December 26, Jack Johnson wins world heavyweight championship
Today is Friday, December 26, the 360th day of the year 2025. There are five days left in the year.
Today in history:
On December 26, 1908, Jack Johnson became the first black boxer to win the world heavyweight championship when he defeated Canadian Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia.
Also on this date:
In 1941, during World War II, Winston Churchill became the first British Prime Minister to address a joint meeting of the United States Congress, just two weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor plunged the United States into war.
In 1966, Kwanzaa was first celebrated, a seven-day holiday intended to help African Americans reconnect with their African heritage.
In 1990, Nancy Cruzan, a young woman in an irreversible vegetative state whose case led to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the right to die, died in a Missouri hospital.
In 1991, the USSR was officially dissolved by a declaration of the Supreme Soviet.
In 2004, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake under the Indian Ocean off the Indonesian island of Sumatra triggered a tsunami with waves up to 100 feet high that killed about 230,000 people in a dozen countries as far away as East Africa. The most affected countries are Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.
In 2006, former President Gerald R. Ford died in Rancho Mirage, California at the age of 93.
In 2021, South African Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu died at age 90; the retired archbishop was an uncompromising enemy of apartheid and a modern-day activist for racial justice and LGBTQ rights.
Today’s birthdays:
- “America’s Most Wanted” host John Walsh is 80 years old.
- Baseball Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk is 78 years old.
- Baseball Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith is 71 years old.
- Comedian David Sedaris is 69 years old.
- Rock musician Lars Ulrich (Metallica) is 62 years old.
- Actor and musician Jared Leto is 54 years old.
- Rock singer Chris Daughtry is 46 years old.
- Actress Beth Behrs is 40 years old.
- Actor Kit Harington is 39 years old.
