Well, Jeffries fought a title fight with Johnson. Willard fought a title fight with Johnson. Schmeling fought a title fight with Louis. Braddock fought a title fight with Louis. How many blacks did Dempsey fight in title fights? Zero. And I don't have Jim Corbett or John L. Sullivan or Tunney, etc., at the top of any of my heavyweight lists, either, for what it's worth. There have been better heavyweights over the past 90 YEARS than them.
Yes, not defending against your top contender for eight years because he was black and he "might win" is "much ado about nothing." :roll: Nobody feared "riots and civil unrest" if a white champion beat the hell out of a black challenger in the ring. They feared the real possibility of the black guy winning the title. That was the fear.
Oh please color it anyway you want, it's only your opinion. Do yourself a favor and read what Jack Johnson did for his fellow blacks and what happened after the Jeffries fight and how many people died cos of that fight. Maybe it will give you insight into what was, not what you imagined.
He didn't sign a contract to fight Wills. He signed a paper saying "he'd consider signing a contract to fight Wills." He basically signed a paper agreeing to "think about" changing his mind about fighting a black challenger if all his demands were met. Unfortunately, Wills couldn't change the color of his skin, so Wills wouldn't ever be able to meet those demands.
I'm "coloring" it exactly the way it was. Dempsey drew the color line against fighting Wills because Wills might win. And look what happened the last time a black guy beat a white guy in a heavyweight title fight. All hell broke loose. How many riots were there when Willard knocked out Johnson? Was the violent response in any way the same? No. Because a white guy beating the hell out of a black guy and knocking him out didn't start riots. Most of America loved that. Wills was denied a shot because he was a threat to win. The threat wasn't that it was dangerous for a black fighter and a white fighter to meet in the ring. That happened all the time. The threat was that a black fighter might actually win the heavyweight title.
Complete garbage. It's early 20th century folks in the USA. Very prejudice time. VERY well known that Rickard and Kearns were not progressives. They did not want to give any black a chance to fight for the hwt title. Would have been this way no matter who the champion was. Add to this that NO BLACK FIGHTER fought for the hwt championship against a white champion from 1908 to 1937. Add to this that the leading players in the boxing game during that time did not want the bout to occur. None of this had anything to do with Jack Dempsey. Years later Wills, the man himself, said just this. There is no grand mystery regarding why Wills nor any other black fighter fought for the hwt championship during that time. All very well known boxing history.
Well, there was a black champ for the first 7 of those years, a world war for 4 years and, oh yeah, Dempsey drew the Color Line for 7 years. That might explain some of that. You're right after all. It really does help to know your history,
Might be good for you to get an education. You have 29 years to contend with not 7. Not 14. Wills stated himself Dempsey had nothing to with him not getting a title shot. I would believe Wills before I would believe a 3 time loser from Spain.
It was. That being said, it's too easy just to wave a hand and say "everyone" was doing it. They weren't. Racist guys like Jim Jeffries, Tommy Burns, and Jess Willard were all willing to fight the best black fighter in the world - Jack Johnson. And Max Schmeling, Jack Sharkey, Primo Carnera, Max Baer and Jim Braddock were all willing to fight the best black fighter of their era, too - Joe Louis. Hell, Sharkey fought Louis AND Harry Wills. Carnera fought Louis, Wright, Godfrey and Larry Gains (the black heavyweight champ). Schmeling fought Louis and Gains, too. Jack Dempsey didn't fight any of the top black fighters in his era ... Langford, McVea, Jeanette, Wills. Gene Tunney came out and said he was drawing the color line, too, for the brief spell he was a heavyweight. But the color-line guy was essentially Dempsey. Jefffries, Burns, Willard, Sharkey, Schmeling, Baer, Carnera, Braddock all stepped up to the plate. Dempsey DID NOT. He straight up avoided the best challenger and top contender of his reign because of that man's skin color. His all-time ranking suffers as a result, imo
D, you are doing a great job of rewriting history as you would like it rather than what it truly WAS...Have fun at distorting real history at the expense of facts...The damn truth was that during Dempsey's title reign from 1919 to 1923 the only truly viable black contender at his logical opponent was Harry Wills. Period. Jack Johnson, Sam McVea and Joe Jeannette were close to 40 years or more of age when Dempsey was holding the title...And to say that there never occurred the race riot of 1910 following the Johnson / Jeffries bout in which many deaths ensued and was not a concern of boxing promoters for many years tell me you know nothing about boxing history, only what you want to spout for whatever agenda you are pushing...Yes to repeat once again Harry Wills a fine chap DESERVED a shot at the title no doubt, but they dis SIGN for a bout with a Michigan promoter but Fitzsimmons could not come up with the money, and the bout was canceled...Nonsense to accuse Dempsey of being a coward by avoiding a slew of black contenders other than Harry Wills...History tells us there were no black heavyweights in a title fight after 1910 to the time of the great Joe Louis 27 years later when Louis kod Jimmy Braddock in 1937...Was all this the fault of Jack Dempsey or not sir ? No fighter is so falsely reviled on this forum as Jack Dempsey a decent man if there ever was one...Read up on history sir...
