Did Benny Leonard ever fight a black fighter ?

Gary Jacobs was the best Jewish welterweight of the day. Whitaker won a onsided decision 118-107, 118-109 & 117-109, in 1995.

 

Yes, I will ... right after you name the dozens of terrific black 130 - 140 pounders who must have been fighting in the days of Benny leonard.

 

I agree you cannot be 'world class' and be unknown but it is a chicken-egg thing. What comes first -being world class or being known? A bit of both for sure and I lean towards the latter. EVERY fighter we have heard of as world class got some lucky breaks and some good publicity.

I not SERIOUSLY saying he should have fought a load of unknowns. h e grant is almost saying that : suggesting a load of fighters who he cannot name were ducked by a load of fighters he can name. But that's not how the business works, no one gets recognized as being 'ducked' til they themselves got themselves some breaks and publicity and 'earned the right' to be ducked.

If we cannot name the fighters then let it go. Obviously some unknowns got shafted- that's the business.

 

'level playing field' and 'professional boxing' never belong in same sentence. yes you are right the playing field IS (not just was) uneven. generally blacks were likely to be shafted more than whites but the biggest unevenness is surely between 'star fighters'/'prospects' and the 'opponents'. guys with good managers and those with bad managers or no managers. surely that is where the real unevenness lies, not something about skin color in some designated era.
I think the "over arching point" is flawed and it falls well short. Every successful fighter 'ducked' or was steered around fights that would result in failure, and every unsuccessful fighter was steered right into failure. There is nothing fair about it.
So I suggest putting your asterisk next to every great fighter. not just pick on white fighters of a certain era

 

im happy with clown or whatever.:good Clown cos i mimicked your question. My question was retorical. i dont really believe 1980s and 1990s was stacked with good Jewish boxers like the 1920s.
You have ducked the question: who are these blacks who were avoided.
if you say 'just a load of random unknowns who were shafted#, i say, YES i agree, and you can throw in all the random white unknowns and loads of guys from every era too. In that case i agree with you.:good

 

Exactly.

 

he, I hooed that this subject was put to rest, but as Corleone said or someone else "everytime I want to get out, they pull me back in".
One moh time. I answered CORRECTLY a thread " Did Benny Leonard Fight Black Fighters". I responded to the question "yes Leo Johnson, and Eddie Dorsey ". TRUE. this should have ended the question, but it was you HE, who said WITHOUT VALIDITY, that " there must have been DOZENS of black LW contenders that Leonard avoided or chose not to fight...
So yes ,this fabrication on your part angered me. But I am in the right, whilst you have wrongly tried to tar a the legacy of the great [pardon me]
Benny Leonard, and you were dead wrong...But HE,I who have always respected you,will not admit it...
P.S. I have been around a hell of a lot longer than you, and knew about
discrimination of black fighters who deserved well deserved shots at the title, which was denied them. HE, you don't corner the market on compassion, but you picked the wrong white fighter Benny Leonard when you tried to besmirch the "great" Benny Leonard..Take care...

 

You make yourself more look like what you call others.

 

Great post Burt.

 

senya13.blogspot.com/2013/06/best-black-fighters-in-1916.html

 

I second McGrain. I cringed when I saw it rear its ugly head again. But a tremendous bump. Thanks for posting.