Heavyweight boxing championship records and statistics only universally recognized form of a world championship until July 2, 1921, when Jack Dempsey became the inaugural NBA Heavyweight Champion. The growing popularity of boxing led to a birth of various regional sanctioning organizations, with each recognizing their own champion. The major governing bodies were the National Boxing Association, formed in 1921, the New York State Athletic Commission, found after the Walker Law legalized prizefighting in New York in 1920, and the International Boxing Union, created in 1911 in Paris in attepmt create a unified international governing body for professional boxing. Both NBA and NYSAC made then-lineal champion Jack
Boxing in the United States sport as way of increasing moral and physical character. John L. Sullivan became the first American heavyweight champion in 1882 under bare knuckle boxing rules and again in 1892 becoming the first gloved era. He was defeated by James Corbett, often referred to as the father of modern boxing due to his innovative scientific technique, in 1892. Jack Johnson was the first African American heavyweight champion. Ring magazine was founded in the mid 1900s, and it began listing of championships and winners. The National Boxing Association changed its name in 1962 and became the World Boxing Association. The new organization