Omaha daily bee., 1909-02-07

have been put TO sleep. AS It was Jack
stalled and clinched for the remainder Of
the round. and after that he fought Lang
ford at long range. Johnson was so much
more scientific than his small ANTAGONIST
that the latter lost the battle on points.
In May of the same year Johnson stopped
Charley Hsghey at Gloucester, Mass, in a
few punches and then took on Jeanette
once more for a six-round battle which was
to all intents and purposes a draw. After
beating Jeffords In six rounds Johnson
battled with Jeanette again, the decision
being a draw at the end Of ten rounds.
Johnson's prowess prompted Alec Nc
Lain, a Boston boxing promoter. to take
him to Australia in 1907, where Texas Jack
made a clean sweep. He knocked out Peter
Felix In one round at Sydney and later
sent Frank Lang to dreamland in the sew
enth round, the fight taking place at Mel
bourne. Bill Sauires, the Australian heavy
weight champion, evidently knew what he
was about when he lodged the big nesro's
challenge and hurriedly sailed for America
to make a match with Tommy Burns. John
son followed Squires here but could not set
a match, so in July, 1907. he made a match
with Bob Fitzsimmons, the aged Cornish
man for six rounds in Philadelphia. FitS
said before the mill that he had an injured
hand. but he declined TO oisappoint the
crowd at the ringside.
Fits Had No show.
AS soon as he toed the scratch II was
seen that Robert was up against it, for
johnson, with his shifty cleverness, went
around him like a cooper around a barrel,
throwing in jabs, uppercuts and swings
until Fitz was in serious trouble. In the
eaCon1 round Egt1 usae kpockad dOuyn and
was in such a helpless state that the ref
cree interfered.
BY defeating FGtzsimmons so easily John
son jumped into the limelight for fair
and all OF the other big men steered clear
OF him. John L Sullivan thought he could
beat him, however, with Kid Cutler, his
young sparring partner, so Johnson took
him on. The mill took place in Reading,
Pa, and Cutler wasn't in it, for Big Jack
smothered him with punches and knocked
him cold in the first round. Soon after
that johnson met Sailor Burke at Bridge
port in a six-round bout and Burke did the.
Tug Wilson act. dropping to the floor re-
peatedly in order to escape a knockout.
johnson then went back to Frisco and
finished the year 1907 by stopping Jim
Flynn in the eleventh, round. By that time
Sam Fitzpatrick was sure that johnson
could beat Burns, but the latter ignored all
challenges and went to England. For
just one year Johnson and Fitzpatrick kept
on Burns trail until the latter was cor
nered in Australia and was beaten to a
standstill in fourteen rounds.
Looking over his record IL does not appear
to good ring judges that johnson, barring
old F~ftzsimmons, ever beat a really first
class man. The fact that such second raters
as Sam McVey. Ferguson and Marvin Hart
were able to stay twenty rounds with him,
while he was unable to knock out Young
Peter jackson, Joe Jeanette and Sam
Langford, would seem to indicate that Big
Jack is not in the class with Jeffries. Cor
bett, Sharkey and Fitzsimmons, when these
men were at their best. His victory over
Burns did not mean much, for the latter
was purely a counterfeit and never whipped
a genuine heavyweight of class, not except
ing Philadelphia Jack O'Brien. Yet is can
not be denied that Johnson is a remarkable
boxer, one OF the best that ever stepped
into the ring. though there is a general
belief that he lacks a champions knockout
punch. Speaking of Johnson, Joe Choynski,
the only one of the former heavyweight
bunch. barring Fitz, who ever met him in
the squared circle. says:
Two-OOunce Gloves in Australia,
. ut is not generally known that in Aus
tralia and England the boxers wear two
ounce gloves. In America they wear five
and even seven ounce gloves. The small
gloves made the Johnson-Burns contest
look so much like a smuggling match. The
use OF small gloves gives a clever little
fellow a bunch over a big man who de-
ponds on his strength rather than ~sclence.
But to get down to my contest with
Johnson at Galveston. I saw early in the
first round that he had a surprise party
for me. l waded into him, only to find
that he was up to stuff and exchanged
blow for blow like a finished ring general.
II I had boxed with him in my usual
fashion the contest would surely have gone
the limit. l quickly made up my mind that
Is was my place to give him a hard one
and take a chance &C getting a stiff punch
In return. | got in mine all right, but Jack
as usual worked in one in return, but my
blow was harder and that settled it. We
were arrested, charged with taking part in
a prize fight and both got a Jail sentence.
After fighting me Johnson went to the
Pacific coast and whipped nearly all the
good men. He did not fight Jeff, but did
go up against the retired champions
brother, Jack, whom he beat by the knock
out route In five rounds. His weigh at
that time was 1872 pounds, the same figure
that was given out when he fought Tommy
Burns in Australia. The stories published
that johnson is a shiftless fellow are en-
tirely wrong. He takes excellent care of
him self and loves TO box. 1t will be a
long time before he is defeated, unless the
fact that we have a colored hampio acts
as an incentive for some white man to
come forth and perfect himself to to take
the championship away from the black
one"
Johnson was anxious to fight Jeffries
thee years ago but the boilermaker not
only said he had retired. but also drew
the color line. II Jeffries ever meets
Johnson and is in his old trim experts be-
lieve that Texas Jack will not last more
than ten ounds the limit OF Jim Corbett's
last mill with the burly Californian nearly
five years ago. But can Jeffries come
back?
Jeff and Johnson, by the way. have been
hitter enemies for years. Jeff has no use
for johnson and told him SO in a few
words, n the tales that were common gossip