Quote Originally Posted by Alpha View Post
Jack Johnson vs James J. Jeffries was hugest the time. With Jeffries being out for nearly 6 years it was pure hype for a great white hope.

There was a fair share of that throughout the history of heavyweight boxing, which could probably fill a thread of its own. That's a good example, as is the Holmes-Cooney fight. I think the U.S. always craved a white heavyweight champion, and was quick to jump the bandwagon of anyone coming remotely close to filling that void. Ironically, the time a white man dominated the heavyweight scene for a while in recent times, it was a Ukrainian behemoth.