Dempsey and Rocky stories, can anyone confirm?

[JulioCesaChavez]

I heard Marciano liked little boys

[Yogi]

[QUOTE=JAB5239;4375218]

Langford openly ducked Jim Jeffries.

That was a two way street, Jab, as Jeffries was on record stating that the one guy he wouldn't face if he came back was Langford, and I do believe that comment came previous to Langford's comment(s) in 1910, as I remember reading about Jeffries' statement in the papers around early 1909.

Then again, if you somehow believe Jim Barry's account of what happened previous to the Johnson-Jeffries fight, then you might believe that Langford and Jeffries were quite willing to face each other.

[JAB5239]

[QUOTE=Yogi;4375762]

That was a two way street, Jab, as Jeffries was on record stating that the one guy he wouldn't face if he came back was Langford, and I do believe that comment came previous to Langford's comment(s) in 1910, as I remember reading about Jeffries' statement in the papers around early 1909.

Then again, if you somehow believe Jim Barry's account of what happened previous to the Johnson-Jeffries fight, then you might believe that Langford and Jeffries were quite willing to face each other.

I don't doubt your knowledge or information Yogi. But my point was that Dempsey wasn't ducking fighters based on color. Langford took out newspaper adds challenging any man except Jeffries. Sam wasn't afraid of him because he was white, but because of his skills and the tremendous respect he had for him as a fighter. This in all likelyhood is the same scenerio for Dempsey not wanting to fight Langford since he had already fought black fighters and had or would go on to try and make the Wills fight.

That said,l thank you for pointing out what Jeffries had said. I hadn't read that before.

[3_Hooks]

back when dempsey was champ, i don't think blacks could fight for the title until louis came along. something about jack johnson and the racism at the time.

[JulioCesaChavez]

I heard Sloppiano pimped his sister out before he made it big. He would ask all the Guido's and Chulo's to pay them $5 before going upstairs.

[La_Vibora]

Archie Moore was once quoted as saying something along the lines of "Jack Johnson was the worst thing that could happen to American blacks, because of him we can't get a shot at the title anymore" or something of that nature. Many black american fighters despised Johnson because whites of that time absolutely did not want a black man to hold the title after what Jack did. In any case, sure Jack sort of did duck black fighters, because his manager who wouldn't allow him to fight blacks. Also keep in mind that they had to cancel the Wills fight which was suppose to be held in New York because of the fact that there was a fear that a race war was going to break out. So there were alot of tensions at that time. I did read somewhere that Dempsey and Jack Johnson were friends. In any case, everyone ducked the good black fighters back in the old days, especially other black fighters just ask Ray Robinson and Jack Johnson.