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Show I JEFFRIES IS 101 I SUCH AHVflHITE H1 Johnson Could Not Be Seen at 1 First, but Time Changes Opinions. I , PROMINENT TRAINERS , PICK COLORED CHAMPION H All Say Jeff Has Been Out of H ! Game Too Long, to Hj Come Back. Hj) fribuno Spccjal Sporting Service. j, NEW YORK, Nov, IS. Prominent sporting men, trainers and athletes all j seem, to think that Jeffries ia foolish H' lo light again. A nolccl athlotie trainer snys: "It makes no difference whether a man ia a runner, jumper, fighter, ball player or a participant in any other branch of sports, it" ho stops training for three or four years he can never regain his best form. In all my expori-H1 expori-H1 eucc I have never soen an exception to Hi this rule." Taking his opinion as a basis lor ar-gumcnt, ar-gumcnt, there arc many pugilistic cs-Hl' cs-Hl' ports who aro liguring out jusi now H. whether James .1. Jeffries can "come back" so that he will beat I ho-ncgro. Jack Johnson, down and out. William V. Brady and William Doluney, former managers of Jeffries, have been iusist-mg iusist-mg for many months I hat ho is foolish o tackle Johnson and will suffer defeat, i Murphy declares that JoiTricfc. having iasscd nearly fivo years in idleness, can never show the same speed and stnmiiui Hi that won for him t-hc titlo of world's champion. Brady stated to the Sun man the night that Johnson and Jack j; O'Brien boxed six rounds in Philadcl- phia early last summer that .left's wind was pone and that even if the boiler-maker boiler-maker reduced himself to 2'25 pound?, his best tighing weight, he would And it a physical impossibility to light more H; than ten rounds at lop speed with the H i formidable colored man. Dolnncy also ( declared at that time his belief that Jef- HH fries -would be an easy mark for such H;, a clumsy young slugger as Kaufman, and wanted to bet $10,000 on tho side if a match could be arranged between i Jeffries Is CouGdent. Hjl "lu spite of these opinions and pro- dictions, however, Jeffries says ho knows ho can be tho safe old champion once H; more and is telling his friends that lie will beat Johnson oasilj-. One of the oldest ring followers in this country, who is not prejudiced, but generally says what he thinks about pugilists and their doings, and who has seen Joffrics Hl in all of his ring battles, talked in this , intoresliug way the other niglit: j "Thorc is no man who admires .lef- i'rios moro than I, so that 1 do not want to bo accused of knocking. But. rcal-. rcal-. Iv, I foe I convinced that if Jeffries and Hj lohnson in oot in the ring the negro will win. .lu the first place, Joffrics, Hi while recognized as an unbeaten chain- H1 pion. is not a truly great Tighter and Hr I 'II show you tho reason. Whcu Delnuoy Hf fust, brought him to New Turk I was B. among those who met him at the Van- Hf lerbilt hotel directlv after ho had left Hj the cars. It was a hot night and Jeff had on very thin clothing. When asked H) io get on the scales he tipped the Hl beam at exactly 2ii5 pounds. 3Io was 2:; rears old then and was in, robust health, lie was pitted against Bob H! Armstrong, a big negro, in a ten round bout at t he Lonox Athletic, club HL in order to show New Yorkers what ho could do, aud when that affair wus over Jeff was fnirly laughed out of town. Mo was as slow ari cold molasses, know nothing about ring science and was ae-foully ae-foully outpointed by Armstrong, al-tliough al-tliough I ho latter got the worst of tlie referee's decision. ' Fits Not. iu Shape. "A vear later Jeffries trained down i to L'I0 "pounds for the first battlp with Hj' I'M l .Simmons at Coney Island. Tt is a Hli matter of record that. Pitzsimmons ro- coived (55 per cent of the reocinls, win ( or lose, and that ho did not train nt all. The light to mc was a frameup, for I never saw Fitzsimmons try once to land a blow on Jeff's head or jaw. Instead Robert borod in with body blows and was an easy mark for Jeff's heavy hooks and uppcrcuts. The second timo thev mot, iu California, it is an undeniablo fact that Fit'.simmons