Heavyweights who accepted defending the title against blacks in the day where they could refuse

Weirdly enough Sullivan almost fought Godfrey in 1887-88 but it was Godfrey that refused due to needing more time to train

 

I believe Tommy Burns considered defending his title vs. Sam McVea before ultimately settling on Johnson.

Dempsey did agree to fight Wills on a couple of occasions - on 1 occasion the NY commission intervened to cancel the fight, on another Dempsey's advance payment bounced.

 

I don’t want to go down this rabbit hole but it must be said…Dempsey signing to fight Wills was a sham. He never intended to fight Wills. Boxing historians with far greater knowledge than me have posted pages worth of documentation proving this case if you search the archives. Dempsey’s failure to fight Wills should be given no leniency and he should be held entirely accountable for this duck.

 

I knew this thread would attract you like a fly to sh%#.

 

The color bar was largely a feature of teh heavyweight division.

 

I also don't want to go down this rabbit hole, but it's more complex than that.

 

Excerpt from In The Ring With John L. Sullivan:

On May 15th, 1888 in Boston, two months after the Mitchell fight, 3,000 people attended a benefit tendered to Sullivan.

The master of ceremonies asked if George Godfrey, the colored pugilist, was in the hall. Godfrey announced that he was. The master of ceremonies then said that he was announcing on behalf of Sullivan that he would give Godfrey money to stand before him in a 3 or 4 round glove contest that evening. Godfrey said that he had not come prepared for a bout, but just was there as a spectator.

“They advertised that I had been offered a sum of money to appear tonight and spar Mr. Sullivan. They did not come near me. If Mr. Sullivan had come to me personally and asked me to spar with him, I would have been happy to do so for nothing.”

Then, Sullivan appeared, John L. said that he had not authorized a statement, and it must have been issued by his former manager Philips. However, although the statement had not been made with his knowledge or consent, he was willing to fight Godfrey at that time, and would give him a fair sum. “I am here to spar Mr. Godfrey, if he is ready to spar me, as he has often stated, and I will spar him as the master of ceremonies has just told you.” Godfrey replied that he would have to do so another time, as he had not come prepared to spar with anyone.