The Marvin Hart, Jack Johnson and James Jeffries Triangle

No excuses. History. You would need to have been highly progressive, a rarity at that time, to not have similar thoughts as Jeffries. There is a reason only Burns, a Canadian, was the first and only white champion to give a black a title shot until Braddock. The color line was an American cultural phenomena not Jeffries driven

 

Disagree. There was a long tradition of not giving any black man a chance to fight for the hwt championship. There was lots of pressure NOT to give a black man that chance. It is no coincidence that that only white champion to give a black challenger a shot from Sullivan to Louis was a non American.

 

There was a growing movement and pressure for Jeffries to defend against Johnson as early as 1903.
You need to read the contemporary newspapers or better still, buy Adam Pollack's book on Jeffries.

 

There was pressure from both sides. Much more pressure NOT to let the fight happen. Just like Wills was not getting a title shot vs Dempsey no matter the lip service neither was Johnson getting a title shot from an American hwt champion. It took a Canadian, Burns, to be the only white hwt champion to give a black a title shot over the first 55 years of the gloved sports history. Again this was no accident. No Burns, more than likely no title shot for Johnson ever.

 

Burns gave Johnson a title shot because he received the unheard of purse of $30,000 to do so.

 

I agree. I'm sure he either wished he faced him in his prime or never came back at all. He had to regret that comeback.

 

The Burns-Johnson fight was in Australia.

Why couldn't a Jeffries-Johnson fight have been staged in Australia?

I think if Jeff wanted to make this fight happen, he could have made it happen.

*as for the OP, I think he hit the nail on the head.

 

he grant

"Jeffries . . . might have made an historic mistake by drawing the color line."

Of course, we can't know the outcome for sure, but I think that even if Jeff lost, he would be given credit today for breaking the color line. If he had won, which is certainly at least reasonable, he would replace Johnson in modern historical top five lists.

 

The $30,000 has no bearing. Johnson got a title shot because Burns as a Canadian had no link to the American history of black oppression. Although he was being told not to fight Johnson by the Americans who ruled boxing at that time he did not care. He was Canadian.

We all know the barriers Dempsey faced trying to set up a bout against Wills in the mid 1920's. The pressures against Jeffries as champion fighting a black man in 1904-1905 were much more severe. The early part of the century was a highly prejudice time. Only a small portion of American society were progressive towards black integration.

 

Americans ruled boxing in Australia?

Come on. Jeffries was the world champion. If Burns could fight in Australia, Jeffries could.

"Only a small portion of American society were progressive towards black integration."

But Gans, Walcott, and Dixon were or had been popular champions. Who knows exactly what would have happened if a white champion had been a leader against prejudice rather than supporting it.

 

A lot of people still viewed Jeffries as the world champion when he came back in 1910.
So it could be said he did give Johnson a shot, eventually.