Did Jack Sharkey say that no black fighter could ever beat him?

Why're you getting so defensive?

 

His comment before fighting Louis was: "I'll flatten him in about six heats. I always did have the Indian sign on these black boys. Look what I did to Wills and Godfrey and this guy Louis couldn't carry their gloves."

Who knows if he actually believed this? He may just have been trying to give the fight-going public a reason to think that an ageing ex-champ who couldn't beat Tony Shucco stood a chance against Joe Louis.

 

I think he only fought 4 Young Johnson , Wills,Godfrey, and Louis.

 

Big George would have pushed his ---- in if he didn't ----- himself after getting hit with one of his uppercuts.

 

Perhaps people are being a bit too hard on Sharkey here.

He fought the dangerous black contenders that Dempsey and Tunney refused to meet.

Going into the Louis fight he would have been a heavy underdog, and he was probably just trying to find a narrative to sell teh fight.

Bernard Hopkins did something similar in the run up to the Calzaghe fight, in a much less subtle manner.

 

I'm not going to get beat by a white boy. Boxers shouldn't bring color into discussions.

 

An apart Louis how many other black men did beat him?

 

He made a series of unpleasant comments in teh run up to the fight.

"I will never let a white man beat me."

"I will make every red blooded American proud when I whup his white ass."

I am quoting from memory here, so don't quote me.

This kind of thing should have been buries in the ground a long time ago, preferably under six feet of concrete.

However you ask whether it was more excusable in Sharkey's case, or in Hopkins case.

You might also ask whether Sharkey was worse than Tunney, or better than Tunney.

 

Sharkey was an equal-opportunity racist, citing ‘Indian sign’ while saying no black man could beat him. That’s quite a double-down in one statement. Surprised he didn’t work in slurs against Jews, Hispanics and Asians while he was at it.

 

In defense of the times it was used, that was a very common term back in the day. Jersey Joe Walcott used it extensively in the buildup to his rematch with Louis and I recall Mike Quarry using it about one of his opponents. Again, a common term.

 

Sadly, racism was more common than common sense or common courtesy. Actually, probably still is, but at least there’s awareness of it now.

 

I don’t know it’s origins but I would think possibly referring to an Indian shaman or something like that