1904 James J. Jeffries vs 1882 John L. Sullivan

In 1902 there was an offer of $15,000 made for a Jeffries-Martin contest...

 

The papers of 1903 are full of speculation of Jeffries boxing or later drawing the colour line againsy Johnson, "Unknown" McVey and Martin. Not hard to find. Did he duck them? an open agrument...

 

Jeffries kind of put the noose around his own neck, where the color line is concerned.

While most champion's who drew the color line, offered up some kind of excuse, he made it clear exactly what his motives were.

He explicitly said, that he would never met a black contender on principle, however strong their credentials.

He said this more than once.

He refused to fight the most dangerous black contenders, and he refused to fight the ones who would have been an easy night's work for him.

He would almost certainly have refused to fight Ruhlin if he had been black, and he would probably have fought Martin if he had been white, or at least the fight would have been on the table.

Indeed, he might have been the only honest fighter who drew the color line!

 

Unless he was a time traveler, there’s no way Sullivan was better than Jeffries, it’s obvious Muhammad Ali would beat them Greek boxers from hundreds of years ago even though we don’t have footage, we can still make that obvious assumption

 

Jeffries didn't draw the colour line until 1902 I think it was.

 

Produce them. Don't include him sparring with DunkHorst ,it was not an exhibition .Nor was the 3 rds with Corbett,in NY. Fitz went into training for Jeffries in May1902 Produce the exhibition matches you say he was," coining it from," prior to that date?
You stated Fitz wasn't bothered about the title because he was making a fortune from exhibitions,that's untrue and if you say otherwise produce these exhibition dates or retract it!

 

You are deliberately trying to steer this towards the BS theory thatFitz was making so much money from exhibitions that he didnt need the title.Now I'm asking you to prove your case by producing the dates of these lucrative exhibitions and the participants who sparred with Fitz in them!

 

No, Jeffries fought Johnson when Johnson was champ.
Jeffries many many times stated publicly in print he would never take a chance of losing his title by defending against a black man.Totally different set of circumstances.
There are plenty of contemporary newspapers asking why Jeffries would not defend against the leading black fighters.
"On May 16, Johnson took on the champion's younger brother, Jack Jeffries. After toying with the younger Jeffries for five rounds, Johnson knocked out his opponent, then helped carry him to his corner. He turned to Jim Jeffries, who was sitting at ringside, and taunted, "I can whip you, too."

Johnson's rise through the heavyweight ranks continued the following year. On February 3 at Hazard's Pavilion in Los Angeles, he defeated "Denver" Ed Martin to win the unofficial "Negro heavyweight championship." Before long, he'd also beaten the three other best black heavyweights of the day: [url]Sam McVey[/url], [url]Joe Jeannette[/url] and [url]Sam Langford[/url]. By the end of 1903, the Los Angeles Times declared that "Jack Johnson is now the logical opponent for Champion Jeffries.... The color line gag does not go now." Even the Police Gazette, the most influential tabloid in the "sporting" world, was calling for Jeffries to fight Johnson. Jeffries continued to refuse, and on May 2 announced that, having defeated all "logical challengers," he planned to retire to his alfalfa farm. But first, he planned to referee a bout between two white contenders, with the heavyweight title going to the winner.".

[url]Sam McVey Puts Pressure on the Champ | Ken Zimmerman Jr.[/url]

 

There is not a lot of time separating Sullivan from Jeffries.

It is more like thinking that Lewis was better than Fury.

 

Take a quick look at his Cyber Boxing Zone record.

 

In other words, until there was a credible black challenger.

 

Fitz was making so much money he suggested a fight between himself and Geoff Thorne , it was to be a benefit for himself because his funds were low..He and Thorne faked four knockdowns ,and then faked a double knock out.
The Dunkhorst go was a real fight,as was the Jim Daly one.

 

What are you talking about.

He was engaged in exhibitions with Corbett, Ruhlin and Sharkey.

The other top men of the era.

The credible challengers for the champion.

This might just have been money for old rope!

 

The Ruhlin thing was a for real wrestling matcg under Graeco Roman rules which Gus won by 2 falls That leaves just the 2 exs with Corbett and Sharkey, and you contend these meant Fitz was "coining it"? BS

 

Presumably he received some financial remuneration for all these events.