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Show Corbetfs Opinion of Johnson and Jeffries (By James J. Corbett.) What chanco would Johnson have with Jeff if the two should meet, and ic Jack Johnson as great a tighter as Peter Jackson was in his best days? Since Johnson's arrival In this country coun-try I have had ths questions put to mo so often that I am going to give my views on them to the public through tho news columns. To start with. If Jeff was as good as he was when he fought me the second sec-ond tlmo he would certainly beat Johnson. John-son. But Jeff isn't, and he knows it better than tho public does, l met him on the coast during ray theatrical tour and I got In pretty close touch with him. He said then, tin ho says now, that he will fight Johnson if he can get Into condition. But that he does not really know hlmscir Is a lact. oiten I have heard fans say that ho knows but he doesn't want to say what his plans are. This Is not so. The poorest poor-est fight fan knows about as mucn about wht Jeff Is going to do as the big fellow knows hlmaeir. in view of this condition, Johnson right now must be given credit for being at least good enough for the world's championship champion-ship class. Johnson, until he whipped Tommy Burns, was like a ship tossed at sea. He belonged no place and little attention atten-tion was paid to him. To have classed class-ed then with Jeff would have been an indication of mental trouble. But now that he has whipped Burns and none of the other active white heavyweights heavy-weights look to bo In his class his right to be classed with Jeff should not be questioned. Johnson Is 500 per 1 I cent better than Jack Munroe, yet the public fell for the Butte miner. And when Monroe fought Jeff the big fellow was at his best. Now the conditions are different. Had Johnson John-son been Jeff's opponent the night he fought Monroe, Jeff would have had to put up a much stlffer battle, and since then every fight fan knows Jeff haa gone back a lot. But after all Is said and done u will be impossible to give anything like a good line on Jeff until wc know what kind of condition he will bo able to get into. As to whether Johnpon will fight Jeff or not, there is no question In my mind. I believe that Johnson feels as confident as any man ever did that he Is Jeff's master. For several jears his friends have been filling his heaa wlth the rot that Jeff was atrald or him. And Johnson is not different from any. of his race. They are a self-admlrlng people, and when an ignorant ig-norant colored man or a ralrly well-educated well-educated person like Johnson once gets the hunch that he Is the master of an enemy. It seems annihilation on one side or the other. ' I do not believe Johnson expected Jeff to accept a proposition from him at any near date. The offer to meet the big bollermaker In a battle In New York or an unlimited affair on tho coast, was simply a piece or advertising. ad-vertising. Johnson realizes that ir he wishes to be received In America as champion ho will have to declare himself above everything else wining to meet anyone. I Jeff could not accept terms tor a j year at least And Johnson knows it. I But In America Johnson realizes that it is a lot different than in a roreign country. Ho has to keep his press agent busy to remain In the public, eye. No better, dope could be sent out by him than that he was willing to meet Jeff at any time, especially before he goes to Europo for an extended ex-tended foreign engagement. With the question settled that Johnson Is willing will-ing to meet Jeffries, I will now compare com-pare hlra as a fighter to Peter Jackson. I have always thought Peter JacK-son JacK-son was one of the world's greatest fighters. He had all tho attributes ot a pugilist from footwork to Judgment of distance and a punch In either hand. He contrasted with Johnson In the point of cleverness. Peter Jackson Jack-son waa a machine in the ring m many respects. Such can not be said of Johnson. The latter, however, possesses pos-sesses a way of handling hlrnseir that Is almost as effective as extreme cleverness. clev-erness. He Is very awkward In many of his movements, but it Is his awkwardness awk-wardness that fools his opponent. Jackson had a much better lert hand than Johnson and he usd It to great advantage. I'll never forget how hard I found It to stay away from. Ho played for my Jaw continually, but never landed hard enough to Jolt mo. But he landed more often In the slxty one rounds that I fought him man any two other fighters I ever met. |
