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Show JOHNSON 13 POWERFUL So is Jeffries and Eoth Are Eager for the Big Contest Den Lomond, Cal., June 15. When Dick Adams returned to Bon Lomond yesterday and casually mentioned that ho hnd looked Jack Johnson over, ov-er, Jeffries pricked up his oars. "Does he seem to be In good condition?" condi-tion?" asked the retired champion. Tho question surprised all listeners for It Is the first time Jeffries ha openly evinced tho slightest Interest In the form of the man ho Is to do battle with July 4. "Yes, I was surprised, Jim," Adams told him, "to find Johnson in bucq pood shape. These stories abont his being fat and under-trained are all wrong, according to my judgment. Johnson Is big and powerful and will be In first class condition." If this information disconcerted tho big fellow he did not show it. But his eyes narrowed, as If he were weighing the news and Its significance. signifi-cance. "AH right; I'm glad to hear It," With that laconic remark bo turned away, dismissing the subject. Word is being passed ulong hero that Tom Flanagan, Johnsons new manager, Is coming to Ben Lomond i soon to see Jeffries work. Tho report re-port has it that Flanagan's visit will ! he ostensibly In the Interest of sev-I sev-I eral Canadian papers he represents, but really that he will be acting as a 6cout for Johnson In order to secure se-cure a first hand Blze-up of the boiler-maker boiler-maker for the negro champion. According Ac-cording to Dick Adams, Johnson's followers -were Inclined to think that he was scouting for Jeffries in visiting visit-ing the negro's camp to see him hox. Jeffries, on coming in from his road Juunt yesterday, looked as chipper as a robin in a hackoerry bush. -I wish," he said, "that the fight was next Friday Instead of July 4." Again he declared that ho Is in the very pink of condition and reiterated his statement of a few days ago that, if he is beaten In the coming fight, be will have no excuse to offer. This opinion appears to be shared by the camp gentry and all who have seen Jeffries iu the last few days. Walter Monahan, a former sparring partner of the big fighter, who has been watching Jeffries' steady Improvement, Im-provement, declares that Jeffries is as lit for this fight as any that ho ever engaged in. Moreover, he gives it as his belief that Jeffries has corne to be a faster boxer and that his skill with the gloves has increased. Monahan, Mona-han, who has seen much of the big fellow since hfs retirement from the ring, discredits talk to the effect that Jeffries- did not take good care of himself during the interim. "A good many people," he says, "thought that Jeffries Idled away his time . after leaving the ring. They will be Influenced to bet on Johnson because of that belief, but they are sadly mistaken Jeffries spent mo9t of his time on his ranch, working hard. He built a fence around thu place and dug a couple of wells. When he was on the ranch he was out of doors all the time, and when he was not working he was hunting in the mountains or fishing. I'll hot he has taken far better care of himself than the average man." Jeffries no longer flinches under the manipulation of the masseurs. His skin has toughened so that it Is no longer necessary to handle him with caro, and, instead of dreading the rubbing process as he did In the early das of his training, Jeffries seems to enjoy it. Jiiu Corbett showed some vexation over the fact that Jeffries refused to box yesterday, but he Is beginning to learn that Jeffries Is the arbiter of his own training regime and will work only when he thinks he needs It. |