The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-10-22
JEFFRIES REACHES NEW YORK
 HOT FOR FIGHT WITH NEGRO
...1hey Can't Get Us Together Any Too Soon to Suit Me- Declares the Undefeated Heavyweight, Who is
 Within Few Pounds of Fighting Condition.

in the minds of nearly everyone who
 saw Jeffries. The three weeks the champion put in at Carlsbad worked
 big improvement in him. 'I did ten r miles rough work every day I was
 at Carlsbad and this with the waters and my gymnasium work certainly
 put me on edge.'
 One of the party punched Jeffries
 in the vicinity of his lower vest but ton and asked him what had become of the comfortable embonpoint-this wasn't the exact word used-that used to nestle there This was little too
 much liberty and the big fellow polite ly declared that he never did have
 an unseemly paunch.
 Jeffries had few questions to ask on his own account and they chiefly concerned certain tall and dusky citizen by the name of Jack Johnson. | claimant to the championship was ccming to New York; who was his present manager. what sort of fight
 he put against Ketchell and whether the public really thought the colored man would fight him.
 "I hope he is as sincere as he lets on to be-" Jeff said. ''If he is, he will have no trouble in getting a fight.
 But it wouldn't surprise me if he failed to show up or began naming impossible conditions the moment we get together
 There is no mistaking the fact that Jeff doesn't have a particularly warm spot in his heart for the giant negro and mo quarter asked ior given looks as though it would be the motto of Jeffries if he ever faces Johnson in the ring.
 '1 don't know what is in the pre- liminary agreement that Berger and
 Johnson signed in Chicago last Aug ust,'' said Jeff, ''but that, however,
 will stand" Berger explained that this agreement merely provides that Jeff fries and Johnson will sign articles as soon as possible, to fight before the club offering the largest purse for from 20 to 100 rounds, the division of gested by Jeff.
 Regarding Johhson's fight with Ketchel, Jeff said the white boy never had chance. 'AThey asked me in London what I thought of this fight
 and I told them that Johnson was 10 to 1 shot. Ketchel is a good little man and he would be a heavy weight in England but he had no business going up against a man of JohnSonS s size"
 sam Berger, who is looking after Jeffries' interests, is hopeful that a | set of articles may be signed not lat | CT than next Monday. His under | standing is that Johnson and Manager Little are coming to New York, along with James Coffroth, the Frisco pro | the signing of the articles should take more than few hours, provided, and he always puts in this proviso, John son is in earnest.
 l Jeff and his wife, who constantly smiled her happiness over the atten- tions shown her big spouse, went im- mediately from the dock to the Hotel Albany. Jeff said the last time he was weighed was in France, when he tilted the beam at 228 pounds. Be- sides his rigorous work at Carlsbad, i Jeff put in three days of gym work l in Paris and five days of training in London.
 q didn't get chance to do any | boxing while abroad he said. "They 1 told me in Paris that Sam McVey was l euchred out of his fight with Joe Jeannette, in which McVey quit after I go rounds. The sports there said that Jahnett was down for nearly the count several times.
 Jeffries said that one of the first things to demand his attention here
 would be an operation for his broken nose q intended to have it perform l ed in Europe but they wanted too
 much money over there. When I get my nose strengthened out I will be able to breathe easier"
 | Berger, hopes that in case Johnson | is detained in San Francisco his man ager will go ahead with the articles | so that the whole thing may be dis
 posed of within the next few days.