Was John L. Sullivan afraid of Peter Jackson?

Yes, he was a Maori. Although he was admittedly half white as well.

 

I don't think Sullivan was afraid of Jackson, however i would guess he knew at that stage of his career that his physical condition was not favourable to winning against such a opponent as Jackson, and perhaps there was a little patriotism involved, as during the speech he gave after losing title to Corbett he said "If I had to get licked I'm glad I was licked by an American".

 

Sullivan's first title defense, was originally going to be against a local level black opponent, but the man failed to show, and another opponent was substituted. Now this is an interesting what if, not because the opponent had any realistic chance, but because if he had turned up, it would have been hard for Sullivan to draw the color line.

 

In his prime or close to it, John L Sullivan would have defended his title against George Godfrey, for the right amount of money.

Just my personal opinion!

 

The fight fell through and Sullivan said later he was glad.

 

He would have gone ahead with it under certain circumstances.

This fight was more likely to happen than say, Jeffries defending against Martin.

 

I dont think either fight was ever likely to transpire.
ps Sullivan refereed quite a few all black bouts including some for the Colored Championship.

 

Jeffries believed in the color line in principle, while Sullivan did not.

Sullivan would have fought a black man in the right circumstances.

Perhaps it is an accident of history that he didn't!

 

John L Sullivan feared no man

 

John Barleycorn regularly got the better of him.

 

He said latter in life that the black bottle was his toughest opponent.

 

Very interesting.

 

In a nutshell.. This.
Not so much actually scared of facing a black man but the fear of losing to him, that's imo what the general feeling was.
Sounds crazy now but different times.