When African-American boxer Gunboat Jack made boxing the ‘biggest sporting draw’ in Bangalore

From the late 1800s and until the mid-1900s, boxing, like golf and polo, was a big part of Bangalore’s sporting culture. Among the city’s top-notch boxers was, quite strangely, a non-Indian with a unique name – Gunboat Jack. He became the welter-weight, middle-weight and light heavy-weight champion of India.

His real name was James Cozley, an African-American boxer who made Bangalore his home. He had an illustrious career as “Champion of the East”, rising from welter to light-heavyweight category.

Although he left Bangalore in the mid-60s, he is remembered by Bangaloreans not just for his boxing exploits but also for his heroic feats in the circus ring and as a rescuer for those in trouble.

Interestingly, the stories of legendary boxers such as Gunboat Jack, Arthur Suares and others, in many ways, talk about the fascinating but fleeting history of boxing as a sport in Bangalore.

In the early 1900s and particularly in the 1930s to the 1950s, boxing held a massive appeal for many in Bangalore. It was influenced in part by the arrival of troops during the Second World War. Regimental matches, as well as bouts between the soldiers and civilians, attracting huge crowds, were par for the course.

Some reports say that professional boxing was popularised by the prisoners of war who were lodged at Jalahalli and Byramangala. The Italian prisoners of war were passionate about boxing and dancing and were regular participants in boxing bouts.

So, a couple of decades before cricket, hockey and football took hold as the city’s obsession and we had Prasanna, Chandrashekar, Vishwanath, Rajgopal, Ahmed Khan and others as sporting icons, Bangalore’s sporting icons were professional pugilists such as Gunboat Jack, Young Tarley and Arthur Suares.

Sounds implausible? Take a look at this newspaper report of September 1943 on a match between All-India Lightweight champion Young Tarley and Royal Air Force boxer Muang Thaung. “It is doubtful if in any other city in India boxing is kept up to such a high pitch as in Bangalore. It looks as though the art of self-defence is about the biggest sporting draw in the station. Fans defy the weather and other inconveniences to see a really good fight.”

What began as a sport from the early 1900s among British soldiers stationed here gradually picked up pace, rising in popularity by the 1920s and 1930s. It was the popularity of boxing and the regular matches here that attracted international boxers to Bangalore. The bouts were held at what was then called the Opera House at the intersection of Brigade Road and Residency Road.

Opera House was not the only venue; there were a few more arenas where boxing matches were held – the Globe/Liberty theatre on Mahatma Gandhi Road (then, South Parade), Hollywood City stadium near the BRV theatre/services canteen and the Sullivan Police Grounds on Magrath Road.

The popularity of boxing also grew due to another reason – a family-owned tabloid (The Daily Post) published from Bangalore at that time promoted and popularised boxing and commendably, a part of the proceeds from the matches were donated to the War Fund or to the Red Cross.

Gunboat Jack (real name: James Wilson Colzie) was born on February 1, 1900. Some reports say he was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, USA, while others say in Montezuma, Georgia, USA. He came to India in the early 1920s.

Legend has it that he was an American seaman who, after a fight, dived off a ship near Madras (now Chennai) and got the nickname “Gunboat” and “Jack” for his tendency to engage in street fights using a car-jack. Ostensibly, he was also called Gentleman Gunboat Jack because he remained gentle in the boxing ring when he fought against weak opponents.

Some reports say that Gunboat Jack arrived in India as part of a carnival. He learnt boxing along the way by being a boot boxer. Boot boxing is something that happens when one of the group challenges anybody from the crowd without being professional. “This was a thing natural to Jack and he gradually became a professional in India,” Maurice Thomas, Gunboat Jack’s manager for 15 years, told The City Tab, a weekly tabloid of Bangalore in 1984.

According to Trove, an archive of Australian newspapers, Gunboat Jack’s record books show that he set out from his home in Florida at the age of 15 and that he has since circled the globe fighting almost every place where boxing is known.

A natural, Gunboat Jack was renowned for his superb technique, ability to defeat the finest boxers and for his exciting crowd-pleasing stunts. His height and long reach knocked out much-fancied boxers such as Arthur Dimler, an American champion; Nobby Hall, the British lightweight champion and Frank Malinao, the welter-weight champion of India.

He was particularly noted for his deep expertise in ringcraft, which he used to deceive opponents into dropping their guards so he could land powerful blows with either fist. A shrewd strategist, Gunboat Jack seldom scored a point in the very first round; instead, he studied his opponent carefully and gradually mounted an attack.

Such was his power that in 1936, Len Barrow, one of his rivals, died from concussion after receiving a knockout blow in the seventh round from Gunboat Jack in Jabalpur. A grief-stricken Gunboat Jack frequently visited the hospital to see his ailing opponent, a newspaper of that time reported.

Another famous international bout was in Rangoon against George Goudie, the knockout champion as well as former Burma champion for the Middle-Weight Champion of the East title. The ex-Burma champ threw in the towel at the end of the third round after receiving a terrible hammering from Gunboat Jack.

The most significant thing about the contest, a newspaper report said, was “the fanatical cheering given to Gunboat Jack by over 10,000 boxing enthusiasts for showing a fine knowledge of the game and booing and hooting received by opponent Goudie for his lack of boxing skills.”

Gunboat Jack fought some 700 matches in his career and knocked out boxers four times his weight. He was also once a sparring partner to Jersey Joe Walcott who became the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion after Joe Louis.

Gunboat Jack’s fascinating and nostalgic yet tragic story can perhaps be summed up by the words of journalist Abraham Tharakan, editor of City Tab, a Bangalore tabloid that’s now defunct: “Gunboat Jack was a star in the boxing arena; perhaps unbeaten in India. But he lost out in the ring of life. His story reminds me of the title of a good novel I read long ago, The Bigger They Come the Harder They Fall.

Excerpted with permission from Playback 2: Sports Legends of Bangalore, edited by Stanley Carvalho, ATC Publishers.