The fact that Johnson lived as long as he did is a remarkable achievement in itself. Beating up white dudes is one thing, but OPENLY dating white women in the early 1900s? Hell there are places in the US today that where a black man can find himself in serious trouble if he covorted with white women.
I watched the first part of the doc, and I think Burns was trying to capture the greatness of Johnson, not trying to make him look like a saint. Regardless of his flaws, his accomplishments were GREAT, considering the time and circumstances he delt with.
The story needed to be told and I'm glad Burns told it.
The only problem with your assertion is that Mayorga was the Third option in Tito's comeback. Tito was scheduled to Fight Mosely, they actually had a an agreement. Winky derailed those plans. Then right after the fight Winky and Tito agreed in principle to a fight. Mosely then excersized his rematch clause, only then did Mayorga become a viable opponent. So don't make it seem as though Mayorga was targeted all along for his comeback.
As a matter of fact, Tito and Delahoya had talks which quickly broke down, but DLH was also in the mix.
Everyone keeps talking about how Winky was ducked. Here are the facts.
1. Winky lost to Harry Simon, a fight that would have helped
Advance his carreer.
2. Although I think he beat Vargas in a close fight, he allowed Vargas to win the championship rounds therefore spoiling another great opportunity to advance his career
3. He turned down $1 mil, to fight Shane before Shane lost to Forrest, which makes no sense to me since he was only earning about 3 to 4 hundred thousand a fight back then. This fight would have helped Winky get back on the world stage.
I think Winky had opportunities that many fighters don't get. He finally dicided to fight Shane for the Million that he turned down 3 years ago.
I like winky, and I'm glad that he is getting recognition but all this Ducked talk is annoying.
Now that WInky has some clout, he's trying to capitalize on it just like everyone else, I don't see him looking to fight guys who will not provide him with substantial earnings, he's calling out Tito, DLH, and Hops, because of the money. You don't see him looking for Ouma or any of young jr middles.
I still believe Mayorga was setup for Tito all along and i stand by it. There may have been talks for fights but they were for future fights. What better way to make Tito look spectaculer than fighting someone like Mayorga. Thats my opinion and that how i believe it happened. Don King isn't stupid, he knew the perfect fight all along.
It is a fact that Shane was going to be Tito's comeback fight. If you ignore that then you are ignoring the facts. Tito vs Shane was basically a done deal, but Wright put a monkey wrench in those plans, just Like Shane and Mayorga was a basically a done deal until Spinks screwed that up. You can have opinions, but when you ignore facts then that shows how much you really follow the game.
Fighters usually have a list of opponents. Mayorga may have been on the list, but beleive me he wasn't the first choice.
What was Winky's best fight to you Winky fans, because I just don't see what's so interesting about him
IMO Winky's best fight was his first fight with Mosley. But even that fight was rather pedestrian. He's solid but he brings no excitment to the ring. Hell there were several empty seats in the arena last week. People keep talking about Winky being ducked, I think he just couldn't sell a fight at the time. Boxing is a business and Winky is doing just what was done to him, he's not interested in fighting solid guys who can't bring any cheese to the table.