BoxRec

"That’s right, folks, my robust opinions are in The Times while the Manassa Mauler had to harrumph in the obscure New York Amsterdam News. How appropriate. For years I pursued frightened opponents around the world before winning the heavyweight championship at age thirty. Jack Dempsey got his title young and spent the next seven years dodging formidable black fighters, pummeling white stiffs, and fooling around in Hollywood. I don’t begrudge him the latter, but when a man’s most significant victories come over hundred-ten-pound starlets, he’s no champ, at least in the ring. And, please, disregard those who say I was bad as Dempsey in denying black fighters opportunities. I only did that after I became champ. At least I fought my brothers while I ascended.
Study the record. Jack Dempsey, already a lazy titleholder, didn’t fight for three years before skinny Gene Tunney peppered him ten rounds. Dempsey was then an old man at thirty-one. At that stage I kept getting better. That’s why, if Dempsey had given me a shot in 1919, when I was only forty-one, I’d have boxed and confused him and made him stumble around the ring before I dropped the hammer. But of course Jack Dempsey wouldn’t fight me then. Maybe he will now. He’s only forty-six and I’m sixty-three and been losing most of my fights for years.
Joe Louis also irritates me. I don’t know why black folks cheer such an inarticulate guy. They must not remember. If I were twenty-five years younger, I’d tattoo the Brown Bomber."


edit : this article is fake...i only found out a week after posting it here....explained later in thread.

doug.ie wrote:"That’s right, folks, my robust opinions are in The Times while the Manassa Mauler had to harrumph in the obscure New York Amsterdam News. How appropriate. For years I pursued frightened opponents around the world before winning the heavyweight championship at age thirty. Jack Dempsey got his title young and spent the next seven years dodging formidable black fighters, pummeling white stiffs, and fooling around in Hollywood. I don’t begrudge him the latter, but when a man’s most significant victories come over hundred-ten-pound starlets, he’s no champ, at least in the ring. And, please, disregard those who say I was bad as Dempsey in denying black fighters opportunities. I only did that after I became champ. At least I fought my brothers while I ascended.

Study the record. Jack Dempsey, already a lazy titleholder, didn’t fight for three years before skinny Gene Tunney peppered him ten rounds. Dempsey was then an old man at thirty-one. At that stage I kept getting better. That’s why, if Dempsey had given me a shot in 1919, when I was only forty-one, I’d have boxed and confused him and made him stumble around the ring before I dropped the hammer. But of course Jack Dempsey wouldn’t fight me then. Maybe he will now. He’s only forty-six and I’m sixty-three and been losing most of my fights for years. Joe Louis also irritates me. I don’t know why black folks cheer such an inarticulate guy. They must not remember. If I were twenty-five years younger, I’d tattoo the Brown Bomber."

I can say the same thing of Johnson, considering the white prostitutes he "married" had more guts and fight in them than the old, broken down, limited, under-sized challengers he faced on a regular basis. As for that second paragraph of him talking about fighting Dempsey--- or even talking smack about Louis--- there is a story out there that Johnson tried to get into the Joe Louis camp, but Joe Blackburn barred him from coming in. Johnson, briefly, seemed to flirt with the idea of fighting Louis. Blackburn, a man with blunt, straight forward opinions said: "Even at his best, Johnson wouldn't want no part of Chappie."

Because he was barred from the Louis camp, Johnson became the biggest critic of Louis, saying he was a robot and was surprised Louis didn'tr trip over his own two feet when walking, etc. and cheered when Schmeling beat him. It is ironic, too, that Johnson--- still critical of Louis after all those years--- died in a car wreck on his way to see the Louis-Conn rematch. Johnson, obviously, was jealous that another black man became champion of the world and was more beloved and cherished than he ever was.

Yeah, I had always heard that Johnson was very jealous of Louis. Probably because JJ wanted to forever remain history's the only black heavyweight champion.

Don't know why he was so down on Dempsey, especially considering Dempsey was 14 years past his championship days. Johnson sounded as if the Manassa Mauler was still the titleholder and he wanted to belittle him in comparison.

Apparently Johnson possessed a huge ego and just as much insecurity.

Interesting post.

There is an article I read once, in an old newspaper, where Johnson claimed up and down that Dempsey wasn't a real puncher. And Johnson said that guys like Jeffries and Fitzsimmons were "real punchers" because they could knock a man out with either hand, with one single punch--- and said that Dempsey needed punches in bunches to do the job, etc. Which is quite ironic of a statement considering Dempsey was considered the most feared and brutal puncher of his day.

IMOP That doesnt sound like the Jack Johson author of IN THE RING AND OUT(1927)
and MY LIFE AND BATTLES(1911).
Sounds more like someone talking thats from from Queens or Brooklyn Ny,not Gavelston Texas.
Sounds to me like someone on the staff of the NYT wrote it up that and Jack Johnson just signed his name to it mainly for the
Dough-Ray-me.

Caractacus wrote:IMOP That doesnt sound like the Jack Johson author of IN THE RING AND OUT(1927)
and MY LIFE AND BATTLES(1911).
Sounds more like someone talking thats from from Queens or Brooklyn Ny,not Gavelston Texas.
Sounds to me like someone on the staff of the NYT wrote it up that and Jack Johnson just signed his name to it mainly for the
Dough-Ray-me.

You're probably correct.

Ghostwriting columns for celebrities is rather common. Most of them would have trouble stringing a coherent sentence together.

But even if Johnson didn't actually author the piece, he had to stand behind what he signed off on.

ok...this morning....after spending the week investigating this...i got confirmation from the actual author of this piece that this is indeed fiction.

i never had reason to question before, as it has been posted on a few sites....like boxing.com and i took it at face value.

person who wrote this is called george clark and i got an email for him and he confirmed what he wrote was fiction.

i suppose i should apologise, i post a lot of stuff like this, and i guess you can't win 'em all. :(


it was people who were picking up on things like him saying 'black' instead of 'negro' and it just sounding wrong, thats what made me start looking into it last weekend.

i cant really have an issue with someone writing whatever they want, its a free world....but i think its bad form selling a book containing stuff like this without saying that its fiction.....i mean, its not obvious its fiction.

like, where on the discription when you go to buy this does it say it contains chapters which are pure fiction ? (this is the book it was taken from)...

http://www.amazon.com/Death-Ring-George ... n+the+ring