I can't think of any great African American boxers during the 1915-1980 period that Dempsey might have fought. Harry Greb is a major missing figure on Dempsey's record. The footage we have of Greb suggests truly astounding skills.
I wouldn't say its that black and white, though. The old doesn't automatically beat the new -- nor vice-versa. It's all subjective based on so many factors. But glad, we all got to share tons of valuable information.
Anyway, I don't think it's very useful to compare boxing (especially at the championship level) from Jeffries' era with today, because of all the differences in rules and equipment.
I believe Jeffries would have been rated higher today had he stayed retired after 1904. He had cleaned out the division and was still improving. He then had that zero in the loss column, which would have worked very well for his legacy, as it did with Marciano. Unfortunately for Jeff, except for some of the more knowledgable boxing fans, the Johnson debacle would become the fight by which Jeffries is best remembered and the one by which he is evaluated.
How about meeting some of the best fighters in the world as champion? I'd argue that his most heralded defence outside of a completely shot Jeffries was Ketchel. That is a disgrace.
Jeffries is by all standards an all time great and a credit to boxing. I just don't rate him as highly as a good number of the men who came after him.. A full century is a long time for numerous competitors to come along and break records or set new ones of their own. What Jeffries did in his own time was outstanding and he should be acknowledged for that alone.. No need to down rate his acheivements through countless comparisons to those who fought under entirely different circumstances...
If the Ketchel /Langford fight was kosher, I would suggest that Johnson dealt with Ketchel considerably more emphatically than did Sam. I think the Kaufman defence is respectable, Kaufman had one loss in 20 fights ,with 16 stoppages. Johnson gained his greatest success before he became champ, and the public got on his case to defend against white hopes. No doubt Johnson was happy to skirt Langford ,and the vanilla supremacists ably assisted him in doing so..
I quite like Kauffman as a defence too, but it's hardly something to shout about given that talent that was floating about.
I won't argue on that score , but did America want Johnson defending against the best challengers? Or only the white ones? Because, if the US was happy for Jack to be champ, and defend against other blacks , how come the White Hope era ever started?