New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-07-05
JEFFR|ES FALLS
BEFORE JOHNSON
Negro Ends Big Battle with
Staggering Blows in the
Fifteenth Round.
CROWD CALLS FOR MERCY
Begs Referee to Save Onetime
Champion and Seconds Jump
in Ring to End the
Count.

| son practically knocked out James j.
forty-five-round fight here to-day before
crowd of sixteen thousand persons
| Tic end came so quickly that those who
had travelled miles and miles to see the
| battle of the century" looked on in
gloomy silence and almost forgot TO cheer
| the heavyweight champion of the world
for his marvellous skill, speed. stamina
and cunning.
| While Jeffries was actually not counted
out. he was saved only from this crown
! ing shame by his friends pleading with
Johnson not to hit the fallen man again
and the towel was brought into the ring
teenth round Tex" Richard. the referee
raised his arm and the great crowd fled
out glum and silent and disappointed,
Jeffries was dragged to his corner.
| bleeding from nose and mouth and with
dozen cuts on his face. He had a black
/ closed eye and swollen features and hs
held his head in his hands. dazed and
| incoherent
/ Johnson walked out of the ring with
out a mark on his body. except slight
cut on his lip. which was the opening OF
a wound received in training
/ Not = Championship Fight.
! Ring experts agree that IT was noe
even a championship fight Jenries had
a chance in the second round, perhaps.
/ but after the sixth 1t was plain that tho
| "undefeated one" was weakening and
outcla ssed in every point. and after the
eleventh round it was hopeless.
| 1t was the greatest demonstration the
ring has ever seen Of the failure of a
| fighter to come back" after years OF re-
! tirement. The youth and science of the
negro made Jeffries look like a green
fighter The great Jeffrfes was sloth.
the reviled Johnson a black panther.
wonderful in his alertness and defensive
| tactics
| Jefrries fought by instinct. it seemed.
showing his gameness and his great
| fighting heart in every round. but he was
| only shell of his old self. The vaunt
/ ed power to take terrible beating and
| bore in until he landed the knockout
| blow was gone
After the third round Johnson treated
his opponent almost as joke. He smiled
and blocked playfully. warding of the
bearIike rushes of Jeffries with a mar
vellous science. now tucking q blow un-
der his arm. again plucking it out of the
air as man stops a. baseball
| Out of the sea of opinions and argyll
ments that bolstered up this fight and
made 1t the talk of the world. these pin
nacles of fact have been cast UP.
| The fight was on the square. OF that
there was no doubt after the first round
| There was no evidence or hint Of the
| famous yellow streak" on the part OF
| Johnson.
! Johnson proved himself so absolutely
the master of his rival that W. Corbett.
the Australian sporting writer. declared
that Tommy Burns had put up a better
! fight against Johnson and that the negro
was only playing with Jeffries.
End Swift and Terrible.
| The end was swift and terrible. Il
! looked as though Johnson had been hold
| ing himself under cover all the rest OF
| the time. and now that he had measured
| Jeffries in all his weakness he had de-
! ternined TO stop the unequal battle as
| quickly as possible
Jeffries had lost the power Of defence.
| series of right and left uppercuts de-
| livered at will sent him staggering to
| the ropes He turned and fought back
| by instinct and because he was game
and dying hard, but the end came a
| pitiful end for a man who had never
| tasted defeat.
| With the exception OF a few fast
rounds the fight was tame. Jeffries did
not have the power in his punch to hurt
Johnson after he had received blow after
blow on the jaw, and his vital power
was ebbing. But even before this stage
came Jeffries could not reach the negro
The blows nearly always landed with all
the speed taken out of them. IL was Ike
hitting punching bag.
The Jefries crouch was in evidence at
times but during most of the fight the
onetime champion fought standing.
working with something of his old az
gressiveness.
The fifteenth and final round started
with a clinch after Jefries had failed
to land on the body. Johnson then tore
loose and before the spectators were
prepared for the finish sent Jeffries
sprawling to the canvas with lightning
like left and right blows TO the jaw.
Jeffries slipped and fell halfway through
the ropes on the west side OF the ring.
Those under him saw that he had lost
his sense of surroundings and that the
faces at the ringside were a blur 20
him. His time had come. He was feel
ing what he had caused others TO feel IN
the days of his youth and power.
Johnson stood poised over the CULVER
ing body of his fallen adversary. ready
for a left hook if Jefries regained his
feet
Corbett Asks for Mercy.
Jim Corbett. who stood in Jeffriess
corner during the fight telling Johnson
what a fool he was and how re was in
for the beating of his life. now ran for
ward with outstretched arms. crying:
..Oh. don't. Jack: don't hit him.
Jeffries painfully raised himself to his
feet His jaw had dropped. His eye,
were nearly shut and his face was COW
cred with blood With trembling legs
and shielding arms he tried to put UP a
defence. but he could not stop a terrific
right smash on the jaw. followed by two
- l.N.f