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Sketches of the TwoGreat Ring GladiatorsJeffries.Johnson.Age.. .... 3582Weight... .220214Height ...« ft. 11 in. fl ft- 1 in.Nock, . ... I»i18Chest. (normal). . »ti30Chest (expanded) 50142Bicep*. .. . 151!Forearm...13141Wrist----. . 810JReach.... . 7572Wrist. . ... 8634Thigh .... 25 i23Calf... ... I7J15Ankle.... . 1001Fight-,.... 20fllLost . ..I2rursc.S101,000. Jeffrie* cets *75.-750. win.Urnwor lo*e.Johnson*25,250.Moving pictures estimat'd .- .0,000to each.When Janies J. Jeffries was horn, thlrtv-five years ago April 15 last, a first class fighting man was created. He was endowed with everything that goes to make up a fighter, right from the olarL He did not need to train and school himself to any greet extent. H® had hoth the brain and the brawn, and all he lacked was the ambition to win fatne as a fighter. When that ambition did come io him It required but twq years for him lo vanquish every fighter worthy of consideration, and make the championship title one of his personal assets. Once he secured it. the only way he could find of ridding himself of the burdens it imposed was to give It away. That is what Jeff did with it. He looked over the field of worthy heavy weights with a view to adopting one of them as his heir. Klgnt years after his first light he decided that Marvin Hart was the heir-apparent. and abdicated in Hart's favor.One of the striking thing' about Jeffries is the fact that It took a great deal of argument to convince him that he was a fighting man at ail-Despite nature's generosity to him iu the matter of site and strength, he had a strong suspicion all the time that he w'as Intended to he a farmer. Through his early life ho displayed great fondness for getting close to nature via a fishing rod or a gun. and spent quite a bit of time among the mountains. He developed n decided fondness for country llfo, and when he resigned his high state as chani-1 Ion, having annexed enough money through purse, moving pictures and stage appearances to do wbnt he pleased, he hastened to a farm lu Southern California with the Intention of ending his days as n sort of country squire. Had John Arthur Johnson and the color question not Interfered with his plaor*. he would, in all probability, have carried nut that determination.•Jeffrie*' First Fight.Jeffries was born In Carroll, Ohio, in 1815. but ids parents came to California so soon after his arrival that he Is looked upon almost as a native of that state. Little is recorded of hlB doings prior to 1897 beyond the fact that he was a mighty hunter, n good taoller-maktr, and a rough and tumble fighter with whom few cared to ruix- He never was an amateur fighter. The firat time he entered the ring he did so on the spur of the moment, accepting the challenge of a colored fighter named “Hank” Grlifin because of the money he would get by defeating the challenger. The fight occurred In Los Angeles, Calif., in 1893. and Jeff accomplished the defeat of the colored man in fourteen rounds, winding up with an artistic knock-outWhile this victory did not seem lo arouse Jeir to any ambition as a fighter, it attracted the attention of fighters lo him as a valuable training partner. Ho seconded a middle-weight named Blil.v Gallagher in San Francisco two years later, and Gallagher got. him a match In 1S96 with L'ao Long, of Denver. There was a Si.000 purse up. umi Lo»8 went to sleep In the second round when Jell's left encountered his nose.Join’s Corbett's Training Staff.rt was shortly after this that Jim Corbett began to prepare for his flgnl with Bob Fitzsimmons, which cave the latter the ehaqjplonsltlp. Harry Corbett. Jim’s brother, who was on the lookout for sparring partners, sent Jefi up to Carson City, Nevada, to loin Jim’s tralnig staff. Corbett hammered the lvlg fellow unmercifully. hut Jeff was absorbing knowledge t Ihe fighting game through every pore. These were his first real boxing lessons, and he took them from a roaster of tho craft. Within three weeks after Corbett’s defeat. Jett was in the ring again on his own hook, dolog away with the aspiration* of two promising heavy weights in quick succession In 1897.So much had Jeff benefited by Corbett’s training that he was marked as a coming fighter at once, and a match was arranged for him wild Gus Ruhlin. of Akron. Ohio, which was fought In San Francisco In 1897. The fight went twenty rounds lo a draw.In the same year Jeffries fought Joe Choynski a twenty-round draw. He recall* this fight particularly, he saya. because Chcynskl landed on his law the hardest Mow he ever received. It was a right-hander, and had so much good «1ll behind It that Jeffries never forgot It. That punch was one of the thing* that made Jeffries call Choynski to his aid when he derided to return to Ihe ring to flghf Johnson.During the next year Jeffrie* began lo find out how strong he really wau. Ho knocked out Joe Goddard, of Australia, a hardy fighter with many victories to his credit, followed that up hy knocking out Old Peter Jackson In three rounds, and making Mexican Peter Everett quit In less than three. A twenty-round draw with Tom Sharkey came In tho same year, and ihen Jeffries went to New York, where he was matched to fight two men In one evening. aThe first of the** was Boh Armstrong (colored), and Jeff damaged his hand against the big black to such ar. extent that he could not meet Steve O’Donnell. Ihe other man. much to f he delight of O'Donnell's friends.During »hl* time Bob Fitzsimmons was retaining tho championshipagainst all comers. A match was made between Jeff and Bob «i Coney island, 1899. It was looked upon as a joke, as the man who had gathered Jim Corbett* scalp In decisive style was thought to he able to play wltn the big green hand. Jeffries. Fitzsimmons did play with him—for nine rounds. If there was any part of Jeff's head he did not hit at will, nobody at the ringside cpuld locale tlm Place. But In