Johnson. I am not so sure.

Burns had fought at least 7 black athletes previously including having African American sparing partners. The American press strongly criticized Burns for lowering himself to fight with fighters of African American decent on his way to the heavy weight championship. However, Burns who purportedly had briefly lived with an African America girl while training in America and had several black friends, was more than willing to give minorities a chance to fight. Unlike all previous heavy weight boxing champions, who had publicly stated that they refused to fight black fighters, when Burns became heavyweight champion he stated that he would not bar any man on earth based on race.

Burns was also the first truly international heavy weight champion traveling globe to take on challengers. Jack Johnson who was burning for a title shot had followed Burns and was ringside matches to coerce Burns into a match. Burns, of course, knew that Jack Johnson was in the crowd taunting him, but knew that holding out for this fight would generate him a massive purse. And he did. Burns earned $30,000 from the fight regardless of the outcome while Johnson only earned $5,000.

Burns is also accused of making racist taunts during his fight with Johnson. Yeah, that’s not good, but hardly surprising during the times and Burns was notorious for goading his opponents. Burns, who was studied the art of boxing, knew that due to his small stature that he had to use any tactical advantage he could find. One of the easiest was taunting his opponent to get them off their game and as Burns once said:

If a man loses his head, he loses the fight.

At the turn of the century, racism and bigotry prevented many athletes of colour from participating at the highest levels. Boxing was no exception as both Jim Jeffries and John L. Sullivan had refused to cross “the colour line” to face negro challengers. Jeffries retired undefeated in 1902 after refusing to fight Johnson. Only Tommy Burns was willing to give an African American a shot at the heavy weight title.

Remarkably, Jack Johnson wrote a full page on May 13, 1908 in The Tatler, pressuring Tommy Burns to accept a heavyweight fight. He specifically calls out Burns trying to increase the purse size, but commends Burns for not drawing the “colour line”.

Burn’s refusal to draw the colour line was already well known because immediately after winning the heavyweight championship, Burns was asked about it by a reporter”.

His response is the stuff of legends.

“I will defend my title against all comers, none barred. By this I mean white, black, Mexican, Indian, or any other nationality. I propose to be the champion of the world, not the white, or the Canadian, or the American. If I am not the best man in the heavyweight division, I don’t want the title.”

Jack Johnson, after winning the heavyweight title from Burns, is purported to have made this comment while visiting Vancouver:

“Let me say of Mr. Burns, a Canadian and one of yourselves, that he has done what no one else ever done, he gave a black man a chance for the championship. He was beaten, but he was game.”

And African Americans weren’t the only minorities that Burns was willing to get in the ring with. He also was the first to give a Jewish contender Joseph Smith a fight in Paris in 1909. On his way, to winning the championship, he also fought an Native American, which was unheard of in that day.

So yes, I truly believe that Tommy Burns may be the greatest Canadian athlete ever.

While I feel that his achievements of being a 5′ 7′ heavy weight champion for 2 years, as well as professional lacrosse player are remarkable, his true greatness lies in being the first white heavyweight boxer to remove “colour line” transcending sport to change the course of history. He lost to the best boxer of that era, and yet in his greatest defeat, came his greatest victory. Tommy Burns was beaten, but he was game.