A contribution to the Dempsey Wills debate

I believe the following article written by Jack Dempsey appeared in a 1963 issue of Ebony magazine. This is an excerpt of it that is included as a chapter in a 1963 book edited by two men from that magazine. The book is titled ‘White on Black’ and the title of the chapter is ‘Why Negroes Rule Boxing’. I thought it was worth sharing:

“From the inception of boxing in this country it has been dominated by men who developed out of struggle with life. Our first real heavyweight champion, Tom Molyneaux, was born a slave in Virginia and won his freedom with his fistic talent. Fighting as a freedman in New York he beat all challengers and earned the right to be called the first American heavyweight champion.

All of the great old-time Negro boxers were born under poor and depressing circumstances but rose above their environments to win acclaim wherever they fought. Peter Jackson, Sam Langford, George Dixon, Joe Gans, the immortal “Old Master,” and Jack Johnson all knew what it felt like to be up against the wall and cornered. Their bitter experiences were reflected in their superb endurance and their toughness of spirit. Their early poverty showed itself in the way they handled themselves as men and boxers.
I am personally indebted to a number of Negro boxers who worked as my sparring partners in the years when I was learning how to handle myself in a ring. When I was fighting I had many Negro sparring partners at my training camp. One of these, Bill Tate, became one of my best friends. Now living in Chicago, Illinois, he is one of the finest men I have ever known. Then there was Panama Joe Gans, a great and clever fighter, who taught me a lot. The Jamaica Kid, a very fine heavyweight, worked with me before the famous 1919 fight with Jess Willard. The Kid did a lot to get me into the superb condition that enabled me to beat Willard and win the world’s championship.

Sam Langford, one of the greatest of all heavyweights, is another Negro fighter who showed me some tricks and gave me the benefits of his vast experience. I worked with Old Sam in Chicago when I was a youngster. I never forgot what Langford taught me. He was cool, clever, scientific and a terrific hitter besides a fine man.
Battling Gee and Battling Jim Johnson, both Negroes were also on my payroll as sparring mates. I was a pretty rough customer in those days and my sparring partners had to be good and tough to stay with me. All of these men more than made the grade.

Many times I’ve had the charge hurled at me that I was prejudiced against Negroes. It is time this utter fiction was laid to rest once and for all. All my life I have believed that all men are basically brothers and that differences of color and religion are superficial. I hate prejudice. I hate discrimination. I hate intolerance. Boxing has been guilty of its share of color bias but I categorically deny that I ever practiced it either as a fighter, manager or promoter. The several Negro fighters who have been under my management will testify to my long-held belief in equality of treatment for all men, regardless of color.

Since I am on the subject of the color line in boxing, let me clear the air of the many rumors and suspicions and charges that have been moving around me as a result of my failure to fight Harry Wills. I have never run away from a fight in my life. Ever since I left public school to work in the Colorado mines, my credo has been to fight all comers and may the best man win. Harry Wills was a great fighter in his prime and I would have liked to have been matched with him. But it was not to be. The reasons had nothing to do with color prejudice on my part (which I have never held), nor fear of Wills fighting skill. I wanted to fight Wills badly, but Tex Rickard, who had the final say, never matched us.

Rickard was a Texan. He had a rough time of it out in San Francisco, California, after the Johnson-Jeffries fight which he promoted in Reno. The repercussions of that fight swirled about Rick’s head for a long time after the fight and he was a victim of ugly charges and a wicked smear campaign. This experience soured him on mixed fights for the heavyweight crown. As a result he was never anxious to promote a match between Wills and myself.

The facts clearly show that in 1926 I tried desperately to arrange a fight with Harry Wills but the deal collapsed when my guarantee was not forthcoming. Wills and I had signed to fight with a promoter named Floyd Fitzsimmons of Benton Harbor, Michigan. Wills, I understand, received fifty thousand dollars as his guarantee for signing the contract. I was to have received one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars in advance of the fight. As the date of the fight grew nearer and my money did not appear, I became anxious and asked Fitzsimmons what was the matter. He wired me to meet him in Dayton, Ohio, assuring me that he would have the money for me there. I met Fitzsimmons in Dayton who handed me a certified check for twenty-five thousand dollars and a promise to let me have the balance almost immediately. I balked at that, demanding the full amount right away. Fitzsimmons tried to placate me by calling the bank where he said he had deposited the money. The bank, unfortunately for Fitzsimmons, informed him that it did not have that much money on hand, that there wasn’t enough to cover the twenty-five thousand dollar check he had given me.

