Who were the last top boxers to draw the color line?

Exactly. Jack Johnson fought who ever made him the most money. Only in France would people pay to watch two black guys. He had no qualms about it then.

 

Vienne offered Johnson$20,000 to defend against Jeannette in Paris but over 25rds .
By this stage Johnson was no longer either in his prime or in top shape ,and he knew it ,no way was he fighting "marathon man "Jeannette over 25rds,and certainly not for $10,000 less than he could get fighting one of the white scrubs like Moran !

 

With regard to the original question, Max Baer once said that he had promised his mother that he would never fight a black opponent, but that he would fight Joe Louis if he beat Primo Carnera.

No need to explain what happened next.

That is probably the last time that the heavyweight champion had any sort of publicly declared policy.

Braddock I think always said that he would fight Louis if the money was right.

 

Armstrong , louis and wills who ducked Godfrey

 

There is a blurred line between drawing the color line, and avoiding fighter X.

Most of the culprit's are some sort of shade of grey on that spectrum!

 

Joe Louis at the instigation of Mike Jacobs drew the color line against other black fighters. When asked as early as 1935 whether he would fight John Henry Lewis, Joe said, "He's colored ain't he? Then I don't want to fight him." Two years later, when questioned if he would defend his title against Roscoe Toles, Louis said, "I will never fight him, I understand. Yes sir, that's what I hear."

In 1939, John Henry Lewis became an exception to the practice only because Joe's managers, Julian Black and John Roxborough, at the time also managed light-heavyweight contender Dave Clark. They prevailed upon Mike Jacobs to allow Louis to fight John Henry Lewis in exchange for Lewis' promise to sign a contract within 60 days to defend his light-heavyweight title against Clark. After Joe kayoed John Henry on January 25, 1939, Lewis did honor his promise by signing on February 16 to defend his title against Clark at Detroit on March 31. The fight never took place however because the Michigan commission doctors found that Lewis' left eye was virtually sightless. Lewis retired afterward and never fought again. Actually, it already was common knowledge among boxing people that John Henry was blind in one eye even before he fought Louis. Black and Roxborough had wanted to insure that Clark would be John Henry's next challenger because they figured the odds were high that he would lose to whomever he fought.