Great White Hopes

Ok, throughout our wonderful sport there has been many of these "Great white hopes". Many duds some not so much. They are rather politically incorrect in a sense, but that isn't the main reason I am bringing this up.

There have been lots of these, mainly (Possibly only) in the Heavyweight division, I am wondering if we can name all of these and hopefully somewhere along the lines spark some meaningful debate!!

So how many "Great White Hopes" have there been?

I'll start us off with the first couple:

Gerry Cooney
Ok the most obvious one which springs into mind is Gerry Cooney, his fight with Larry Holmes is the most famous case of "The Great White Hope". A fight that got very ugly and a fight that was mainly famous for this reason of being a divide between races.

Jack "the Giant" o'Halloran

As Cassius Clay was forced to relinquish his belt in '67 there were many people gunning for it, one was Jack o'Halloran. He had around 16 wins and one defeat around this time, at 6"6 and generally weighing in around 240 pounds he was seen as something of a brute. He was going steadily against low opposition and there was a small buzz gathering about him, with him making his opponents very fearful with the sheer size of him.

Sadly for Jack as he upgraded his opponents it was rather clear that there was no way that he was going to be able to compete with the major contenders as he lacked a large amount of the necessary skill set. His notable losses include men like Joe Bugner, George Foreman, Cleveland Williams and Ken Norton of whom were the major players in the day.

How many other great white hopes have there been?

Ray Mancini, I believe, had to bear the brunt of this phenomenon to a certain extent. Obviously the frenzy surrounding him didn't reach Cooney levels, but there was a certain tension created by a caucasion laying claim to the Lightweight crown. Hector Camacho, I believe, played a part as usual, bringing Mancini's race in to the equation a couple of times when interviewed about him - another one of Macho's less lovable traits.

There were countless in the Jack Johnson era where finding a white heavyweight capable of defeating Johnson became almost a global obsession, there is even a book called Great White Hopes on the very subject. However will mention one from the era as he is a local lad but for a brief period William Iron Hague from Mexborough was touted as the man to dethrone Johnson particularly after he beat Gunner Moir in double quick time, however any chance of him ever facing Johnson soon ended after he met Sam Langford who put him away pretty easily.

I'm surprised that the original great white hope hasn't been mentioned yet........James J. Jeffries.

Tommy Morrison. Thankfully he never played that role and rejected it immediately.

Was Rocky Marciano ever touted as a white hope?

Atila wrote:Was Rocky Marciano ever touted as a white hope?

azania wrote:

Atila wrote:Was Rocky Marciano ever touted as a white hope?

I bet he was. He became champ after there had been 3 successive black heavyweight champs stretching back over 15 years.

Atila wrote:

azania wrote:

Atila wrote:Was Rocky Marciano ever touted as a white hope?

I bet he was. He became champ after there had been 3 successive black heavyweight champs stretching back over 15 years.

Rocky disaassociated himself from that and never gave it the time of day.

Cooney was around at the wrong time...Certainly be a champ today....

You seem to have signalled two guys out that were in some ways ridiculed and didn't ask for that tag......Been some quality great white hopes too..

Jim Jeffries....Jerry Quarry etc also held the tag as I'm sure Rocky Marciano did....

Seems a strange article that's designed to mock..Boxing has always used the race card.....Nothing new about it..

If you watch cooney vs Holmes you certainly wouldn't mock Cooney's effort....

No one took Halloran that seriously as they didn't his black equivalent Eddie too tall Jones.....

I think you have basically realised Azania is on here and you are playing some unsubtle wum- like- game If I'm honest..

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Cooney was around at the wrong time...Certainly be a champ today....

You seem to have signalled two guys out that were in some ways ridiculed and didn't ask for that tag......Been some quality great white hopes too..

Jim Jeffries....Jerry Quarry etc also held the tag as I'm sure Rocky Marciano did....

Seems a strange article that's designed to mock..Boxing has always used the race card.....Nothing new about it..

If you watch cooney vs Holmes you certainly wouldn't mock Cooney's effort....

No one took Halloran that seriously as they didn't his black equivalent Eddie too tall Jones.....

I think you have basically realised Azania is on here and you are playing some unsubtle wum- like- game If I'm honest..

Cooney was a terrific fighter who never bought into the white hope/hype mantra. Brilliant left hook and no shame in losing to Holmes.

The OP is that obvious. I wont bite, but it is an interesting thread.

I'm afraid he is....

nice guy Cooney...him and Holmes are good friends now..

azania wrote:

Atila wrote:

azania wrote:

Atila wrote:Was Rocky Marciano ever touted as a white hope?

I bet he was. He became champ after there had been 3 successive black heavyweight champs stretching back over 15 years.

Rocky disaassociated himself from that and never gave it the time of day.

I wasn't trying to smear Marciano in any way. It's just that they were talking about Cooney being a white hope in the 80's, in the 50's the press/media were much likely to be less subtle.

Another one is Joe Messi. He didn't last long but I remember him being shown on HBO. I never thought he was that good to warrant all the attention he was getting.

Atila wrote:

azania wrote:

Atila wrote:

azania wrote:

Atila wrote:Was Rocky Marciano ever touted as a white hope?

I bet he was. He became champ after there had been 3 successive black heavyweight champs stretching back over 15 years.

Rocky disaassociated himself from that and never gave it the time of day.

I wasn't trying to smear Marciano in any way. It's just that they were talking about Cooney being a white hope in the 80's, in the 50's the press/media were much likely to be less subtle.

Another one is Joe Messi. He didn't last long but I remember him being shown on HBO. I never thought he was that good to warrant all the attention he was getting.

Mesi was different in that he was past First Nation American I believe.

Think the biggest Great white hope was the one that fought Chief Brody in his hometown of Amity in 75....and lost a split..

Each great white hope since has been inferior in every way!!!

Luther Mccarty is the name that first sprang into my head, was being lined up for a fight with Johnson and many predicted he could have won.

Died didn't he in some barn after a 1st round ko...apparently he was an accident waiting to happen..

Handsome, charismatic, talented, big and strong............

enough about me!!!!

Good call Ghosty.....

His name has popped up a lot recently, reportedly lost to Joe Grim early on his career and then died in the ring as a result of a horse riding accident. Held the rather dubious 'White' heavyweight title of the world during Johnsons reign, was reported to have got the better of Flynn and Moran as well as knocking out Kaufman so had started to prove himself.

Trussman you attempt to read between the lines, but would suggest you go to specsavers. I never created this article in an attempt to provoke anything from Azania and would suggest you get your facts straightened out.