The Black Heavyweight Championship was a title in pretense claimed by the African American boxer Klondike (January 1, 1878 – February 3, 1949), who was born John Haines or John W. Haynes[1] and by two-time colored heavyweight champ Frank Childs (July 17, 1867 – June 20, 1936).
He had made his pro boxing debut against Childs on 8 January 1898 at Chicago's 2nd Regiment Armory, losing by a K.O.
They fought again four times, as African American boxers were forced to fight one another often due to the color bar.
On 4 September 1898, Frank Childs lost his world colored heavyweight title to George Byers.
On October 28 of that year, they met in a rematch in Chicago in which Childs retained the black heavyweight title by K.O.th-ing Klondike in the third round of a six-round contest.
Finally, he took back the Colored World Heavyweight Championship legitimately from Bryers on 16 March 1901 in Hot Springs, Arkansas, K.O.-ing him in the 17th round of a 20-round fight.
However, be continued to claim to be the colored champ (possibly due to his black heavyweight title) until he was defeated by Jack Johnson on 21 October 1902.
On 13 July 1909, in Pittsburgh's Bijou Theater, Langford "claimed" the title by facing and defeating Klondike, the erstwhile black heavyweight champ, with a newspaper decision in a six-rounder.