It's The American Fetish. The true import of the issue has become trivialized by name calling such as this thread.
Does Don King refuse to manage or promote black fighters? Because as far as I can tell Dempsey never had a managerial contract or promotional contract with any black fighter. I tend to disagree with the whole modern white hope angle anyway. I dont think promoters are looking for the next white Hope (after all HW boxing is now basically dominated by whites) they are looking for the next Tyson.
M, George Godfrey was one of Dempsey's main sparring partners ,along with Bill Tate and Chief Turner...He would drop Godfrey several times along with the others...Dempsey did not FEAR Harry Wills or any living man when in his prime.! It was they that feared him. As we know he signed to fight Harry Wills, but promotor Floyd Fitzpatrick failed to come up with the money, and Wills pocketed the deposit money.Tex Rickard feared riots,like the racial conflicts after the Jeffries-Johnson fight in 1910. Was Louis a racist because he did not give worthy black contenders, a shot at his title, while giving less worthy white challengers as Jack Roper, Tony Musto, Johnny Paycheck,etc received money shots? Was Ray Robinson a racist when Ray never fought Holman Williams, Charley Burley, Eddie Booker, a good money shot.? Or does racism only go one way...Jack Dempsey was a credit to boxing, and one of the most respected ex champions ever...Boxing was and is a business, nothing more, and nothing less...One man should not be singled out...Let him rest in peace, I say...
Dempsey managed Clarence Henry,who was a hell of a good fighter. Henry was cloise to a title shot. Henry flattened bob Satterfield, beat Bob Baker, Jimmy Bivens, amongst other top heavies. Dempsey thought he had a coming champion, but Henry suffered from eye problems.Clarence Henry was a better version of David Hayes, but fought in a tougher era.....
Clay Turner only sparred with Dempsey for a couple of fights at most. In fact the only fight I can recall off hand that he sparred with Dempsey for was the Fulton fight.
If Dempsey was a racist, well then that surely was a negative for him...if he wasn't, then hooray for him...in other words..so ****in' what!! This passion for digging up the corpse of a long dead legend and stirring up **** regarding some percieved or imaginary flaw in his makeup seems hypocritical and highly selective...just revisionist muck-raking if you will. You have modern day examples of racism to put the glaring spotlight of scrutiny on if you're interested in consistancy...like Muhammad Ali's, Bernard Hopkin's Larry Holmes's and Floyd Mayweather's excursions into racism as well..and how it's just too damned politically correct and hypocritical to condemn them for it, or at the very least, to consign it to the "so what" department of thinking, and to give all these guys a pass on it. Whether Dempsey was or was not a racist should be a moot point or at the very least treated with the same standard and circumspection as you would or should apply to present day offenders and their obvious character flaws.