History without the colour bar, who would be the winners and loosers?

there is no real absolute guarantee of that, though. John L vs Jackson could easily still have never happened. And there are no guarantees that Jackson would have won a title. Likewise, there was no real reason for johnson to defend against Langford and McVey just because of the removal of the colour bar. And only Johnson had really earned a possible shot at Jeffries, and given that Johnson's conqueror Hart wasnt really enough to keep Jeffries interested, it is doubtful that Johnson would have. In fact, while there may have been some great fights made, there are no guarantees that there would have been. Personally, i dont see there being too many more title changes either way.

On a side note, when you think about it, it is quite ironic that there seems to be more what if misses nowadays, even though there is no longer a colour bar. Think about the last 20 years, we have missed out on: Lewis vs Bowe, Old Foreman v Tyson, Prime Holyfield v Close to prime Tyson, Tyson v Bowe, Prime Tyson v Lewis, Old Foreman v Lewis, Old foreman v Bowe, Prime Holyfield v Lewis, Klitchsko v Klitchsko, Vlad Klitchsko v Lewis, Holyfield v Spinks. These are all historically great fights between very good fighters that could have very easily helped sort all time great rankings, yet they never happened.

 

After all I've heard and read about Harry Wills-he remains the biggest mystery.Maybe he could've gotten in at some point-but Jack Johnson was also criticized for drawing the color line by guys he fought before he won the title(I think by Joe Jeanette);anyway,Wills lost by a foul to Jack Sharkey after being way behind in the fight-and one you can see on youtube,he lost big to Paulino Uzcudon-and gets dropped...so he may not have benn as unbeatable as he's made out to be,

 

I strongly disagree, Boilermaker. Particularly about Wills.


Today, no one has heard of Wills. He has been locked up in the cage of the American Dream called Jack Dempsey. Who wants to hear about Dempsey avoiding a challenger for 6 years? Langford and Jeannette have some recognition, Wills has very little. In my opinion, his resume puts him in the top15 and close to the top10. Very few people, even experts around here, have him in the top15.

Even if he had lost to Dempsey, he would've been a lot more known, the best challenger Jack faced, etc. He has been hidden in Dempsey's shadow for eternity, not because of his ability but because Dempsey's popularity could not be damaged.

 

Wills was getting old by the time he fought Sharkey. Wills was among the best in the late teens and early 20s. His later losses have no bearing on this.