I generally hate what ifs, because that isn't what happened. But I was in an interesting discussion with someone about this. If Burns had drawn the line, like every other white heavyweight champion until James J. Braddock, how much different would history have been? Who does Tommy fight and beat, how many more successful defenses does he have, who eventually beats him, and how much different would his legacy be? Would other black fighters have been given a chance at the title by subsequent champions?
I guess that he would have ended up losing it to somebody like Al Kaufman. I tend to think that the lack of good white contenders would have forced the issue sooner or later. There would have come a point where the only big money fight left, was against one of the top black contenders.
The positive likely to emerge is Johnson dukes it out with mature versions of Langford and McVey, probably, eventually.
Very hard to say which white fighter comes out on top or if we yo-yo between several men. Does Burns have a title run? Or does he lose it to Kauffman or Ketchel or Fireman Flynn? Who wins out? I'm not sure. Maybe Carl Morris later on. Or maybe Carpentier or Gunboat Smith win it sometime around the early part of that decade.
Yes the public would have no problem with a non champ Johnson fighting interminable bouts with his black contemporaries' Johnson would probably have been in better shape too knowing he wasn't facing easy white meat. Prime Jack beats all his black rivals, and that incudes Langford,according to John L and Clay Moyle.
You're ****ing right it would. Imagine that? Burns boxing Kauffman and Ketchel while Johnson tears up Langford and McVey. Would have been utterly bizarre. Still, I do get a little thrill at the thought of Burns-Ketchel. I love Ketchel as a character and the idea of his being world's heavyweight champion and in the p4p argument with Robinson and Armstrong is epic. Not that i'm handing the title to Ketchel because Burns would have been incredibly dangerous for him, but people at the time didn't find the idea of his beating Burns odd - Ketchel just took his eye off the prize and got absolutely obliterated by Papke. That's what you get for treating a rattlesnake as a stepping stone.
Hard to say who'd dethrone him. Not exactly a lot of great white heavyweights at that time. Maybe Gunboat Smith? Edit: Smith would be a bit late.
Could Burns make money fighting what's left of a medicare group of white heavies? Burns was a businessman, and took the $30,000 purse to fight Johnson. Prior to that he was thinking of a match vs Sam McVey. Assuming Burns doesn't fight Johnson, he probably get a match with Ketchel
Johnson never faced anything close to a prime Langford. Being that he was about even with a very green Jeannette the end of they series, you have to give Jeanette a real chance to beat him as well. Given that Johnson was out boxed in his prime by Jack O'brien according to some primary sources, TKO'd in a 4 round exhibition match by GunBoat Smith in his prime, and floored and by his own admission hurt by Ketchel, I'd say Langford and Jeannette who were better heavyweights than the three I mentioned sure could have been the next champion had Johnson not drawn the color line. Johnson did face one black opponent as champion and he was lucky to escape with a draw. You claimed to have the purse amount on Jack vs Jim battling Johnson. Well, where is it?
Well for one, Johnson is known as the best fighter to never fight for the title, assuming he retains his motivation levels. I reckon Ketchel, Fireman Flynn, Gunboat Smith and Fulton probably all get a crack at the title. Oh god, imagine if Burns beats all of them, defends against Willard, loses to Dempsey and is known as one of the greatest HW champs in history. And then instead, today people are arguing that Burns beats Johnson had they ever fought. Wow.
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