Jack London character is based on Hawaiian leper Kaluaikoolau, who in 1893 revolted and resisted capture from forces of the Provisional Government of Hawaii in the Kalalau Valley. An amateur boxer and avid boxing fan, London reported on the 1910 Johnson–Jeffries fight, in which the black boxer Jack Johnson vanquished Jim Jeffries, known as the "Great White Hope". In 1908, London had reported on an earlier fight of Johnson's, contrasting the black boxer's coolness and intellectual style, with the apelike appearance and fighting style of his Canadian opponent, Tommy Burns, 'what . . . [won] on Saturday was bigness, coolness, quickness, cleverness,
The Great Wife Hope the episode was the underdevelopment of Englebrit, but that "there were plenty of other things squeezed in around this bout to make the episode an enjoyable watch"—these included Ralph Wiggum being used as a bell for Bart and Nelson's fight, Nelson wanting to be an event planner, and Carl's line about not knowing all African Americans in the world simply because he is one himself. Todd VanDerWerff of "The A.V. Club", giving the episode a "B", wrote that it had "some amusing detours along the way". He compared "The Great Wife Hope" positively to season two's "Itchy & Scratchy &