George “Little Chocolate” Dixon (1870–1909), born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, became the first black world champion in boxing on June 27, 1890, when he defeated Nunc Wallace to win the bantamweight title. On March 31, 1891, he knocked out Cal McCarthy and became the first black man to hold an American title in any sport. In that same year he won the featherweight title when he defeated reigning champion Fred Johnson. Dixon was also the first to regain the title and the first to win the paperweight world championship. When he began boxing professionally, the relatively diminutive Dixon stood five feet three and one-half inches tall and weighed eighty-seven pounds. In 1956 Dixon was elected to boxing’s Hall of Fame.