Why Does Dempsey Get Bashed For Not Fighting Wills, but not Jeffries for Johnson?

Jeffries' was worse, but it fortunately came near the end of his career rather than the beginning. And ultimately, he took a massive thrashing from Johnson when he was old (so I guess you can't feel that resentful of his earlier ducking).

I would rate Jeffries higher than Johnson, but he did duck him.

 

Dempsey clearly made far more effort to defend his title against Wills than Jeffries did against Johnson. Perhaps more efort than he needed to.

The irony is that Jack Johnson would only have loped off the tail of Jeffries career had he beaten him. By the same token Peter Jackson only stood to trim off the tip of Sullivans career.

It would therfore have made little diference to their legacies if they had lost and would have greatly enhanced them had they won. Dempsey for contrast would have met Wills bang in the middle of his career.

 

Dempsey was not particularly liked by some, he was cricitized for dodging the draft for World War I (but fought with honour in the second World War).

Jeffries was the closest the White Americans got to John L in popularity...

So when the careers of each fighter were being written there was a bias against Dempsey.

 

You know, that's a good point...Johnson can be held to the same standard as Jeffries for ducking black challengers after he won the title. Both were great fighters regardless.

 

Recently, I believe a couple of discovered fights were posted that showed Jeffries fought some of the top black contenders of his era (pre-Johnson). I don't recall the particulars...do you?

 

Jeffries screwed up by not fighting Johnson in 1905 because that was when he would have most likely defeated him. If he wasn't going to fight him then, he never should have done so. People can say race honor all they want, but the real reason he came back in 1910 was the money - it simply was too much to turn down - an unprecedented and unparallelled amount.

Besides the color line, the other reason he did not fight Johnson in 1905 was because there simply wasn't enough money in it. That is because not many experts or writers thought Johnson would win. Also, Johnson's style was boring. Therefore, a less than intriguing matchup meant a small purse. This was particularly so after Johnson lost a close decision to Marvin Hart. That essentially killed any fever for the fight. So, Jeff retired.

 

Jeffries returned to give Johnson a title match many years after he was retired. Many boxing people still considered Jeffires to be the champion in those days because he never lost his title in the ring. As a contender Johnson was only viewed as the #1 guy at the tail end of Jeffires career. Jeffires retired because there was not enough money in the fighting game. Jeffries did say he’d fight Marvin Hart, who defeated Johnson if the public wanted to see it. I suppose if the money was the same as it was in 1910, Jeffries would have fought Johnson. In prize fighting money always talks.

I think Wills was the #1 rated guy for many years of Dempsey’s title reign, so I would pick him. However the answer to who avoided the best black fighters as champion ironically is Jack Johnson. As champion, Johnson avoided talented black fighters like, Sam Langford, Joe Jeanette, and Sam McVea. The three men were most certainly viewed as the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd contenders from 1908-1915. Johnson shut them out. The all time coldest line in history is Joe Jeanette saying after Johnson won the title he drew the color line against this own people.

 

Johnson never fought a Black challenger either and the reason was the same as the rest( the money was not there)

 

Jack Johnson had an obscure fight in Paris vs Black journeyman Jim Battling Johnson. Many of the top black fighters of the day fought in France. Jack had an expensive life style, so when he needed money he gave Battling Jim a chance at his title. It was the first all black lineal title match.

Unfortunetly the fight was a fiasco. Jack Johnson hurt his arm and had to retire inside the scheduled 20 rounds. The crowd booed. There was some debate as to who won the fight.Two judges had it as a draw after 10 rounds, the other had Battling Jim in the lead. Since Jack retired, it should have gone as a TKO in the books, however the heavyweight championship of the world was Jack Johnson’s show. After some debate the official ruling was a draw. There was no re-match.