The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1909-08-11
]. JEFFRIES WILL
DEFEAT JOHNSON

The mere fact that a man had been
found at last to give Jefrries fight
will attract an immense crowd. 1t was
with much regret that we saw Jeffries
forced to retire four years for lack of
an opponent AT that time there was
mt heavyweight in sight that the
promoters would agree to put into a
ring with Jefrries.
johnson will be the biggest real fight
ing man that Jeffries ever met. He
weighs at times twenty or thirty
pounds over two hundred. In fact there
will not be very. much difference in
weight between the men. for Jeffries
himself expects to train down to 22O
pounds, which is lower weight than
he has made for any fight since the
famous battle with Bob Fitzsimmons
that gave him the worlds champions
ship.
Aside from his height and reach
(equal to Jen's own johnson has a
lot of cIeverness. He is mastery de-
fensive fighter. There's the difference
between Jeffries and Johnson. Jefrries
is master of attacK-Johnson is alb
solutely lost when on the aggressive
He must wait for his man to come al
him. Johnson is staIler. Jeffries is
a rusher and quick flnisher
Jeffries, under Bob Fitzsimmons's
coaching, became a very clever fighter
only year or so before he retired He
learned how to apply his immense
strength. When he fought Jim Corbett
little later he was able 10 play with
him as he pleased and knocked him out
as soon as he wanted to. Jeffries is
left handed. His left arm is his strong
est. This is a great advantage. He
handles the left like catapult. When
he hooks or uppercuts the blow has be-
hind it an arm as rigid and as big and
strong as an ordinary mans leg. Jeff
usually knocks his man out with the
left. In his last fight with Fitzsimmons
he used his favorite blow for finisher.
Starting a rigid left hook for the law
he suddenly whipped 1t down under
Fitzsimmons's guard to his body. Fitz
says he never felt such a crushing blow
before in his life. He thought all his
ribs had been driven in. He couldn't
even gasp for breath, and as he went
down he felt that he was paralyzed
and suffocating Jim Corbett had a
similar experience. When Jeffries got
ready TO knock Corbett out. which was
in the tenth round, he closed in and
punched Corbett under the heart with
his right. As Corbett, in distress. tried
to get away with swift sidestep JEFF
fries whipped that long left out and
caught him fairly on the lower edge
of the ribs. He fell conscious, but alb
solutely helpless and unable to gasp
for breath. Corbett didn't recover from
that one left hook for several months.
His body remained sore.
Jeffries will get that through on
Johnson, no matter how cleverly the
negro stalls and blocks. Jeff's huge and
powerful arms will beat down any
guard that can be used by Johnson.
and JEFF will hip that left until it lands
on the right spot.
Johnson's best punch, as shown in all
of his fights, is right hand uppercut
on the break or at close quarters. He
also uses a long, straight-arm left
swing for the body that hurts when 1t
lands, but the uDpercut is his deadly
punch. Johnson is powerfully built.
and can hit hard. The effectiveness of
his blows, however is usually lost be-
cause he is so careful He has fought
twenty round bouts with most OF the
fourth-rate heavyweights In the coun-
try, and all because he lacks the kind
of flghting spirit that makes a man like
Jeffries dangerous.
Johnson used that uppercut on Tom
my Burns in Australia and 1t prac-
tically won him the fight. Had he not
landed II in the first breakaway, knock
ing Burns down for seven seconds and
dazing him badly, the fight might have
had a different ending entirely 1t won't
be SO easy to land IT on tail man IKE
Jeffries, especially since JEFF has abb
andoned the crouch and stands straight
It'll be great fight when they get
together great fight and short one.
At least so Jeffries says
I'll make 1t as short as cam
JEFF told me. AT'll knock johnson out
in less than six rounds
Probably Johnson, If he intends TO
fight. has some similar design. The
difference of opinion make the fight
ing game.
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