Harry 'Black Panther' Wills Denied Heavyweight Title Fight by Dempsey's Camp

Throughout the mid-1920s, heavyweight contender Harry Wills—nicknamed 'The Black Panther'—was widely acknowledged as champion Jack Dempsey's most deserving challenger and was chosen by a poll of 500+ newspapers as the fighter fans most wanted to see Dempsey fight. Promoter Tex Rickard refused to promote an interracial fight, citing the riots that followed Jack Johnson's 1910 victory, effectively enforcing a color line that denied Wills a title shot he had earned on merit.