- -Pep asked me to come up with a link about that tourney, and in the immediacy of my here and now I came up with this comprehensive account of Wills/Dempsey saga where Wills/Tunney/Rickard are mentioned in conjunction to 1925.
For reference, first half of 1925 Gene fought Greb and Tommy Gibbons back to back, so he was not short of confidence for 1925. I recommend the entirety of the comprehense article rather than the piecemeal efforts on this forum, but here is that specific reference. In the mean time I'll poke around some more...
Though Wills was black, he was not without means, money and popularity. Suing your way into a fight without promoters may have been like suing the stock market for not going up, but it got Wills’ case on record. In the meantime, there were many other fighters other than Wills in competition for Dempsey’s title, and the contenders battled one another for position. But Wills and his manager Paddy Mullins choose not to fight and thus eliminate any of his leading rivals including Tommy Gibbons, Billy Miske, Georges Carpentier, Jim Maloney, Harry Greb, Young Stribling, and Jack Delaney, none of whom drew the color line. Even Gene Tunney offered in 1925. Rickard may not have wanted to take chances, but Wills didn’t want to take chances either. By helping to keep Dempsey in court instead of the ring—Wills also sued to stop both the Dempsey-Firpo and Tunney fights—Wills may further have dimmed his own prospects.
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