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ABOUT TFM > Origin of THE TRIPLE FIGHT
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The Origins of TFM
THE TRIPLE FIGHT — ORIGIN
TFM is built on a defining concept: THE TRIPLE FIGHT.
What began as a line of inquiry has become the organizing principle for everything we do. It is the lens through which the past is examined, and the standard that guides how this work is carried forward.
Where This Work Began
This work emerged from decades of engagement with sport, history, and institutions—guided by a desire to understand how opportunity is structured, how it is limited, and how it can be expanded.
For nearly a decade, I worked with leading organizations on questions of diversity, access, and representation. That work revealed how institutions actually function—what they reward, what they resist, and how leadership can influence both.
Those insights would later shape how I approached the study of boxing, and the histories that shaped our nation and world.
Joe Louis — A Champion Beyond His Time
My work eventually turned to boxing, and to one figure in particular:
Joe Louis, World Heavyweight Champion from 1937 to 1949.
Louis stands apart—not only for the length of his reign, but for what he carried within it. As a Black man competing in a system defined by segregation and racial hierarchy, he operated within constraints that extended far beyond the ring.
He represented the United States at moments of global significance, including bouts that carried symbolic weight during the rise of Nazi Germany. Yet within his own country, he was denied full access to the very freedoms he was asked to represent.
This was not contradiction at the margins.
It was a structural reality.
Looking Back — and Seeing More Clearly
Over time, these observations stopped feeling isolated. They began to form a pattern.
As I studied Louis, I began to look more closely at the fighters who came before him—men like Jack Blackburn and Sam Langford.
What emerged was not only a lineage of great fighters, but a pattern of exclusion, limitation, and unequal recognition—conditions that consistently constrained many of the most capable, particularly Black fighters whose abilities placed them among the very best.
The more I examined boxing, the more it became clear:
The forces shaping outcomes in the ring were not confined to the ring.
They reflected larger systems at work—
national identity
global conflict
economic structure
racial hierarchy
What I was seeing was not simply boxing history.
It was a way to understand how power, conflict, and human dignity operate across society.
THE TRIPLE FIGHT
At a certain point, it became clear that boxing alone could not contain what I was seeing.
The patterns extended too far. The connections were too consistent.
What was needed was a structure that could hold these realities together—without reducing them.
That need led to the identification of three interconnected arenas of struggle:
Fights in Rings
Fights Among Nations
Fights for Equality and Justice
Together, they form THE TRIPLE FIGHT.
The Role of the Collection
With the TRIPLE FIGHT as a working structure, the nature of the collection itself had to change.
It could no longer be limited to champions and outcomes.
It had to support the examination of conditions.
Where events took place.
Who was present.
Who was excluded.
What followed.
Postcards. Newspapers. Photographs. Scrapbooks.
Brought together, these materials serve as evidence—not only of events, but of the systems that shaped them.
They allow us to examine the past as it was experienced, not as it has been simplified, filtered, or forgotten.
The TFM Collection is built with that purpose—and continues to grow in alignment with it.
Seeing — What This Work Requires
The origin of TFM is rooted in a commitment to seeing the past as it was lived.
We pursue this work with clarity in both method and purpose.
The TFM 6-Part Framework enables us to:
- examine the past honestly
- name conditions as they existed
- ask difficult questions
- and use that understanding in pursuit of something better
This work does not avoid tension.
It studies it.
Because without that willingness, there can be no real understanding—and without understanding, no meaningful contribution to the public good.
TRIPLE FIGHT is not only a way of organizing the past.
It is how we make sense of what people faced, what they endured, and what their experiences reveal to us now.
To see how this work is carried forward across TFM, we invite you to explore the TFM 6-Part Framework.THE TRIPLE FIGHT — ORIGIN
TFM is built on a defining concept: THE TRIPLE FIGHT.
What began as a line of inquiry has become the organizing principle for everything we do. It is the lens through which the past is examined, and the standard that guides how this work is carried forward.
Where This Work Began
This work emerged from decades of engagement with sport, history, and institutions—guided by a desire to understand how opportunity is structured, how it is limited, and how it can be expanded.
For nearly a decade, I worked with leading organizations on questions of diversity, access, and representation. That work revealed how institutions actually function—what they reward, what they resist, and how leadership can influence both.
Those insights would later shape how I approached the study of boxing, and the histories that shaped our nation and world.
Joe Louis — A Champion Beyond His Time
My work eventually turned to boxing, and to one figure in particular:
Joe Louis, World Heavyweight Champion from 1937 to 1949.
Louis stands apart—not only for the length of his reign, but for what he carried within it. As a Black man competing in a system defined by segregation and racial hierarchy, he operated within constraints that extended far beyond the ring.
He represented the United States at moments of global significance, including bouts that carried symbolic weight during the rise of Nazi Germany. Yet within his own country, he was denied full access to the very freedoms he was asked to represent.
This was not contradiction at the margins.
It was a structural reality.
Looking Back — and Seeing More Clearly
Over time, these observations stopped feeling isolated. They began to form a pattern.
As I studied Louis, I began to look more closely at the fighters who came before him—men like Jack Blackburn and Sam Langford.
What emerged was not only a lineage of great fighters, but a pattern of exclusion, limitation, and unequal recognition—conditions that consistently constrained many of the most capable, particularly Black fighters whose abilities placed them among the very best.
The more I examined boxing, the more it became clear:
The forces shaping outcomes in the ring were not confined to the ring.
