Did Louis Draw The Color Line Line Johnson

I agree 100% with your analysis, especially your giving Murray a great shot. I consider him the possible Buster Douglas Louis didn't get to fight, and I get ridiculed in NYC for it regularly.:yep

 

Jim Jeffries would not defend against Jack Johnson for any price ,and he many times publicly stated so.
Sunny Jim Coffroth and Barney Curley the two biggest promoters in the US at the time , both stated that two blacks fighting for the heavyweight title would not draw flies.
The NSC in Covent Garden London, with Peggy Bettinson acting as their chairman/matchmaker offered Johnson just £3,000 to defend against Langford .
Langford fighting Jeannette in Paris , never made big money, his biggest career purse was for a bout with Iron Hague ,a mixed black and white match.
Johnson took out full page adverts in several major newspapers offering to defend against anyone ,for any promoter who could come up with a $30,000 purse. This is a matter of public record ,and easily checked and proved. Here is a link confirming Johnson signed to fight Jim Flynn for
$ 31,000 no one was interested in a mooted Johnson McVey fight.

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F70F15F73A5813738DDDAE0894D9405B828DF1D3

This offer ,below made by C B Cochrane , for Johnson to defend against Langford in London fell through, it was £6.000 to the winner £2,000 the loser.It was made in 1914, six years after Burns received $,30,000 for defending against Johnson.
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=PBH19140130.2.93
By the way Jim Jeffries offered the winner of the Burns/Johnson fight a title defence against the winner of the Al Kaufman v Jim Barry, Johnson said should he win , his first defence would be against Langford.

Joe Woodman could not come up with the $$ binding fee, and the offer from the NSC was derisory.

Johnson agreed to fight Langford in Paris after he beat Moran , the purse was for $30,000 the offer fell through.

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F60913F83A5B13738DDDA00A94DE405B848DF1D3



Burns said ,if he beat Johnson he would fight whoever came up with the biggest purse.

If Jeffries thought a Johnson v Langford title fight would have made money, would he not have promoted that instead of offering a match with either Kaufman or Barry?

You will note that both Kaufman a Barry were white.

If Langford,Mcvey,and Jeannette were box office draws, how come they spent so much time globe trotting?

McVey had over 60 of his 90 fights outside his own country.
Langford around 60.
Jeannette nearly 30.
http://www.fultonhistory.com/fulton.html

The £$£$£$ was in black /white defences when Johnson was champ.

Why the hell do you think the White Hope era started in the first place?

Do you think the White public wanted to replace Johnson with another black man?

 

Mcvey....great post and historically accurate. In defense of Jeffries however it was expected that he would not defend his title against a black man. It was the American tradition (for the lack of a better term) for hwt champions not to allow the hwt championship to fall into the hands of a back challenger. Lots of implications in the racist world of the early 20th century if a black were to be called the man who can beat all others in the world. It took Burns, a Canadian, to finally give Johnson a shot in 1908 but he went against the white majority who begged and threatened him not to do so. On the other side of the coin, as already mentioned, there was a tide of progressive thought that was pushing heavily for Johnson to get a title shot but the old guard stood firm.

 

Just for fun, here's what could be read in The Milwaukee Journal in November 16, 1946.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5x4aAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ByUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5093,49385&dq=elmer+ray+joe+louis&hl=en

The title reads : Elmer proves not so violent. They talk about his fight against Jersey Joe and how both men would not stand a chance against the Brown Bomber... We know what really happened with Walcott, but we have to guess with Ray. I know it would've ended with a KO. :bbb

 

I think Roxborough, Black ,and Mike Jacobs drew the $$$$ line.
I doubt Louis would duck anybody ,he certainly had no problems with giving those who gave him a tough first go round another shot.

 

Don't give up, young Padawan, you may just do it yet, maybe.......maybe
:good!

 

Johnson with the Jeffries fight all signed ,states he will fight Langford but he wants a guarantee [ Nov1909 ]. below.


http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cdnc/cgi-bin/cd...n--20--1--txt-IN-jack++johnson+v+sam+langford----#

JOHNSON says he will defend against Jeannette for $30,000 Billy Gibson offers $20,000.

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9405E4D61E3CE633A2575BC2A9619C946396D6CF

Johnson said he would fight Jeannette for the McMahon brothers, but the authorites vetoed it.

 

The link below confirms this.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAIBAJ&pg=5985,2548254&dq=joe+jeannette&hl=en