Did Jack Sharkey say he'd never lose to a black fighter?

This one is good as well...I've never liked Hopkins; he's a real cray baby if you ask me.

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Lmao do I really have to explain it???

 

"Indian sign" was once a commonly used figure of speech meaning something like "I've got that guy's number" as with a magic spell that puts one person under another's power. I don't think Sharkey was inferring that he was an Indian of either the Amercian or Mid-East variety.

To me, even if Sharkey said he'd never lose to a black fighter, it's more a show of confidence than racist intent. At least, he wasn't drawing a color line like some other heavyweight champions who preceded him. It's more like he was trying to pump himself up about his upcoming match with Joe Louis. A quick check of his record shows that he had fought and defeated at least three black fighters prior to the Louis fight: Young Jack Johnson, George Godfrey, and Harry Wills. So his claim that he had done well against black fighters was apparently true.

 

Racism is more acceptable coming from Hopkins?

 

Society accepts racism from black people. If a white guy and a black guy are both being openly racist who do think is gonna get the crap for it

 

Before the fight with Wills, Jack Sharkey yelled into the microphone on the radio broadcast "I'm going to lick hell out of this n-----"

You don't see 'em doing that any more.

 

Out of curiosity I'd be interested where you read this. I don't really doubt he might have said this, but the only surviving radio broadcast from this era I know about is Tunney-Dempsey 2.

 

Society who? Because I dont. My knuckles are colorblind when it comes to racism. Besides, all teeth are some shade of white when they are laying on the pavement.

 

I tried to track this down once.

The reports I've seen from the day all give the quote as some variation on "I'll lick hell out of Wills" or "Sure as hell I'll beat Wills".

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The earliest version I found where he uses THAT word was in his own account as told to Robert Edgren the following year. He describes doing it deliberately to intimidate Wills and may just have been embroidering the story to make himself seem that bit bolder.

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Obviously, it's also possible that the next day reports were just sanitising Sharkey's actual words. But this was 1926, it seems doubtful they'd feel the need.

 

So it’s a racist way of saying a racist thing.

 

If you like.

 

Thanks. Actually, I was hoping you had heard an acetate disc of the radio broadcast!

 

Unknown Winstin too.

In the computer fight between Bob Fitzsimmons and Jack Sharkey they have an interview with Joe Louis about Sharkey, and Louis gave him a lot of credit.

 

It's like for the Louis fight, Jack did indeed have an "Indian sign"...but in this case, it was from the "Fugarwee" tribe that hailed from the Boston area like Sharkey. When Jack was finally revived after this starching by Louis, he kept asking his corner, "Where the Fugarwee"???"...nyuk, nyuk...

 

Thank you.