The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-05-19

San Francisco, May. 1S-Some of Jim Jeffres, friends are amused at the retired champions announcement that he will re- quire q few months of trial training to de- termne whether he can get himself into proper condition for a fight with Bill Squires. Jeffries appears to be such monument Of health and physical power just now that his cronies consider the ultra caution on his part In the matter of shaping his plans a joke, and the bandinage the big fellow has been subject ed to has placed him on the defensive.
 What's the matter with you fellows?" he blurted out the other day Whats funny about a fellow looking ahead? Don't you know that it's three years since l pulled on a glove and don't you think it's wise for a man who has been that long out of harness to look himself over before making any contractsT'
 No matter what Jeffries says in the way of explanation, the reservation he makes is regarded as bit of unconscious humor. Friends who have followed his career for years think he looks just as he looked when training for his Coney Island fights with Fitzsimmons and Sharkey, and the question of a Squires-Jeffries match is be- leved to hinge, not on the result of any preliminary training on Jeffries' part, but on the outcome of Squires affair with Tommy Burns on July at Colma. This is because Jeffries has made 1t clear that he will not attempt to molest Burns if Tommy wins.
 tsr .-1.4t A n, said Jeffries, "and I'm not itching to get back into the game, as many seem to think. I said when I retired that I'd come back into the ring if foreigner came here and defeated our best men, and I'll keep my word. But If Burns bests Squlres. that ends it. Tommy can go right along enjoying all the championship privileges and the alfalfa will be good enough for me Make this particularly plain. please. for some people may think that I'll want to meet Burns if he makes good show Ing. I'll not fight him under any circum- stances"
 Jeffries visited San Francisco for the purpose of looking into business proposi- tion that was made to him. It had to do with assuming the management of cafe recently opened close to the busiest DOT tion of Fillmore street. The negotiations fell through. and now the big fellow is back in Los Angeles. He says he will come north again in a couple of weeks be- fore the Burns-Squires match and will pay official visits to both men at their training camps, so that a thorough under- standing may be had as to breaks, clinches, free-arm hitting and all that kind of thing
 Talking of Jeffries' present condition. there is one man who considers the man from Burbank tower of strength. This is Barney Reynolds, manager of Bill Squires.
 When Reynolds was introduced to Jeff fries at Los Angeles the day after the O Brien- Burns nightmare, the little gentle man from Australia spent fully ten min utes sizing up Jeffries from every pos sible viewpoint. He shifted his position in the group with which Jeffries was con- versing and he looked stealthily at Jef- fries from the back and front and from both sides. This is what he had to say:
 What clown was it that circulated the report that Jeffries was big and pussy and in no shape to train. Why. that mans in splendid shape. His eye is clear his color Is a good, healthy tan and I don't see that his athletic lines have bulged in such way as to suggest loss of force or slowing up. He is marvellous specl- men. No matter which angle you look at him from, he is a symmetrical and as solid as n lighthouse. If he can't bring himself into perfect trim and give as good