the tenih Fit? tired, and In Ihe eleventh, after going down twice. h* was unable to get up a third time, and Jim Jeffries was champion of tho world.Five month* later Jeffries met Tom Sharkey again in a twenty fiv* round fight at Coney Island. Jeff got a decision over the sailor, but ho declare* that Sharkey is the garnest ui«n who ever entered the ring.Corbett, hy this time, was eager to get a match with his former sparring partner. The fight was arranged, and for twenty rounds Jeffries took a terrific amount of punishment. Ha utterly failed to reach CoriMrtl with his gloves, although Corbelt haltered him around so freely that Iho big fellow looked foolish. Jeff's second* told him that ho was an ex-oJumidon beyond doubt unless he did something, and Jeff went nut to do In the next round Ho loro after Corbett, minding the storm of blows that met hint no more than he would mind so many raindrop*. His left reached Corbett's midwcUon In the twenty-tbird round, and a moment later Ills right ended the fight with a short-arm Jolt to the Jaw.Jeff s next fight of any imporlane* was with his old opponent Ruhllo After five rounds Ruhlin quit. Jeff had learned too much for RuMln between their meetings.Fight* Ex-Champion*.Probably the greatest amount of punishment Jeff ever took—and lie took a lot of it firs! and last—wa* In hlB second fight with Fitzsimmons. The light took place In 1902. and Pitz threw all his cleverness and stlength into the fust three rounds. Jeff's face was badly cut by his blows, and while Fit* was fresh, tne champion looked like a novice beside him. But he eoult^ not keep ll up, and he could not seem to worry Jeff to any extent. In the eighth Jeff's right caught the old champion In the stomach, his left wont to the jaw. and Fitzsimmons was claused among the has-beens for good.Tho second fight with Jim Corbett was Jeff’s last important fight. In that fight Joff showed that lie hud it taut, learned the boxing game. He outfought Corbett, the admitted master of glove worlc and foot work, at every point of the game, and In the eleventh CorOett went down for the count. This was Corbett's last appearance In the ring.In his preparation for his fight with Johnson. Jeffries has done the hardest training work he was ever known to undergo. His method* have leon peculiarly hie own as a rule. H« went in for hear shooting, fishing, mountain climbing and the like, and his trainers had little to say about what h“ did.Prepares for Johnson.In preparing for Johnson, however, the retired champion haa left no part of his training go 11 neared for. He would not agree (o the match until assured by try-out work and the opinions of physicians that ho was physically able to get Into good condition.Once assured of that, he took up his quarters in the Santa Cruz mountains, sixty miles south of San Francisco. and drilled as he never drilled cbfoie. In his camp Jim Corhett. volunteer aid. reigned supreme. Jeff believed Jim was a wise man on matters connected with rare of the body, «nd he heeded the former champion ' words. Joe Choynski was there also, and Bob Armstrong. All three ot them were victims of Jeffa handiwork In limes past, but they worked hard to prepare him for his last great battle.have wnlrhed him any lie simply has no nerves, using the wotlu In Ihe accepted sense.Johnson frel* that he has been well trained for I hi* tight. He regard* hi* present *tnff Hint has whipped him Into shape In hla wiml-swept vamp on the beach as ihe best he over had. and says no lighter wax ever given more loyal ami efficient service man he has received. All of his training partners -those who do the real work with him-are young men.JOHNSON’S CAREERJohnson was horn in Galveston. In 1878. his birthday being March 31. and if ring experience goes for anything he ha* it. In 1901. his first year as a fighter, he fought six fights, winning all hut one, which was a draw. The next year ho went Into the ring sixteen times, and from then on was almost constantly engaged until to date he has to his credit over sixty battles. While many cl hie opponents have not been of the style to test hi* mettle, his frequent houU have 5orv«d at least 13 keep him always in training, and this i* one of tho strong arguments of hie partisans.Temperamentally Johnson Is an In-Wresting study. His chief characteristic is his unfailing good nature, a curiously constant sort of even temper that nothing seem* to ruffle His golden smile is seldom out of evidence. and r.oi even tho coarse and insulting Jibes that frequently greet him from fight spectators seem to have the power to disturb him. Even when durking a storm of blows atd showing wonderful skill in evading the onslaughts of his opponent, Johnson never loses his poise aor hit power of observation. HI* eyes take in and appraise everything that transpires at the ringside. He we ms to hear very comment nradc hy the onlookers, and even In the midst of a clinch, when every muscle is tense, will recognize a witty sally from the audience with a flash of his ready smile, and, like as not. at the audience over the reeking shoulder again** which he la pressing.Johnson Hn* No Nam'Why don’t you fight, you black man? yelled an enthusiast at the Johnaon-Kaufmnn fight. The men wore In a clinch at the time, but without an instant s hesitation, Johnson shouted hack, Why should f fight? I’ve got your ten dollars already.And this eool-headednesa under fire is another of the negro’s qualities upon which hi* backers count, believing It impossible to rattle him hy nny known ring lactlca. That hi* good nature doe* not indicate a Sow order of Intelligence, however, has been clearly shown by hia clover hu*l-nos* method* and his rather well done ringside speeches. Men who
Newspaper Details
Waterloo Semi Weekly Courier
Waterloo, Iowa, US
Fri, Jul 01, 1910
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
John H.
IL, USA 21 Feb 2017
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