Jeffries should gave Denver Ed Martin a title shot in 1903

You guys should be ashamed of yourselves. The question hasn't even been answered yet, and both of you are already jumping to conclusions about what it means, rather than actually taking the time to find out what the truth actually is first. That really is shameful behavior.

I just looked up a NY Times report from around that same time, and it says Gus Ruhlin (who beat Tom Sharkey as part of the same program of fights that Martin-Armstrong was supposed to be on) is the one who is considered next in line for a shot at Jeffries, not Martin. If you looked, you probably could find reports from that year denoting other contenders/prospects as being in line for a title shot. Why would you single out this one and bestow the most credence to it, but then deliberately ignore the others?

Also, does the AP report say that Martin is supposed to actually get the shot, or just that he's going to start throwing challenges at the champion? The little blurb that was posted in this thread isn't clear about that.


The most ironic part about all this, research has suggested that Jeffries and Martin may have already fought, and Jeffries KO'd him. That there would actually be some confusion as to whether or not these two fought just goes to show how limited and incomplete our knowledge is of these times and these fighters. Then again, that's exactly the reason people should reserve passing judgments or making definite pronouncements before thoroughly researching a matter first.

 

i suppose race riots and politics of the time, as well as the racism of the public at that time is not a good enough excuse.

 

Didnt you know Corbett was in his prime? Why he had 20 victories the year he fought Jeffries,you need to do some research

 

Correct I think Suzie Q read a quick headline, and then jumped to a quick heart felt conclusion without researching the data.

 

I'd be very interested in seeing the full article posted. Suzie claims that the article says the fight was all set, but the blurb he posted only seems to indicate that Martin will throw a challenge at Jeffries.

Even assuming Martin was considered a prospective title challenger, he still was not the first in line. Ruhlin's fight with Sharkey a month earlier had clearly been denoted as a title fight eliminator, so Ruhlin still had first dibs on Jeffries. On top of that, many people had felt Corbett deserved another shot at the title after the hard fight he gave Jeffries the first time; which means there were at least two other fighters that were denoted as prospective challengers before Martin even entered the picture.


Incidentally, does anyone know if Martin actually did push for a fight with Jeffries? The blurb only says that he reportedly has plans to.

 

Its only a headline he read. That's all. Boxing newspapers are full of one liners saying who's next.

 

Martin likely did challenge Jeffries,but I can find no concrete evidence that Jeffries ,or his camp reneged on an agreement to fight Martin.
This kind of boxing hype has been going on since men first toed the line for a match, without any proof to the contrary I think we have to give Jeffries the benefit of the doubt here.

 

Agreed, in my country a man is innocent until proven guilty.

 

No, the headline is not clear about what it means. It says he "will challenge" the winner of the Jeffries-Fitz fight. "Will challenge" in old reports usually meant that he was going to throw a challenge at the champion.

Also, you did more than just post a headline, your next post after that agrees with ChrisPontius that this was a duck job, without even looking into the matter or before your question had been answered.

But did people at the time think that?

No it wouldn't have. Jeffries didn't hold "the white" heavyweight title, he held THE heavyweight title. It also was not a "unification" fight because Jeffries was not eligible to take Martin's title, that was only available to an exclusive group of fighters.

 

There was no such lineage. Jack Johnson defended his colored belt in October 1904 vs Ed Martin, then lost to Marvin Hart in March 1905.

Does this mean Marvin Hart wins the colored championship? And when Hart beat Root for the vacant lineal title, I suppose would have both belts.

Did Choynski win the colored championship when he Ko'd Johnson?

Of course not. There was such promotion white heavyweight vs colored champ. The term white champion came in the in Jack Johnson's time as lineal champion. It is ironic but Johnson himself who was the colored champion, used the color line to avoid the best contenders more than any other heavyweight champion in history.