was out to win. Ho brokn Jeff's nose and hammered him on tho head and jaw, until Jim was literally cut. to pieces, Pit r. finally broke his knuckles, and after that ho was punched our. But while he lasted ho cavo Jeff the worst beating ho ever received. "Take Joff's ficdit with Sharkey at Gonev fslnnd as further proof that Jim is ovorratcd. In that affair Jeffries stood flat-footed and lot Sharkey do all the loading. Jim was forty pounds heavier than tho sailor on thai occasion, occa-sion, yet ho never rushed at all. He was ontpoinlod for nineteen rounds by Sharkey, but was satislied to counter heavily in the ribs with his right hand whenever Thomas bored in. I a tho long run Jeff's superior weight and strength enabled hi in lo beat Sharkey in terrible ter-rible fashion, but when tho referee gave tho decision to Jeffries there was a" great howl, for a majority of the spectators spec-tators thought that Sharkey was entitled en-titled to a draw. Giving Away Weight, "Jeff was almost forty pounds heavier heav-ier than C'orbett when they hooked up at the island. For twonty rounds Cor bolt with his great leg work and science mndo Joffrics look like a novice. In that length of time Jeffries could not put a glove on him, and if Corbclt had staved away to the end of tho twenty-fifth round he'd have won the fight on points beyond a question of doubt. Hut Corbcll. "lost his head and tried to mix it up with the big fellow, who dropped him with a left, hook on the point of the jaw. Jeff lacked aggressiveness aggres-siveness in that fight, and also showed I hat ho was not. a past master in the scienco of boxing, lie simply had a groat wallop and was lucky enough to land it. "When ho Tuns up against Johnson, Jeffries will find that the negro, heavier heav-ier and stronger than Corbel t, Fitzsnn-mens Fitzsnn-mens and Sharkey, is- one oT tho most scientific men tho boilcrmaker has evpr tackled, if Johnson lakes his time, believe he will wear Jim down, for he possesses a wondorful defense and is never in a hurrw As Johnson is not : rusher and wastes very few punches, how can Jeffries, with tho old lack of aggressiveness, stop him quickly? I toll von that if the light goes more th:-a th:-a dozen rounds JoIiiihou will stand oft and cut Jeff to pieces with his long left, and if Jeff comes boring in to close quarters the negro will knock Ins head off with tho samo terrific .blow that put Kclchel ont in a flash. . Johnson at Best. "Johnson is in his prime, you must remember, lie has been fighting steadily stead-ily ever since he became a pugilist, lio may be a high liver, but ho is never far out of condition. JIc is three, years younger than Jeffries and has never been extended. Furthermore, he h:is shown that he knows how to box and is a cracking good hitter. Jel-fries Jel-fries on the other hand has boon out, of the ring for five years. Ho retired after ho whipped Muuroo and gave up all kinds of exorcise. I saw him in Los Angeles last winter and he, was as big as a house. He was taking hfo easy then and indulged his palate lo the limit, lim-it, IL: had a saloon, whore he met convivial friends, and always entertained enter-tained them royal I v. Jeff, never dreamed that he would .be asked to tight again and an a matter of fact, ho did not waul, to return lo the ring at; all. lie has been forced into this light by public clamor and ho will bo taking desperate chances." Jeffries, according lo associates in California, not only neglected physical exercise during his long layoff, but also d ra nk steadily, lie did not imbibe lo oxcoss, but at tlic same timo he denied de-nied himself nothing, lie did not refuse re-fuse a frlass of wine or a highball whoa fnvitod to join his friends, neither did ho refrain from treating them ;'ou the house." v Living in this manner Jeffries Jeff-ries look on Hush, until a year ajo, according ac-cording lo reliable information, he weighed nearly .'