The British and the Irish White Hopes

Bombardier Billy Wells

&

Jim Coffey

circa 1915

In the era of the search for the Great White Hope, that one Caucasian of sufficient prowess to un-seat the despised Jack Johnson from his heavyweight throne, the British Isles sent forth their candidates.

Bombardier Billy Wells had a successful career in England as British Heavyweight Champion. However, the classic styled Wells proved to have a glass jaw. One contemporary dubbed him the Diving Venus and observed, "He generally fell in a straight , pure, Doric line, like a tree crashing in the forest".

Jim Coffey, the Rosecommon Giant, though never achieving any formal acclaim, actually amassed a much more successful record. Unfortunately, Frank Moran proved his un-doing knocking Coffey out on two separate occasions. Manager Dan Morgan observed of Coffey, " he became a martyr to "the law of jaws". "He was a great prospect as long as he ate poor man's food, like chuck steak, that keeps the jaw tough. But he made some money and started eating porterhouse, and his jaws went to hell."1 Nonetheless, Coffey ended his career after 62 bouts with only four defeats, the two knockouts by Moran and two knockouts by Bartley Madden.

Vintage Original Photograph. Size: 7 x 9 in. Condition: Fine

Price: $ 115.00

1 White Hopes And Other Tigers. John Lardner