Does winning the Colored Heavyweight Champ carry the weight as winning an Alpha Title?

Edit: for some reason I was thinking of comparing colored title to the lineal when the color line was drawn. I confess I'm an idiot. See below.

No.

Peter Jackson and Harry Wills are really exceptional in being the level of the lineal champ, and only the latter defended his coloured title. You could probably add Jack Johnson's coloured reign too.

I don't see the case for counting something like George Byers' reign, during which he lost to Tommy West and George Gardner as counting even as much as the title claims of Hart or Maher.

 

For the three you mentioned ,I would say yes, but not for the others I am aware of.

 

"Wills was disqualified for knocking Tate down after the referee's call to break; Both fighters agreed to a rematch four days later, at no cost to the fans.
Tate claims the Black Heavyweight Title."
No not really.

 

Depends upon the era.

In the stronger eras certainly.

 

There you may be on to something.

 

Damn, it somehow didn't click you meant alphabet titles. I was more thinking of lineal titles.

I think Sam Langford's colored title is much more meaningful than say Charles Martin's alphabelt.

Both have had some extremely good fighters, and a lot fluff. Hard to quantify how much each has had.

Neither counts for a lot on it's own IMO. Atleast the colored title meant something, even if there were a number of better white contenders.

 

The quality of the fighters contesting the colored title, and by extension its relevance, picked up dramatically in the early 1900s.

It meant very little when George Byers held it, but was a big deal when Sam Langford held it.

 

Short answer, it depends on who the champion was.

Long Answer, the colored title, the white title or the Mexican titles often had fewer organized high level matches, so in a general sense they meant less.

 

Yep

 

No.

You basically had to be a black man from North America to fight for and win the colored heavyweight title. That's pretty restrictive. I don't know of any who weren't.

The alphabet titles don't discriminate against boxers because of their race or nationality. Anyone from anywhere can fight for an alphabet title.

So the colored title wasn't exactly a "world" title. Which fighters outside of North America ever fought for it, let alone won it?

Truthfully, the colored title was more of a regional title or a domestic title.

 

I think I agree with that. The same is true of the white heavyweight championship too.

 

Yes.

Tim Witherspoon winning the WBC is more prestigious.

You didn't have to be a black man from North America to fight for or win the WBC heavyweight title.