I was watching these 24/7s with Pacquiao and Hatton and some past ones(de la Hoya vs Mayweather,Calzaghe vs Jones Jr.,etc) and I was also watching the Unforgivable Blackness documentary and I was thinking what a great 24/7 the Johnson vs Jeffries fight would have made with all the racist comments at the time and the huge hype it had for the time. Both men had charisma so it probably would have been epic. Thoughts?
Jeffries was out of the ring for 6 years before the 'comeback'. He was fat pig. While the racists would find the 24/7 interesting, boxing fans would know that the fight was going to be a joke .
As much as the pre fight build up was documented, you'd have to say there was a Johnson/Jeffries 24/7. Almost every day there was some news from each man's camp whether it was training or who was visiting the camps, etc.
Maybe, but he would of been put across as a primitive ****** like animal; while the Jeffries camp would of spent the entire time mocking Johnson and the colour of his skin. To suggest anything else would of happened at the time is naive.
Actually by most accounts Jeffries was a quiet, if not moody sounding man, during the entire time he trained for Johnson. The only people who seemed racist was his trainers and management, while Jeffries seemingly didn't give a **** either way, as he knew he was in for the fight of his life.
Yes he was out of the ring for 6 years. but he wasn't anything near being fat or a ''fat pig''. In fact he almost reached his prime weight again.
That's what I meant, during the 6 years out of the ring. You don't just brush off 6 years of pigging out and not training. He was a shell of his former self when he fought Johnson. Not saying he would have beaten Johnson in his prime, but if this fight were taking place today, boxing fans would be screaming about what a joke it was. Other than as a testament to redneck racism, this fight means nothing as far as boxing history. Even Tyson v Holmes was more legitimate .
You can if you're George Foreman. Altough 6 years is a lot there have been cases of 2 or 3 years. But he was't that old and he ''didn't hit opponents with full force because of fear of killing them,plus he once had a pet tiger,and once drank a whole case of whisky to cure his pneumonia'',can't really be sure if those are true though.:nut
Hence I said Jeffries camp; by most accounts Jeffries vetoed a rather infamous racist song, being played pre fight.
Actually it was the crowd that pushed the band to play 'All Coons Look Alike To Me'. Only thing Jeffries did on the day of the fight was come out last, and got his pick of what corner he wanted (which was in the shade).