Furious, I returned the check to Fitzsimmons and told him the fight was off. Later, the Fitzsimmons syndicate financing the fight sued me for failure to honor a contract. I won the case.

When the Wills fight failed to materialize, Tex Rickard jumped back into the picture and matched me with Gene Tunney. The rest is history. And that is the real story behind the negotiations for the Harry Wills fight which never came off. I am sorry Wills and I never got a chance to square off in the ring. I am sure it would have been one beautiful scrap.”

 

:good

Interesting article, and having spoken to several people who knew or met Dempsey, and having read dozens more accounts of people's encounters with him, there's very little reason to believe he was a racist, and his welcoming manner and affinity with the common man (of any colour) is almost legendary.

Still, the hatred of Dempsey is so strong with many here, who not only don't rate him as a fighter, but will say anything to smear him, I'm sure the article won't make them change that opinion.

 

Yeah, maybe I was getting muddled up with "******" (of the hired variety, specializing in virgins).
Something like that.
Anyway, in some way or another he was a wrong 'un.

 

The Fearless Harry Greb book notes that Dempsey disapproved of Greb putting his MW championship against Tiger Flowers because he was black. But there is no real way to know if Dempsey did really that.

I find it interesting Smith says when reviewing "Harry Wills' skills that he would be considered good for his day." Is there a reference here to him not being good in a later era like Louis or Ali's?

 

He wrote an article in the next month's Ebony entitled "My Days working in a brothel (Those virgins gave their consent)"

 

What you and burt beinstock call "hatred" is not ranking him(possibly) the no.1 P4P GOAT

 

C,thank you for this article by Dempsey,I have not read before. Hopefully this article will finally put to rest the notion that Dempsey was a "racist",and feared Harry Wills in the ring. Fallacy...Thanks again...:good

 

P, give up your hatred of Jack Dempsey. Life is too short . And please don't
misrepresent my thoughts. If I defend Jack Dempsey it is because he was a
great natural force, and today's modern naysayers have little knowledge of
the past,and think boxing started when they started to first watch it. Nope
P, there WAS a yesterday.! Peace....

 

I don't think Dempsey was necessarily a racist, maybe he was somewhat as a younger man, maybe not, he seems like a good man

Either way he was either protected from the better boxers (Wills/Greb) or personally didn't fancy the fights. Both fights could have been made if he really wanted them and I don't buy Rickard had any social responsibility

 

I genuinely think a man such as jack dempsey was not protected out of fear of loss by him nor his handlers.

I think he and they genuinely believed he'd beat anyone out there.

I do buy into the theory that the fight didn't happen because of racial concerns.

My main reason is that jack fought all the leading white heavyweights during his active years (1918-1923) and he came back to fight the two leading white contenders after his hollywood stint.

I do agree that from 23-26 it's completely fair to label wills as the premiere active hw but likewise I also think tunney immediately usurped everyone by defeating jack dempsey.

The colour line is such a black mark on the history of boxing and I am glad and relieved these great fighters were rewarded with a place in the hall.

 

Interesting article ... never read anywhere that Dempsey worked with Langford and would like to know more about it ... as far as trying to make a match w Wills in 1926, that's terrific but Wills was the number one contender from basically 1919 on ... it is simply an incomplete defense on Jack's part if you ask me ...

 

"Interesting article ... never read anywhere that Dempsey worked with Langford and would like to know more about it ."

Actually, it's the first I've heard of that as well. It makes me wonder if it was written up in a Chicago newspaper at the time at all, or how many folks might have witnessed it. I never came across anything from Langford where he said anything about having worked with Dempsey at all. And, I also never came across any mention of it from Dempsey in any of his biographies before now either.