Dr. T is an alien
Patti Mayonnaise
Knows when to hold them, knows when to fold them
I've been found out!
Posts: 31,366
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Post by Dr. T is an alien on Feb 19, 2020 8:23:21 GMT -5
I went with other for Jack Johnson. SOB was so good that he forced the boxing industry to still give him a shot at the title despite boxing openly and fully embracing racism to a degree that the Jim Crow South had to look at it and go, "Wow, that's pretty racist." After he became champion, he held the title for 7 years facing wave after wave of "Great White Hope's" (which was the origin of that particular phrase), finally losing in a bout where he was accused of taking a dive to a white man (in the 28th round) in order to possibly avoid prosecution for violations of the Mann Act (he was accused of transporting a woman, his white wife, for lewd purposes).
Honestly, to be so good that an entire racist industry sprung up to topple you, hold it off for 7 whole years, and only lose after the US government starts up a bogus prosecution against you in order to put your uppity ass in its place? That's got to mean that you were legendary.
Edit: Apparently he was charged with traveling with white prostitutes instead (one which later became his wife). He served time for violating the Mann Act despite the fact that his offense came at a time before the Mann Act was a thing. In other words, he did something the man didn't like, the man made it illegal, then arrested him for violating the law before it was illegal to do so. So, he had that going against him.
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XIII
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Posts: 18,564
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Post by XIII on Feb 22, 2020 0:04:03 GMT -5
I’m not sure about Jack Johnson. First and foremost I obviously have only seen a bit of him fighting but I liken him to someone like Wilt Chamberlain in the NBA, they would be great in any era but not nearly as dominant in more modern times. They would still be really good, great, or even legendary, but not like they were in their time when they were just bigger, stronger, and more athletic than 99% of those that they were up against.
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Post by Toilet Paper Roll on Feb 22, 2020 9:31:28 GMT -5
I’m not sure about Jack Johnson. First and foremost I obviously have only seen a bit of him fighting but I liken him to someone like Wilt Chamberlain in the NBA, they would be great in any era but not nearly as dominant in more modern times. They would still be really good, great, or even legendary, but not like they were in their time when they were just bigger, stronger, and more athletic than 99% of those that they were up against. Yeah I tend to give golden era boxers more credit than I do guys like Chamberlain and Russell dominating basketball because basketball was newer and you could just be a physical specimen and dominate. That being said Johnson retired about a decade and a half before boxing was a legitimate full time gig for professionals. He was fighting firemen and lumberjacks
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