Their next fight, on June 20 of the same year, saw Morris finally beat the undefeated Hadley (whose "official" record was 12-0-2 at the time), besting the champ on points in a four rounder.
The last time they battled while Hadley was the colored champ was on 7 December 1882, when they fought in New York City for the Police Gazette Medal Championship of America.
Although census records and city directories list his occupation as a "waiter," [2] it appears that he worked primarily as a bouncer in bars in the Tenderloin section of Manhattan, as well as being employed by Tammany Hall as a political operative .
He married a woman twenty-five years his junior,[3] by whom he had three daughters, but was widowed by 1910 [4] By the end of his life, he was crippled to the extent that he had to walk with the use of two canes [5] and died in the Bronx in May 1915.
This history traces the advent and demise of the Championship, the stories of the talented professional athletes who won it, and the demarcation of the color line both in and out of the ring.