How come we never saw Jack Johnson vs Harry Wills, or George Godfrey?

Johnson was 11 years older than Wills,after he came out of prison in1921 ,Johnson was 43 years old,he was no longer a world class fighter,he didnt have a real fight for another 2 years ,beating ham and egger Jack Thompson at the age of45,a year later he beat Homer smith and 2 years later Pat Lester,he was then 48,2 losses to Battling Norfolk and Brad Simmons finished his aspiring comeback,Jeanette was only a year younger than Johnson ,and he retired after beating Bartley Madden in1919 ,two years before Johnson was imprisoned.Johnson spent 7 years in exile.Wills ,apart from brief forays to Panama for 2 fights with Langford and 1 with Mcvey,and 2 fights in Mexico in 1914 and later in 1929 when he was finished ,stayed inthe States.Fights in the middle to late twenties between Johnson and Wills and Godfrey would have been mismatches.Jeanette retired early so there really was no opportunity,nor probably demand, two blacks fighting each other didnt exactly set white audiences pulses racing ,when they were in their primes,washed up ,discredited ,unpopular ex Champs wold be even less likely to draw them in,imo.

 

People got off on that stuff back then. Especially if it's someone like Johnson.

 

Quite true ,but I'm sure they would have preferred it to be a white guy administering the beating,epecially as the Jeffries fight backfired on the white establishment so disastrously.

 

Well, they didn't have midget porn back then.

 

Haven't you seen "Colonel Tom Thumb Does Dallas?" It was all the rage 80 years ago.

 

According to Geoffrey Ward, Johnson was eager to fight Harry Wills in 1921, but the chairman of the New Jersey boxing commission banned the fight as not being in the best interests of boxing. New York had an age rule, so Johnson could not fight in that state.

My own take is that Johnson was ancient. There might be a lot to criticize Johnson for, but to criticize him for not fighting Wills or Godfrey when he was pushing fifty seems a bit over the top.

 

Especially when the poster is so quick to tell us what a hollow shell Jeffries was at 35

 

Jack Johnson went to considerable lengths to get a fight with Harry Wills hoping that it would be his route to a rematch with Willard. Negotiations were started but the state athletic comision refused to sanction the bout due to Johnsons infamy.

When Godfrey came allong, Johnson was an old man, Godfrey was the young prospect and it beating Godfrey would have been unrealistic for Johnson.

 

Johnson went after Wills prety much as soon as he got out of prison, and Willard and Dempsey.

After Johnson got out of prison nobody would fight him regardless of their ability.

He was dangerous in the ring and he was bad publicity outside it.