Jack Dempsey's Ranking

Finally to have any degree of a possibility that the bout would occur Dempsey had to be free of Rickard and Kearns. That did not occur until late in his boxing career. Negotiations with Wills and promoters then became significant but fizzled. The fizzling had nothing to do with Dempsey not wanting to face Wills.

 

History has damned those who drew the colour line, fighters and promoters alike, but can we side against them entirely?

They had good reason to fear that a mixed race title fight could have led to race riots, and even fatalities.

Would a person be wicked to prioritise avoiding that over a boxing match?

 

I don't hear that in the proclamations of Dempsey or those of Jeffries, Corbett and Sullivan. I hear Dempsey echoing the latters' insistence on protecting the honor of the White Race and nothing of protecting innocent civilians. The reasoning you state seems to be a revisionist whitewash for these actions.

 

Oh please now you are just being silly:silly Go back to sleep:|

 

As a neutral it seems to me that a lot of post war Americans are utterly ashamed of their country's institutionally racist past, and are trying their damnedest to either

( a ) come up with some kind of revisionist alternative

or

( b ) lay the blame for it ( as far as boxing is concerned at least ) at Jack Dempsey's door.

 

No, you didn't hear anything. You read it printed in the newspapers. That's rarely ever any indication of anyone actually saying anything. Certainly in the era where print media held a monopoly on quotes.

Believing that every white boxer/athlete ACTUALLY said "I'm bound by my morals and responsibilities to protect the honour of the white race and shall not entertain any challenges from negroes" is possibly akin to believing every black boxer/athlete ACTUALLY spoke like a racial cartoon character and manage to drop in some references to water melon.

Anyway, on a serious level beyond what boxers said or didn't say, I think people who mattered in those days were always fairly concerned with avoiding too many race riots. That's hardly revisionism.

 

Oh please. Stop already.

All the heavyweight champions, from Jim Jeffries to Jim Braddock, faced the best black heavyweight in their eras ... in either Jack Johnson, Harry Wills, Joe Louis, Larry Gains, etc.

All of the heavyweight champions did ... except for Dempsey and Tunney. So, yes, we can side against them.

There were mixed race fights in every division from the turn of the 20th century

And DO YOU HONESTLY BELIEVE that if Jack Dempsey fought Harry Wills and knocked him out in defense of his title ... that there would have been RACE RIOTS after Dempsey's win?

Is that your contention? That all hell would've broken loose if Dempsey stopped Wills?

:roll:

Name ONE RACE RIOT that occurred after Harry Wills lost a fight? Name ONE. How much "blood was spilled" when Sharkey beat him?

The fear was that Wills would win and that Wills would become the heavyweight champion.

If people were confident Dempsey would win, there would've been no color line.

 

This just proves my point.

How many people died when Willard knocked out Jack Johnson?

How many people died when Sharkey beat Wills?

If Dempsey knocked out Wills, was the country going to erupt in violence because Dempsey destroyed the black challenger?

No. Dempsey and others didn't want the fight because there was a real chance Dempsey would lose. That's why you put up barriers and roadblocks. Not because you're confident you can handle it.

 

I think the reasoning that Willard gave was pretty much in line with what I am suggesting.

I think Muldoon was also motivated by fear of race riots.

 

Of 'their' racist past?

What enterprise built the Bank of England?

Racism and prejudice and oppression are woven into the history of all nations, tribes and cultures (or at least those I have read about). We, as a species, are beginning to rise from that quagmire and are occasionally terrified when we look in the rearview mirror.

 

Nicely put!