Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1910-07-02

AN1@N0 oFa 0S+S
WVYHO is the heavyweight cham
w pion of the world? This is the
question set for argument Mon
day afternoon. when James j. J~effries,
undefeated champion, retired, and Jack
johnson, holder of Jeffries's relin-
pushed title by right of conquest,
meet in the first real heavyweight
championship battle held in this coun-
try since Tommy Burns defeated Bill
Squires, the Australian challenger, In
this city just three years ago Mon
day.
For the first time since he defeated
Bob Fitzsimmons in 1899, J~effries Is
the challenger. Through all his spec
tacular ring career, JEFF never en-
countered a setback. He has never
tasted the bitterness of defeat, and the
sporting public has held him to be
the champion, despite his voluntary
withdrawal in favor of Marvin Hart
in 1905. There were no new fields then
for Jeffries to conquer. OF all the
heavy-weights before the public he was
so easily the master that a bout be-
tween the champion and any one Of
them proved a poor drawing card.
So Jeffries, in the prime of his man
hood. and when his skill, strength n
fighting spirit were at their height,
retired. He passed completely out of
tile prize-fighting world. 1t was his
intention and desire eve to reepter
it. Let who would struggle for the
honors Ne laid down, said Jeffries;
he wSs no longer a fighter. He pro-
posed to enjoy in peace and comfort
in his Southern California home the
competence he had won in the give
and-take of hard knocks,
But there was a dark horse in the
race-a very dark horse indeed-and
Jeffries never thought of the race
question, better known in the sporting
whirl as the ''color line represented
in John Arthur Johnson, of Galveston,
when he planned a bucolic future for
himself. He failed to reckon with that
mighty host, public opinion.
JOHNS0N'S BEGINNING.
Jack Johnson, of Galveston, began
his ring career in his home town in
1901. He was a big, strong man, but
he lacked skill and experience, and his
skin was black. No one thought OF
him except as a husky third-rater.
That is, no one but Johnson himself.
For himself, it is said, Johnson a
marked out a high place in the pugilis-
tic game. He did not talk much about
it, but he worked for it early and late,
lighting every one who came his way;
>3s4t fighting craftily, steering clear of
ovefexertion, and of men who were
decidedly his superior, and apt to bring
his ambitions to disastrous defeat. With
every fight he gained experience. He
slowly blossomed out as a Vi blown
scientific boxer, clever beyond the u
of ordinary big men. His ring general
ship developed in a most surprising
way, inc his big body showed at each
appearance that he was taking are
of himself between whites, carefully
building up his strength without i'm
pairing his speed.
Through all the time johnson was
fighting his way to the top, his dreams
We're centered about the one fight that
some day he would achieve-a fight
with Jeffries, the great man of the
ring. With a mind single to that our
pose he went forward, fretting against
delays but watching J~effries, always
on hand when Jeffries stepped into the
ring. and giving no part of his atten-
ton to any other object than the great
white tighter.
J0HNS0N'S AMBITION.
When Jeff retired Johnson did not
despair. He went on toward the cham
pionship, chasing half way around the
world to get his chance at Tommy
Burns in Australia; but never losing
sight of the quiet farmer in Southern
California. The championship meant a
great deal to him. 1t meant that fight
ers must come to him; hat he would
no longer be compelled to scheme and
struggle just for the chance to fight.
But mor than that, in the end it meant
a fight with J~effries, and Johnson knew
it, and also he knew that Jeffries knew
1t. He had tested race prejudice in
many ways. He had heard the hiss of
race feeling in the shouting and yells
at countless ring sides. He knew that
If a black man held the coveted title or
the arena the day must come when the
white champion would be forced out
of his retreat and do battle for his re-
Iinquished honors, driven into the ring
by popular clamor.
And today Jeffries and Johnson face
each other in what virtually is. a fight
to a finish. For Johnson it is the frui-
ton Of his years Of hoping and plan
ming and fighting. For Jeffries it is
what2 He has yielded to the pressure
of public opinion. He has reentered