A TRAGEDY OF THE PRIZE RING

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 7300, 9 August 1930, Page 13

A TRAGEDY OF THE PRIZE RING

ONE of the greatest tragedies in the history of the prizering was the defeat of James J. Jeffries at Reno in 1910 by the negro boxer, Jack Johnson. The bout was the culmination of racial feeling which had .been stirred up all over the world against the coloured champion. Five years of idleness had sapped the stamina of the once unbeatable Jeffries, and it was only a hollow shell of the old champion that Johnson punched and jeered into dismal defeat. When Jeffries retired in 1905 as the unbeaten champion of the world, he had a record to be proud of. He had beaten some of the greatest men in the history of the ring, including the famous Bob Fitzsimmons and Jim Corbett. Even today, a majority of expert opinion favours the view that Jeffries was the greatest fighter of all time. When Jeffries retired, he designated Marvin Hart as his successor, although “Philadelphia’’ Jack O’Brien insisted that he had more right to the title. While he was still arguing, along came Tommy Burns to beat Hart. A year later Burns beat O’Brien, and earned a clear-cut title to the championship. The scene then shifts to Australia, where, on Christmas Day, 1908. Burns was beaten by the giant negro. Jack Johnson. The following year Johnson beat the famous middle-weight, Stanley Ketchel. and by 1910 was clearly a class ahead of the fighters of his

day. Public opinion clamoured for the negro’s defeat. He was not the popular fighter Peter Jackson was. Finally, Jim Jeffries, then in vaudeville, decided to attempt a “come-back” to meet Johnson.

Jeffries, who is a farmer in California these days, wrote some articles' a year or two ago, in which he suggested that he was made the scapegoat of public opinion in 1910. But the records do not bear out this view, altogether. At the time, several sound critics warned the ex-champion that he was taking on a tremendously difficult proposition. His defeat was foreseen, but Jeff., living in memories of the brilliant past, ignored wellmeant advice not to come back, and if he did, then only after a long and thorough process of reconditioning. The bout was the first big world’s championship that was promoted by the late Tex Rickard, the ex-Alaskan gambler, Texas cowboy and sheriff, who was later to become the world’s greatest promoter. In the preliminary stages Jeffries was supremely confident that he could regain his old form and beat the negro. But as the date of the fight drew nearer the old champion’s indomitable spirit drooped. Jeff found

in his training that his timing was all out, and his punches were going astray.

While Jeff showed some physical improvement as the result of his training siege, his mental state was far from right. As the bout drew near he frequently slipped off into the woods for periods of brooding, or else vanished from the camp in a canoe. It was plain that the approaching contest had him worried, whereas Johnson never once lost his poise or bis supreme confidence. “I hope Mr. Jeffries will be in the best possible shape,” he said, “so that he won’t have any excuses when I defeat him.”

Big Jeff’s frayed nerves had him beaten almost before the fight began. He could hardly stand up as he was being introduced by the veteran announcer, Bill Jordan, his knees almost

Jim Jeffries Battered into Inglorious Defeat by Giant Negro Twenty Years Ago — “ Hope” of White Race only a Shadow of Old Form —Johnson “Kidded” to His Opponent and Beat Him as He Liked—

JEFFRIES’S LAST FIGHT.—This picture shows the clash between two of the greatest champions of the ring, in 1910, when Jim Jeffries, after five years of retirement, unsuccessfully attempted to "come back” against the clever negro boxer, Jack Johnson. Jeffries is on the left, Johnson on the right.

knocking together. He was like an old star of the footlights returning after a long vacation, and being afflicted with stage-fright. Johnson, on the other hand, was seemingly as happy as a lark, and flashed his famous golden smile (the front of his mouth was filled with gold-capped teeth) as he x-ecognised friends and wellwishers seated at the ringside. Rickard himself served as referee of the contest, the principals having disagreed over the choice of the third man in the ring. How complete was Jeff’s humiliation may be gleaned from the following, reprinted from the “Police Gazette” of July 16, 1910, containing an expert review of the Reno fight:— “The vital spark was not there. Jim Jeffries, only the empty shell of the great fighter of seven years ago, was

whipped by Jack Johnson at Reno, Nev., on July 4, before the most remarkable assemblage of sporting men ever gathered in the history of the game. “Johnson not only outclassed Jeffries, but actually played with the big white man as he played with little Tommy Burns and Stanley Ketchel. The end, while it came with the suddenness of a thunderclap, was not a surprise. It had been in plain sight from the fifth round. There could have been only one ending, and even the most rabid Jeffries men could not deceive themselves into thinking that tho whito man had a chance after the fifth round. “It was not that ho was taking much punishment, for the blows Johnson landed were not enough to have beaten a strong man of ordinary vitality. Jeffries did not display a semblance of his old-time form. There were none of his short, determined rushes; none of his trip-hammer blows to tho body: and when, after tho fifth round, the negro began man-handling Jeffries in the clinches, and easily blocking any attempt at retaliation, there was nothing to do but to wait for the end of tho fight.” Johnson kept up a running fire of “kidding” conversation throughout the fight. Many of his most sarcastic sallies were aimed at Jim Corbett, who, white-faced and apprehensive, was in Jeffries’s corner as one of his seconds. Tho fight finished in the fifteenth round. Battered and bruised, Jeffries was knocked down three times before the end came. The finish of Jeffries was just another proof of the folly of long layoffs from tho ring, especially in the case of a heavv-weieht (writes

s Harry Shelland). The big fellow who was invulnerable as world’s champion, prior to his retirement, found that he had lost all judgment in the matter of timing -- and delivering his blows as well as all skill in defence. In addition, as experts had predicted, ho never fully regained his former stamina and his wind and legs went back on him. The description of Jeffries's defeat. at Johnston's hands could have been applied accurately to Jack Dempsey, when the shell of a once great fighter faced Gene Tunney in Philadelphia four years ago. Johnson’s victory over Jeffries was hailed by negroes everywhere as a great victory for their race, and disturbances broke out in the coloured sections of New York, Chicago and other largo cities. Johnson’s subsequent conduct turned public opinion against him and it is only recently that the golden-toothed coloured big boy finds himself welcome'd. But “Lil Artha” is on good behaviour now. Ho proved himself a superb fighter by the manner in which he conquered Jeffries. Many believe him to have been the best of the heavies of all time; certainly none ever surpassed him in sheer defensive skill and boxing brilliancy. His punch was not devastating, but he could hit plenty fast and took very little punishment.