According to The Fearless Harry Greb, Dempsey personally berated Greb for allowing a Negro to get the middleweight title when he fought Tiger Flowers, and that Dempsey's shameful secret was his distaste for his colored brethren.
Yeah, I did read that Dempsey was supposedly displeased that Flowers had fought for the MW title. Who knows though, really.
If Jack Dempsey was racist...it matches well with Muhammad Ali and Bernard Hopkins..in other words, so ****in what. So what if he was racist at one time...it seems that he mellowed out quite a bit in his dotage...a lot of butthurt Dempsey haters don't have any trouble with making excuses for Ali and Hopkins..so ride with it.
I'm a Carlos Monzon and John L fan, so I could give a ****. And I am a Dempsey fan, also. I just don't think he's the saint he's too often painted out to be. He was cut from rough stone.
S, who the F ever called Dempsey a SAINT.??? Can you understand that when I or anyone who posts in defense of Jack Dempsey, only does so as a counter attack by holier than thou modern revisionists that AFTER any POST citing the fistic merits of Jack Dempsey on ESB ,spews 90 years later vile accusations about Dempsey,UNRELATED to his considerable place in heavyweight boxing ? So tell me if you will, who on ESB opened up a post extolling Jack Dempsey , or any other boxer past or present as a Saint ? The only living Saint I know is Drew Brees... When will you guys let Dempsey's soul rest in peace ? The man was beloved until he died as a gentle, humble soul after his ring days...Adieu !
Even if Dempsey was a racist does it matter? I don't give a **** and anyway people are a product of their time and Dempsey's time wasn't exactly one that was all that excepting of negroes. Ali was racist too, infact he spoke at a KKK rallie because the nation of islam believed in racial segregation, as the KKK obviously did too.
Its was the beginning of the century and he wasn't black. Of course he was racist. Product of the time. It's a different time today. Doesn't matter.
Well, yes it does, especially in the context Seamus is discussing it. If Dempsey was against black v white contests even where the black challenger is entitled to his shot, this shows the Wills-Dempsey fiasco in a different light. As for Demspey being a product of his times, yes he was. I actually think he was a little better than that though. But a case could still be made that his views on racial politics are a part of the reason Wills-Dempsey was never made, so it's relevant.