?00 pounds. He seldom indulged in ruuning or long distance wnlus and wont J'or months at a timo without putting on the gloves. He was hog fat and short of wind when ho began his "training" last March, and even his best friends did not. believe be-lieve that, he could recover anything liUo his old form. Careful Training. Jeffries, however, wont about the task, of reducing himself in tho'propcr way. Jfo began dairy exorcises gradually, gradu-ally, lie changed his method of. living radically. IIo cut out liquor, selected his meals carefully, got into the habit of sleeping nine hours eaeh night and hy moans of limited road work and light cxereiso ho managed to work off the fat slowly but surely. As ho stands today Jeffries, as far as outward appearances ap-pearances go, loohs as well truined and as rugged as jn the davs of conquest. lie says he feels strong and ablo to .stand a hard fight. In boxing with a partner ho soems to step around with l.h'' name agility that made Corbott pronounce pro-nounce him "tho fastest man of his weight, and inches in the world." I To seems to be able to punch with the old power and he certainly knows as much about riiiK tactics aa he over did. But. Jeffries will admit privately that his chief fault is a lack of wind. Ho appears to tiro quickly after a few vigorous rounds aud puffs liko a grampus. gram-pus. Vet ho. says that when real hard training begins this defect will be easily easi-ly remedied. .Uo knows that Johnson's defense will prolong the light and for that reason he says that ho must have enough tdamina to go the route with the negro. Jeff has u host of supporters support-ers who believe that he, will "come back" and put Johnson away. One of them in predicting tho outcome of the mill said recently: Midget Fighter. "Johnson Iras never beaten a first-class first-class man. in Burns aud Kctchol he heat a pair of midgets' who are,' just good middlewoights. . When ho moots Jeff ho '11 have a man' before him in the ring who is tailor anil heavier, also stronger, a harder hitler and more game. Johnson will find it impossible to throw Jeff around in tho clinches and lo hurt him to any great extent with his punches. Jeff, on the other hand, can hit hard enough to put John-sou John-sou out in jig time, if he gels an opening. open-ing. The boilcrmaker-is not. a fool, and if he thought for an instant that ho could not whip .lohnson ho wouldn't fight him. Jeffries has taken his own timo about reducing his bulk and ho intends to do a lot of hard training before be-fore ho enters tho ring. .71 o doesn't think much of Johnson, anyway, and is going ahead with perfect confidence. JIo is light enough now to fight any man. But it's his wind- that is bothering both-ering him. A few months in the mountains moun-tains of California will fix that all right, and then you'll soft the samo old Jeff, big and strong, with a punch that will put an end lo this controversy. Nover Conic Back. "Looking back through sporting liis; lory ono can find many Instances of atlilL'les who failed to 'como back.' John L. Sullivan, after beating Jako Kilrain, loafod for throo years before meeting C'orbolt and then proved to be all in. Only a year ago Kid M'cCoy, after a long layoff, triod to 'como back' in a bout with Jim .Stewart, a second rater, and was a pitiful failure. Tod Sloan, ono of tho greatest jockeys that over lived, after remaining on tlio ground for several years, tried to rido for Edward Corrigan at New Orleans, but quickly Sound that lie had lost his skill. Though Miko 'Donlin has not been idle for moro than a j'ejir. Manager Mana-ger McGrnw believes: that ho has lost his grip and can nover bo the Giant maiuslay again, doo C'orbett, onco a star pitcher in the National league, tried lo ahino once moro in California last summer after several ycrirs' of idleness, idle-ness, but was quickly convinced that he had seen his best (lays, llow many college football players "on tho gridiron this fall could quit the game for throo vears and then show tho old prowess, tt is the same thing with sprinters like Bernio Wefcrs, wrestlers like ITackcn-schmidt ITackcn-schmidt and oarsmen like Young Ton Kvck. Thev can never 'comeback. Will James J Jeffries, however, orovo an exception?" |
