The Indianapolis journal., 1903-11-06

Jenries Admits that s'GentIeman jim
Is n Heavy Hitter.

st. Louis Post-Dispatch.
James j. Corbett is "slugger" after all.
The man who was supposed to be the
Weakest-hitting heavyweight in the ring is
pronounced to be the hardest puncher next
to Jeffries. This record was not achieved
on a slot machine, but on the person of
none other than Champion James ]. JEFF
fries.
1t is Jeffries himself who revealed the
fact, in an interview. To a reporter who
asked him about the matter, Jeffries talked
as follows:
1.-THE blow that hurt me most in all my
fights was a right-hand punch that Jim
Corbett landed on the point of my jaw in
the tenth round of our fight at Coney
Island.
He never knew how near he came to
beating me with that one punch. 1t Jared
and stunned me so that for few seconds
L hardly knew that L was fighting. If he
had known how felt so that he could take
his advantage, the fight might have come
out differently. But he did not know it
and l recovered in a short time and went
on as If nothing had occurred to bother me.
Lots of people think that Corbett can't
| hit, but there never was bigger mistake
made. l was very careful in our last fight
same kind But in the eighth round he
did, and the effect was nearly as bad as
on the former occasion. l remember it; l
when Corbett landed on me with a left
hook that brought me up with jolt Then
l saw his right hand come around and it
caught me square on the point. That made
me wabble little, but 1t was not as dam
aging as the punch he got in on me in the
| first fight.
"Then, up in Carson, Corbett used to jar
me with punches on the jaw. There is the
| only place that anybody ever hurt me.
| None of the blows that Corbett or Fitz put
| into my body ever distressed me in the
| least. Fitz is a hard puncher, but in our
| fights he never daZed me the way Corbett
| did in our first battle.
In Frisco Fitz cut me all to pieces. No
other man ever damaged me that way. but
| for all that / was never in danger at all.
| / remember that Fitzsimmons was hitting
awfully hard and his blows landed, but
| they didn't stun.
| ever had me hurt. Sharkey hammered me.
| He didn't land often, but when he did it
| was a hard punch. Still, 1 can say that
| Sharkey did not daze me at all in our
| fights.
| blow. 1t is left hook in the body. That
| is the punch that puts them all down when
| it lands. That is the one that L put In on
| Corbett a few times, and 1t took all the
| fight out of him. / like to get in with a
| few body punches. They have a lot of
| effect in taking the steam out OF the otner
man and making him an easy mark for the
| knockout.
II knew that I had Corbett as soon as I
| got the first punch into his body. could
| see his eyes roll up. After that / studied
him out carefully and went in to win with
/ out wasting punch
II don't like to keep jabbing away all the
| time without landing, as some fighters do.
The way to do is to go at il like skilled
workman. Fighting is trade, just like
carpentering or matchmaking, and cham
| pion ought to use skill all through the fight.
| II don't see the of cutting bruising
| the other fellow any more than / have TO.
The best way is to find his weakest spot
and then get in Ib one or e,f few blows dn that
| take any delight in hearing that he can't
1 get out on the street the next day"