They reflected larger systems at work—
national identity
global conflict
economic structure
racial hierarchy
What I was seeing was not simply boxing history.
It was a way to understand how power, conflict, and human dignity operate across society.
THE TRIPLE FIGHT
At a certain point, it became clear that boxing alone could not contain what I was seeing.
The patterns extended too far. The connections were too consistent.
What was needed was a structure that could hold these realities together—without reducing them.
That need led to the identification of three interconnected arenas of struggle:
Fights in Rings
Fights Among Nations
Fights for Equality and Justice
Together, they form THE TRIPLE FIGHT.
The Role of the Collection
With the TRIPLE FIGHT as a working structure, the nature of the collection itself had to change.
It could no longer be limited to champions and outcomes.
It had to support the examination of conditions.
Where events took place.
Who was present.
Who was excluded.
What followed.
Postcards. Newspapers. Photographs. Scrapbooks.
Brought together, these materials serve as evidence—not only of events, but of the systems that shaped them.
They allow us to examine the past as it was experienced, not as it has been simplified, filtered, or forgotten.
The TFM Collection is built with that purpose—and continues to grow in alignment with it.
Seeing — What This Work Requires
The origin of TFM is rooted in a commitment to seeing the past as it was lived.
We pursue this work with clarity in both method and purpose.
The TFM 6-Part Framework enables us to:
- examine the past honestly
- name conditions as they existed
- ask difficult questions
- and use that understanding in pursuit of something better
This work does not avoid tension.
It studies it.
Because without that willingness, there can be no real understanding—and without understanding, no meaningful contribution to the public good.
TRIPLE FIGHT is not only a way of organizing the past.
It is how we make sense of what people faced, what they endured, and what their experiences reveal to us now.
To see how this work is carried forward across TFM, we invite you to explore the TFM 6-Part Framework.THE TRIPLE FIGHT — ORIGIN
TFM is built on a defining concept: THE TRIPLE FIGHT.
What began as a line of inquiry has become the organizing principle for everything we do. It is the lens through which the past is examined, and the standard that guides how this work is carried forward.
Where This Work Began
This work emerged from decades of engagement with sport, history, and institutions—guided by a desire to understand how opportunity is structured, how it is limited, and how it can be expanded.
For nearly a decade, I worked with leading organizations on questions of diversity, access, and representation. That work revealed how institutions actually function—what they reward, what they resist, and how leadership can influence both.
Those insights would later shape how I approached the study of boxing, and the histories that shaped our nation and world.
Joe Louis — A Champion Beyond His Time
My work eventually turned to boxing, and to one figure in particular:
Joe Louis, World Heavyweight Champion from 1937 to 1949.
Louis stands apart—not only for the length of his reign, but for what he carried within it. As a Black man competing in a system defined by segregation and racial hierarchy, he operated within constraints that extended far beyond the ring.
He represented the United States at moments of global significance, including bouts that carried symbolic weight during the rise of Nazi Germany. Yet within his own country, he was denied full access to the very freedoms he was asked to represent.
This was not contradiction at the margins.
It was a structural reality.
Looking Back — and Seeing More Clearly
Over time, these observations stopped feeling isolated. They began to form a pattern.
As I studied Louis, I began to look more closely at the fighters who came before him—men like Jack Blackburn and Sam Langford.
What emerged was not only a lineage of great fighters, but a pattern of exclusion, limitation, and unequal recognition—conditions that consistently constrained many of the most capable, particularly Black fighters whose abilities placed them among the very best.
The more I examined boxing, the more it became clear:
The forces shaping outcomes in the ring were not confined to the ring.
They reflected larger systems at work—
national identity
global conflict
economic structure
racial hierarchy
What I was seeing was not simply boxing history.
It was a way to understand how power, conflict, and human dignity operate across society.
THE TRIPLE FIGHT
At a certain point, it became clear that boxing alone could not contain what I was seeing.
The patterns extended too far. The connections were too consistent.
What was needed was a structure that could hold these realities together—without reducing them.
That need led to the identification of three interconnected arenas of struggle:
Fights in Rings
Fights Among Nations
Fights for Equality and Justice
Together, they form THE TRIPLE FIGHT.
The Role of the Collection
With the TRIPLE FIGHT as a working structure, the nature of the collection itself had to change.
It could no longer be limited to champions and outcomes.
It had to support the examination of conditions.
Where events took place.
Who was present.
Who was excluded.
What followed.
Postcards. Newspapers. Photographs. Scrapbooks.
Brought together, these materials serve as evidence—not only of events, but of the systems that shaped them.
They allow us to examine the past as it was experienced, not as it has been simplified, filtered, or forgotten.
The TFM Collection is built with that purpose—and continues to grow in alignment with it.
Seeing — What This Work Requires
The origin of TFM is rooted in a commitment to seeing the past as it was lived.
We pursue this work with clarity in both method and purpose.
The TFM 6-Part Framework enables us to:
- examine the past honestly
- name conditions as they existed
- ask difficult questions
- and use that understanding in pursuit of something better
This work does not avoid tension.
It studies it.
Because without that willingness, there can be no real understanding—and without understanding, no meaningful contribution to the public good.
TRIPLE FIGHT is not only a way of organizing the past.
It is how we make sense of what people faced, what they endured, and what their experiences reveal to us now.
To see how this work is carried forward across TFM, we invite you to explore the TFM 6-Part Framework.
Our Motto
TFM — IN THE FIGHT FOR GOOD
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