 Flowers’ is often compared, in precedence, to fighters George Dixon, the first black boxing champion who won the Bantamweight World Title in 1892, Barbados Joe Walcott, first black to win the World Welterweight title on December 18, 1901, Joe Gans, the first black to win the World Lightweight Title in 1902, and also the more controversial Jack Johnson, the first black to win the World Heavyweight Title in 1908.In addition to becoming the first black Middleweight champion, Tiger’s unprecedented accumulation of wins (136) and knockouts (56) in his career spanning less than ten years proved to many skeptics that African-Americans could compete at the highest level.Theodore Flowers (born February 11, 1893) was born in Mitchell County, Georgia, the son of Lula and Aaron Flowers.