A century ago today, the Fight of the Century was fought.

Today is the centennial of the fight between the first black heavyweight champion of the world, Jack Johnson, and the former heavyweight champion James J. Jeffries, who retired undefeated. The fight took place on July 4, 1910 in front of 20,000 people, at a
ring built just for the occasion in downtown Reno,
Nevada.

Jeffries came out of retirement to fight Johnson, saying, “I feel
obligated to the sporting public at least to make an effort to reclaim
the heavyweight championship for the white race… I should step
into the ring again and demonstrate that a white man is king of them
all.” Jeffries had not fought in six years and had to lose weight to get back
to his championship fighting weight. Johnson proved stronger and more nimble than Jeffries. In
the 15th round, after Jeffries had been knocked down twice for the first
time in his career, his people called it quits to prevent Johnson from
knocking him out.

The “Fight of the Century” earned Johnson $65,000 and silenced the
critics, who had belittled Johnson’s previous victory over Tommy Burns
as “empty,” claiming that Burns was a false champion since Jeffries had
retired undefeated.

If you’d like to know more about Jack Johnson, we are proud to present The Original Johnson. You can start from the beginning, or read the latest installment in our serialization online… and if you’d like to jump ahead to the Fight of the Century, Sports Illustrated has an excerpt available in this week’s edition of their iPad app.

Police in Massillon, OH say Donald
Duck repeatedly backed-up and struck the car in front of him
while waiting at a drive-through pizza line.

Officers say when they arrived on the scene, Duck, 51, reeked
of alcohol and when he opened the car door a bag of pot fell out of the
front seat. Duck was booked into the Stark County Jail on a felony charge of
operating a vehicle while impaired, and misdemeanor counts of both drug
possession and the possession of drug paraphernalia.

On the other hand, at least he was wearing pants. So he’s one up on the other guy.

No word if a rich uncle posted bail for him.

Jason Isaacs, renowned for his villainous turn as Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, assumes another dark iconic role as the voice of Ra’s al Ghul in Batman: Under the Red Hood, the latest entry in the ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original PG-13 Movies coming July 27, 2010 to Blu-ray, DVD, OnDemand and for Download.

Isaacs, who portrays Malfoy in five Harry Potter films, is well known for his lead role on the Showtime series Brotherhood, as well as starring opposite Mel Gibson in the revolutionary war adventure, The Patriot. The British actor has also racked up credits in films like Armageddon, Black Hawk Down, Peter Pan, Grindhouse, DragonHeart and Green Zone; TV series including The West Wing, Entourage and The State Within (for which he received a Golden Globe nomination); and in the voiceover realm in everything from documentary narration and commercial advertisements to video games and the popular animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender,

In Batman: Under the Red Hood, Isaacs gives Batman’s nemesis Ra’s al Ghul a sympathetic twist as the villain attempts to right his own wrongs and help Batman in his efforts against both Red Hood and the Joker. Isaacs is an integral part of an all-star cast that includes Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek), Jensen Ackles (Supernatural), Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) and John DiMaggio (Futurama).

Produced by Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation, Batman: Under the Red Hood will be distributed by Warner Home Video as a Special Edition version on Blu-Ray™ and 2-disc DVD, as well as being available on single disc DVD, On Demand and for Download.

Isaacs splits his time between the UK and the US, but still found a few moments to chat about his latest animation voiceover role, his yearning for an actual super power, and his childhood addiction to comic books.

QUESTION: This isn’t really the Ra’s al Ghul we’re accustomed to seeing – what’s the nutshell synopsis of his part in Batman: Under the Red Hood?

JASON ISAACS: This role is a bit unusual for Ra’s al Ghul as he’s been Batman’s nemesis a lot in the past.  But this time he is actually full of regret for a mistake that he has made, and his inability to control the Joker.  A lot of what happens for Ra’s in this story is him explaining to Batman how things went so badly awry, and how Robin ended up quite so dead. (more…)