The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1909-12-29
BERGER EXPECTS
QUICK DECISION

Sam Berger Jeffries' manager, is
quoted as follows:
am with Jeffries nearly all the time
He seldom speaks Of the coming fight
In fact he considers it too much of a
joke to call 1t fight. / am sure that
johnson Is not as clever as Corbett was
and am also sure that Johnson cannot
Withstand harder blow than Corbett
could. So why look any farther into
the records of the men? johnson will
do as Billy Sunday said recently in a
sermon: Lick the coon SO fast that
he won't know he has been in a ring"
All this talk about secret arrange
ments is the work of jealous rivals. If
we wanted to do that we could have
agreed on clustering session for the
benefit of the scribes and they made all
the secret arrangements that were ever
made too. It's a joke, that's all.
Managing a fighter of the Jeffries
type is not hard work at ALL A man of
Jim Jeffries' intelligence really needs
no manager in the strict sense of the
word. am with him because / can
be used as sparring partner. tn be
consulted on business matters and,
after all, we are the best of pals. In
this case, however, Jeffries did need a.
manager, because he would have never
done business with johnson IL he was
forced to do 1t in person.
Regards Fight a Joke.
Its not so very long ago that / had
an ambition TO become the heavyweight
champion myself. Had I known Jim
Jeffries as do now, and had Jim jeff
ries been an active participant Of the
boxing game, / would have never pos
sessed that ambition. The public sees
JEFF and me in the act at each perform
ance, but the public does not see how
Jeffries works in his active training
work each afternoon. Ever since we
started on this tour JEFF has put in
from two to three hours each afternoon
in active training. He calls 1t prelimi-
nary work for the real thing, but I
don't see why it should be called pre-
liminary work.
A few years ago, just to pick up
some experience I trained, or, rather,
worked with James J. Corbett while he
was training for his fight with Jeffries
in San Francisco. We were over at
Croll's in Alameda, and used to won
der how any man could defeat Corbett.
Finally the night OF the fight arrived,
and I was at the ringside, and I bet
my brother that jeff would not lay a
glove on Corbett for six rounds.
never will forget the wallop Jeffries
handed Corbett in the second round. 1t
hurt me as much as it did Corbett.
From that minute I became a Jeffries
man.
So much has been said about Jeffries'
condition that I want to go on record
as saying that Jeffries today is better
than when he fought Tom Sharkey. He
feels like 2-year- old and has not been
dissipator. He is right now in the
prime of life and when he enters the
ring with johnson next July 4, he win
be ready 20 put UP the fight OF his life.
I want to warn all those who believe
the stories about making the fight a
picture fight for six rounds not to bet
their money that way. / absolutely
feel that Jeffries will knock Johnson
cold in less than four rounds. At any
rate, from the second that the gong
sounds Jeffries will be looking to place
the knockout blow.
Training Camp Scenes.
Picture fight? Why, in the first
place, one round would prove just as
good financially as ten rounds. In fact,
better. The pictures will be prepared
so that in case of an early knockout
we will still be able to give the public
an interesting entertainment. Be pre-
pared mean that we will take NOV
ing pictures of the training quarters,
the different out of-town delegations
arriving, the introducing Of celebrities,
etc., so that in case Of short fight
we will have a good many features to
show. After all. would not the public
rather see Jeffries knock Johnson's
block off in a round? And what the
public likes to see they will pay for,
even on a picture screen.
Regarding Jeffries training, / can
state that imediately after this tour
Jeffries will go on a couple of weeks
vacation, probably hunting or to Cata-
lima island. After that he will enter
active training. I expect James J.
Corbett, Jack Root, Frank Gotch, DIR.
Roller and myself will train him.
Goth is so anxious to have white