Did Dempsey Duck Johnson?

There was nothing to avoid.

Johnson was prety much frozen out of the heavyweight picture after he got out of prison. He could not get fights sanctioned against any of the top contenders including Harry Wills.

This prevented Johnson from mounting any theoretical claim to be a title challenger.

 

Yes I think it is fair to say that Rickard was a major contributing factor to many of the top black challengers not getting title fights and other key matches.

 

Isn't there a photo of Dempsey & Wills with an signed contract for a defense.

Rickard was most likely the problem.

 

:dealTHIS - great comeback to the fool's who fall for this half-baked bilge about Dempsey being scared of blacks because he was a tiny white guy

 

Sam Langford, past his best days, begged Jack for a title bout also. Sam would seem to be the fighter Jack regarded the highest, he always said he would have no chance against him.

 

Dempsey ducked every fighter except the ones he fought. I thought this was common knowledge already.

 

He destroyed the guy who beat Johnson. It's a bit of a long shot to say he was ducking the forty-something Jack Johnson.

 

Dempsey ha dtop Black hevyweight as sparring partner, and never ducked Wills. As for Jack Johnson, he was washed up by time Dempsey was champ. Many doccumenterys have agenda, and if they said Johnson was ducked by Dempsey, they were lying.

 

I must have missed that fight then.

 

A bit of fabrication here. Okay,Dempsey like a lot of others at this time,froze out black fighters,which was disgusting. But in this was in Johnson's post Willard career,when he was over the hill. So Dempsey would n't have had any reason to fear him at this point. Johnson was forever talking up a fight between them,but this was just to give himself a bit of publicity.

 

Perhaps, but the Willard of 1919 was not the same Willard of 1915.

Willard was inactive, older and pretty much out of shape.

I belive had Dempsey face Willard in 1915, it would have been a longer fight, Not saying Dempsey would lose here, but I think Willard's chances goes up here.