James J. Jeffries vs. Jersey Joe Walcott

Being floored never,or only once or twice in a career indicates your chin is top notch.
Being dropped many times indicates your chin is not of the first rank.
That is traditionally how chins are measured.

 

I am aware of this.

My point is that thee were a few title defenses that were inked, that fell through for one reason or another, that might have changed the history of the color line.

 

Re: Sullivan, Slade, etc.:

I would guess that Sullivan fought anybody he could rustle up when he was young, and boxing was illegal.

But the sport became a little more respectable, and Sullivan got old. He liked his championship and the lifestyle it gave him. He couldn't fight like he once did. But at the same time, polite society gave John L. an "out." Drawing the Color Line is silly in an illegal fight game, but makes more sense if you're the champion of a flagship sport in a racist society. Sullivan took the out.

That's pure speculation though.

 

As far as I can tell Sullivan never had any inclination to draw the color line, until he broke his arm, and found himself staring at Peter Jackson.

 

"I have never faced a be-thonged man before, and in the interests of public decency, I shall not start with Mr. Corbett."

 

That is what he should have said.

 

The Color Line wasn't quite dead on arrival, but it never would have been total. The sport had Molyneaux in its history. Boxing nostalgia is practically institutionalized.

The cognitive dissonance alone was enough to cause trouble: "Oh, yeah, that Molyneaux guy was one of the Sainted Heroes Of The Ring...but we don't let his sort fight for the title anymore."

And then you add the fact that boxing never quite got respectable, it's decentralized, and it's always harbored people who thumb their noses at the law.

 

This observation might court controversy, but the color line was largely an American invention, that emerged out of the ashes of the Confederacy.

Molineux getting a title shot, was by no means a stand alone event, in the history of the London Prize Ring.

Jem Mace defended his middleweight title against Bob Travers, and he was very critical of the American champions who drew the color line later in life.

He championed the causes of both Peter Jackson and Sam Langford.

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