BoxRec

During the 'White Hope Era' (1908-1915) there were numerous challengers to Jack Johnson's title, the majority were from America. The two 'white hopes' from any other country that stick out in my mind were English champion 'Bombardier' Billy Wells and the 'Roscommon Giant' Jim Coffey of Ireland.

Johnson was to defend his title against Wells back in 1911, though it never came to be, though Wells would continue to fight on til 1925 winning the British title and the British Empire title, though failing to win the European belt.

Jim Coffey on the other hand never won a title and was never given a title shot at Johnson, though he seems to have the better win/loss record over the better opposition than what Wells did. His list of victims included Al Benedict, Alfred "Soldier" Kearns, George "Boer" Rodel, Jack Lester, Tony Ross, "Fireman" Jim Flynn, Terry Kellar, Jack "Twin" Sullivan, Arthur Pelkey, George "One-Round" Davis, Al Reich, Ed "Gunboat" Smith, "Denver" Jack Geyer, Joe Cox, Joe Bonds and Erminio Spalla.

Compare that to Wells best, who were guys like Charlie 'Guardsman' Penwill, Seaman Powell, 'Bandsman' Dick Rice, 'Gunner' Gus Rawles, James 'Gunner' Moir (who he lost to as well), 'Seaman' Parsons, 'Gunner' Joe Mills, and other names that reminds you something that would resemble the cast and crew of MASH. Wells also failed against other 'white hopes' of the time like Ed 'Gunboat' Smith, Al Pazer, and Frank Moran, among others.

It just seems odd to me how Coffey was dodged and yet Wells was given the chance, but then again this still goes on today, probably the most recent example I can think of is when Maskaev fought Okhello when Maskaev had a number of more deserving challengers he could have faced.

I can't say off the bat that Coffey would have beaten Wells, as the Englishman was a bit taller and had better overall skills, while Coffey was simply a big, strong man who packed a punch and clearly took a better punch than what Wells did.

Maybe the question I am asking is not so much that if Coffey could beat Wells, which seems certain that he would have, but if he was given the title shot at Johnson during those years when Johnson was on the run boxing exhibitions and having wrestling matches, defending the title all but twice ('Battling' Jim Johnson and Frank Moran) would Johnson have been ripe for the taking?

We could very well have had an Irish Heavyweight champion. Coffey was clearly one of the better of the 'white hopes', even though Luther McCarthy was/is generally considered the 'best' of them all.

Thoughts?

If Wells was not able to KO Coffey rather early, then most likely Wells would have been KO'd. Wells was a heavy-hitter who had pretty solid skills, but his chin was about as fragile as they come. If I am not mistaken...all of his losses were by KO, or TKO. If Wells was able to go through the bout without getting hit then he should win by a wide margin.

Maybe so, but then again the guys Wells was bombing out were guys out of the military or guys who were third tier opponents at best---Coffey was facing some strong opposition and his record shows he could take a pretty good punch, at least for a while.

If he could get passed Wells early bombs, I see no problems for him knocking Wells out early. Clearly, Coffey was the best HW in the United Kingdom at that time, not Wells, maybe not on skill, but certainly on everything else that matters.

>>>Clearly, Coffey was the best HW in the United Kingdom at that time, not Wells<<<


Clearly Coffey was never a UK fighter...He had one fight in Ireland and was born in Ireland, but he was an American-based fighter, so he is not lumped into UK fighters like Wells, Hague, Moir, etc.

True. But I was meaning his 'birth-right' of being a native Irishman. Though he never really fought in his brith country, all but once, he still had an amazing record for a fighter born of that region.