Why did Tunney never fight a black fighter?

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by psychoshane, Dec 27, 2010.

  1. Bobby Sinn

    Bobby Sinn Bulimba Bullant Full Member

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    T'was your hero that opened the doors to the ABA for 1/4, 1/2, 1/3 or fully coloured boys too.. What a champion.
     
  2. turpinr

    turpinr Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    both his sisters and brothers had fought in ww2.his dad was gassed in the 1st world and died when randy was 2.how could the bbbc prevent them.
    boxing news helped, it has to be said.
     
  3. Stevie G

    Stevie G Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    Quite right. Half-Caste is indeed a horrid expression,and a liberal of those times would,without doubt be considered a racist today. Tunney was near the end of a long line of those who saw it beneath them to give a title shot to a black man.
     
  4. Unforgiven

    Unforgiven VIP Member banned Full Member

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    I don't see what's so horrid about the term "half caste". Lots of people I know described themselves as such until Political Correctness deemed "mixed race" the correct term .... ... an d that's a very recent thing.
    It won't be long before "mixed race" is exposed as a rather insulting and racist term itself (I mean, it implies a reality of set, pure, races - hardly enlightened). It's almost arbitrary that the one term is deemed correct and the other horrid.
    Mixed race is just as "bad" if you analyse it even slightly.

    If the rest of us are black, or white, I don't see why not "brown".
     
  5. turpinr

    turpinr Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    whatever, i still don't like half-caste
     
  6. Bobby Sinn

    Bobby Sinn Bulimba Bullant Full Member

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    I preferred it when Santa said 'Ho,Ho,Ho'...
     
  7. turpinr

    turpinr Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    have you ever caught him:lol:
     
  8. Bobby Sinn

    Bobby Sinn Bulimba Bullant Full Member

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    Missed him this year mate, but I got one of his Ho's.... :D

    I'll check my own sack in the coming weeks to see if she left me any gifts..... :admin
     
  9. turpinr

    turpinr Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    whenever i have that dream, its of mariah careh circa 94' and my own sack:hey
     
  10. Unforgiven

    Unforgiven VIP Member banned Full Member

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    If you don't like it, you don't like it.
    I don't like mixed-race.
    But the bottom line is, mostly the terms have been used by people in good faith, probably without any intention of causing offence, so it's very subjective as to it's "horrid" or not.
     
  11. Bobby Sinn

    Bobby Sinn Bulimba Bullant Full Member

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    lmao. Nothing wrong with a young Mariah. :good
     
  12. Unforgiven

    Unforgiven VIP Member banned Full Member

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    Gene Tunney, I've never heard that he wasn't racist. But I've never heard much solid proof that he was.
    It wouldn't surprise me at all if he was a pathological racist like Howard Hughes. I mean, the image I have of Tunney, he was a pompous ass, and buying into strict apartheid and racist values could well fit that image. Or the other hand, Tunney was a real person that none of us knew, the image never matches the reality 100%, plus there's no evidence of him being specifically a racist.

    Most of all though, who gives a **** ? He's remembered as a fighter, that's all.
     
  13. jack365

    jack365 Member Full Member

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    Maybe he didnt fancy the hassle of a fight against an african american. Not knowing enough about this interesting topic but he may have attracted unwanted hassle if he did fight one.

    "Some of us of the paler persuasion were hoping Jeffries to take back the title."

    This type of racial preference is probably just as rife in boxing today(in all races).
     
  14. TheGreatA

    TheGreatA Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    You could barely put it in a more politically correct way in those days.
     
  15. jack365

    jack365 Member Full Member

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    Spot on.