Dempsey took a much more pragmatic view of black challengers than Jeffries, and might well have been sincere in his efforts to make a title fight with Wills. For all that, Dempsey's legacy still sufferers more than Jeffries does, because the nobility of their respective intentions is irrelevant. It comes down to a cold calculation of which contenders they missed, and how much their legacies suffers as a result. Jeffries simply doesn't have the career overlap with key black contenders, that Dempsey does.
Jeffries ranks higher in my list, I think he is criminally underrated. Dempsey on the other hand, is overrated, in my opinion.
