Jack Johnson's title run

That is a good purse, for two black fighters ,I would readily concede that .:good
Jackson never defended the title, once he won it.
If there was money to be made in fighting for the Black heavyweight championship during his reign ,you would have thought he would have defended it, would you not?
Two and a half years after beating Godfrey for the colored title,for a purse of $1,500 .Jackson split a $10,000 purse with Corbett ,with no title involved, but that was a black versus white, contest :good
Jack Johnson asked for,and received, $30,000 plus $11,00 training expenses ,plus one third of the film rights to defend his title against Fireman Jim Flynn,a man he had allready comprehensively outclassed and,kod in 11 rds putting him into dream - land for over 4 minutes.But, that was a black and white contest:good

 

Other than Godfrey, I just cant think of any black fighter that was a top contender and would be given a ghost of a chance against Jackson. Can you?

Well he was supposed to get that much anyway. it seems like they ended up getting nowhere near this.

http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cdnc/cgi-bin/cd...cal-20--1----corbett+jackson+purse-all---1891

This was a match between the two best challengers in the world. NOthing to do with black vs white (this was just co incidence). Jackson was a bigger draw than any of the other white challengers because he was a better fighter. Your original point was that coloured fighters couldnt draw (unless i misunderstood). And that the crowd was only there to see the white fighters.

Are you now suggesting that coloured fighters were a bigger draw in those days because it created a white vs black marketing angle?

I have always said that the colour line was nothing more than a marketing gimmick. Johnson took it to another level with his win against Burns, Ketchell, and Jeffries and then the Great white hope era. It certainly helped increase the gate in these fights. My whole point is that coloured fighters were not leopars that no one liked or associated with. They had good followings and could earn money. Just as much money as equivalent white fighters although obviously the colour line did make things harder to win world titles.

 

Just to furtehr illustrate the depth of the Australian boxing scene at the time. Here is a pretty decent article about some of the old stars.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/5269589?searchTerm=fitzsimmons interview&searchLimits=

 

Here is a pretty good interview with Tommy Burns himself. He states categorically that he was not sick and that he simply overtrained and wasnt at his best.

It also mentions the problems caused by McIntoshs inexperience as a ref. It all sounds pretty believable to me, what do you think?

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/5167618?searchTerm=fitzsimmons interview&searchLimits=

 

This is a candid , revealing article, that puts to rest, any talk of jaundice that Burns supposedly suffered, he states himself, that he overtrained and entered the ring too light.Talk of a rematch was patently bull **** ,who would want to see another onesided demolition?
This is an important find ,thank you for bringing to the forum's attention.:good

 

Cool interview, thanks for finding that.

Do you buy that he wasn't very hurt by Johnson or is this shaded by his general dislike for the man? Were negotiations every begun for Johnson-Burns II?

Funny that he claims O'Brien hurt him more than Johnson!