Professional camaraderie between fighters of different races in the sport of boxing is evidence of America moving beyond racial divisions, assessed Randy Gordon, host of SiriusXM’s At the Fights.
Gordon reflected on Saturday night’s professional bout between between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder in an interview on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Sunday with special guest host Joel Pollak.
Pollak said, “I was at the boxing gym here in LA this morning,” adding, “Nobody mentioned race in the context of Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury, and I thought that was an extraordinary and good thing. George Orwell wrote way back in the early 20th century that one of the ugliest things you could ever see was an interracial boxing match — not because he was opposed to them — but because of the behavior of the crowd [and] the kind of racism you’d see at a boxing match like that.”
“I don’t know if people didn’t want to talk about it or [if] people just didn’t even think about it, but in a way it kind of marks how far we’ve come, not just as a society in the United States because of course, this is an international match,” added Pollak. “This is where we are. These guys had so much in common, despite racial differences, in terms of how they had come up from hardship [and] poverty. I thought it was extraordinary how race was not an issue in this fight and I think it’s a credit to boxing and a credit to the audience and the fans.”
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Gordon concurred, “It truly is, and it we don’t have to go back to Orwell. We don’t have to go back to the turn of the century when the first black heavyweight champion — the first, what they called, the ‘colored’ heavyweight champion — Jack Johnson, who was one of the great heavyweights of all time.”
“White America didn’t want Jack Johnson and that’s when they coined the the phrase, ‘The Great White Hope,’” recalled Gordon. “They were looking for that white man to beat Jack Johnson.”
Jack Johnson threw his 1915 fight against Jess Willard in Havana, Cuba, in order to gain re-entry to the U.S., explained Gordon.
“Jack Johnson’s mom was in very serious physical condition, and the only way he was going to be allowed to come back to the United States and not be arrested is if more or less he kind of laid down against Jess Willard, this Great White Hope,” Gordon said.
Gordon also highlighted Gerry Cooney’s and Larry Holmes’ friendship as an example of boxing’s transcendence beyond racial divides.
“When Gerry Cooney fought Larry Holmes [in 1982] America was as divided as I’ve ever seen it,” recalled Gordon. “It was the the blacks against the whites. … There was some so much hatred in that fight white Gerry Cooney against black Larry Holmes that both guys got death threats.”
Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury face off during their official weigh-in at MGM Grand Garden Arena on February 21, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
Gordon added, “Imagine, we’re only talking 37-38 years ago with Larry Holmes and Jerry Cooney, who are now best friends.”
“There was no racism whatsoever in this fight and there shouldn’t be,” remarked Gordon. “Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder are close friends and I think down the road they’re going to be best friends. I know both of them and I must tell you I don’t think there’s a racist bone in either guy’s body — in either guy’s camp — and that’s one of the reasons I love this sport, because I don’t see [racism].”
Gordon concluded, “I work with white fighters and black fighters and all colors. There is no racism in my sport. It’s in other places in the world, not in my sport.”
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