Colour line Challenge

The colour line seems to be a bit of the topic of the moment. So, I am going to try this idea for a thread.

The rules of the Colour line challenge are simple. It is black fighters vs white fighters at any period during the John L Sullivan to the start of the Joe Louis era. In order to qualify for a challenge match, a fighter, whether Black or white, must be a top 10 fighter (white or black). They will score one point for each victory they have over a person on the other team.

there are no fantasy matches, we only go on fights that took place and official results. Where there are disputes, i will be the sole judge of points, what was an official decision or whether or not a fighter is a top 10 fighter. If this thread is to work (assuming i get any responses), anyone posting fights and their points should keep a running total of the points scored.

To get things started, i will start with some matches, to explain how the system should work.

Jack Johnson vs Jim Jeffries winner Black
Peter Jackson vs Jeffries winner Jeffries winner white
Jack Johnson vs Tommy Burns winner Black
Tommy Burns vs Jack Johnsnon winner Black
Sam Langford vs Fulton winner white
Jack Sharkey vs Harry Wills winner white

Current Score 3-3.

Edit: I am changing the rules, the era will end at the Johnson v Jeffries fight of the Century because otherwise it will go on too long and there will be too many fights.
New Current Score 3-1 Black

 

The new time period was just because otherwise, there would be so many fights that it would be difficult and take too long to get close to a picture of these results. The cuffs and bad decisions obviously is a problem, but no one knows for sure, so official decisions only. In reality, cuffs etc was designed to mislead the public, so if a fighter takes a dive and it enhances another fighters rep in the public eyes then in the public eyes (who would not have known at this time) would have seen that result as legitimate.

I am actually quite interested to see how the scores go. I tend to think that in earlier times, the whites will have an advantage but by the time Johnson wins the title, that will have shifted, but hopefully if enough people contribute over time this will give as an indication of things. If the black side totally dominates the white's, i am fairly sure that i will change my opinion on quite a few of the early fighters.

 

Okay, it looks like it will be just me on this thread. I will start by adding Joe Choynski's Record.

1889 Joe Defeated Billy Wilson KO2
1892 KO15 George Godfrey
CAC Smith KO 4 - this may be a bit of a stretch to call him top 10, but i will give the benefit of the doubt.
1900 Walcott LT7
1901 KO3 Johnson
1902 W6 Frank Childs

Choynski scores 5-1, taking the current sore to 6-4 White.

Looking at Choynski's record, he was clearly as good as any of the coloured fighters of his time. His 5-1 record, (with an additional draw with Bob Armstrong) does show that he was very successful.

Of the top white challengers that he met, he lost to Corbett, Goddard, Kid McCoy, Sharkey and drew with Fitzsimmons, Ruhlin, Sharkey, Jack O Brien, Hart, Jeffries. The best white fight he beat included Maher, Russell, Jim Hall, Mick Dooley and Denver Ed Smith. It would seem that he certainly had a lot more trouble with the best white fighters of the era than he did with the colour fighters.