The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-10-20
The Retired Champion Sizes Up
the Various Fighters.
Says Tommy Burns Does Not
Class NTH Old Timers.
ADMIRER OF CORBETT.
Declares He Was Better Than
Ever Given Credit For.
Considers Dempsey Star Middle
weight of the World.

San Francisco. Oct 2o.-In a long
signed article he has just issued, on the
subject of boxing and boxers, Jim JEFF
fries, the retired champion, does not
I hesitate to declare that the latter-day
heavyweights are far inferior to the
men of ten years back. JEFF evidently
does not think a great deal of the
prowess Of Tommy Burns, for speaking
/ of Jim Corbett he says:
"Corbett had the misfortune to be in
his lighting prime at a time when the
heavyweight division was crowded with
hlgh-class men. Do you think that
Tommy Burns would ever have been
able to go around the world calling
n e.ll champion. meeting fourth and
1lItn-rate dubs, and never have taken
! a chance with a fair opponent had he
nVed in the day of Corbett, Sharkey,
sullivan, Fftzsimmons. or even old Pc
ter Maher? Never ma life time.
! why, had Jim Corbett, Fitzsimmons
or any of the men of that sterling cali
bre had the field to themselves as Tom
my Burns now has they would have
been overtaken. Look at the heavy
weight class of few years ago, with
its Corbetts, Fitzsimmons and it's Shar-
keys, and then look at the situation in
that division today. There can be no
comparison. 1 even have my doubts as
to the present champions ability to
have passed any one of the men men
toned"
Jeff continues: Speaking of Fitzsim-
mons and Corbett brings to mind the
fact that the latter was, in my opinion
at least, much better fighter than the
public ever gave him credit for being.
They called him Gentleman Jim and
said he was great boxer. He was
more than that; he was great fighter.
1t has been said that Jim Corbett
4
faced the big fellow in the ring had
this to say of him after the battle was
over. I consider Corbett one of the
greatest heavyweights that the game
has ever known. He was the skilled
boxer. the ring general and the fighte~
all in one.
IF Corbett had one weak point it was
the unfortunate fact that he did not
possess the physical makeup to with
stand a bombardment of heavy punish
ment. Having been endowed by nature
with a slender frame, comparatively
speaking, Corbett used his great brain
and made himself the cleverest big
man that the world has ever known.
| On the defensive Jim Corbett had no
peers, and the fact that he was capable
4 of meeting the one weak point In his
/ fighting armor and of building 1t up to
I triple strength makes Corbett, accord
I ing to my way of thinking, one of the
( greatest heavyweights that ever held
| the title.
I have often been asked whom I con-
sidered the greatest middleweight in
| the game. Jack Dempsey, without
doubt. Not that 1 would cast any re-
Election upon the Papkes. Ketchels or
Kellys of today. but could consume an
entire column alone in praise of the
Nonpareil. and even then I would not
be able to say it all.
ut is hard for some of the present
day fight-followers. the younger gener-
alton. that has sprung up in recent
years, to understand why Dempsey was
so beloved by all who knew him. The
greatest man the world ever knew,
man with heart steel and one VIII
would fight until he had exhausted the
| last drop of blood in his veins before
he would surrender, is but a faint de-
scription of poor Jack. Sufficient to
say that it was looked upon in the
! sporting world as national calamity
! when Bob Fitzsimmons beat Dempsey
physically and broke the mans heart
! by knocking him out at New Orleans
| in 1891. Fighters may come and fight
ers may go, but we will never forget
lack Dempsey"