BoxRec

if no colorline had existed? Say that anyone with the talent and desire to step in the ring would have been allowed to fight for the title if he was a contender, and the current title holder had to give precedence to the most worthy challanger, and that contenders had to fight black contenders to be recognized as a contender themselves. This probably would have made the biggest impact in the heaveyweight division but undoubtably to boxing as a whole. What white champions of that era do you think would have never had become champion?

In short Boxing History, for much of it would be RE-WRITTEN.

and we'd be tallking about the status, ability and dominance of many, many another boxing great...as well as many who are already considered so!

kick asner wrote:if no colorline had existed?

Oops, sorry I thought you said if colouring books had not existed....It would had been very dramatic for the reading and speaking skills of many of the world's leaders.

Seriously though. How many "new" great ones would have made it to the Mount Olympus of fistiana?

I think fighters like Langford, Jeanette, Peter Jackson, Wills etc... couldn't really be considered any greater than they are. Even if the colourline did not exist fights are made for dollars and so just like a Burley they may never have got their shot.

Guys like Kid Norfolk who have not always got the plaudits their skills deserved would have had their standing promoted.

In an odd way the white fighters IMO would have also benefitted as the question marks would have been removed for the very best. Sullivan, Jeffries, Dempsey and Tunney would all look better had they fought and defeated some of the balck fighters of their day.

Ezzard wrote:Sullivan, Jeffries, Dempsey and Tunney would all look better had they fought and defeated some of the balck fighters of their day.

Well yes, if they would have been able to defeat them.

There is also a poor misconception that the white fighters that did'nt fight the black guys would have lost.
All they did was avoid a risky fight,by doing something perfectly accepted at the time(unfortunately)
There is a chance that Langford,Jeanette etc would'nt have the kind of legacy they have now had they fought and got comprehensively beat by a white fighter.

It's a hard question to answer.

Decagon wrote:I think Tunney would've been able to beat any black fighter of his era. Harry Wills was pretty old by the time Tunney got to heavyweight, and George Godfrey was still on his way up. His biggest test might have been against Kid Norfolk at 175, earlier in Tunney's career.

Of course, that doesn't take away from the fact that Tunney didn't face a black man during his career. That'll always be a knock against him.

Totally agree.

The Great John L wrote:

Ezzard wrote:Sullivan, Jeffries, Dempsey and Tunney would all look better had they fought and defeated some of the balck fighters of their day.

Well yes, if they would have been able to defeat them.

I think Jeffries suffers the most becasue he then faced Johnson and lost. I think that his physical attributes would have helped him see off Langford and McVey.

Dempsey also suffers. I think it all depends upon when the fight with Wills was made.

Sam Langford would have the most to gain from it - would prob have won titles from LW to LHW and maybe HW, would probably have gone down as lb 4 lb the greatest. Hes pretty unknown outside boxing circles