The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-07-05

| lacking. The things 1 used to do were
| impossible. For instance, I used to
shoot in a right hand body punch, a
sort of short range blow that never
used to fail me. But when tried it
| today the snap was not there and it
was only love tap.
Il suppose most of my trainers and
helpers will say that 1 did not box
often enough. 1t would not have made
any difference if 1 had spared a dozen
times oftener than 1 did. I simply
was not there and that's all there is
to it.
81 guess it's all my own fault. I
was getting along nicely and living
peacefully on my alfalfa farm, but
when they started calling for me and
| mentioning me as the white mans
| hope I guess my pride got the better
of my good judgment. At that, 1
worked long and hard to condition
| myself and l was fit, so far as strength
goes. but the old snap and dash, the
Willingness to tear in and crush, were
| not with me.
six years ago the result might
| have been. different. But n0w-well,
1 guess the public will lei me alone
after this
| The fifteenth round, which decided
| the heavyweight championship, tells
/ the story of how the fight was won.
Johnson proved himself so absolute
| ly Jeffries master that experts declare
that Tommy Burns had put up better
| fight against Johnson and that the
black man was only playing with the
other man.
The end was swift and terrible. 1t
looked as though johnson had been
holding himself under cover all the rest
of the time, and now that he had meas
Ured Jeffries in all his weakness, he
had determined to stop it quickly. JEFF
fries had lost the power of defense. A
series of right and left uppercuts de-
livered at will, sent him staggering to
the ropes. He turned and fought back
by instinct as though he was dying
hard.
With the exception of a few fast
rounds, the fight was tame. Jeffries
did not have the power in his punches
to hurt Johnson after he had received
blow after blow on the jaw, and his vi
tai power was ebbing But even be-
fore this stage came. Jeffries could not
reach the black. The blows almost all
landed with all the speed taken out of
them. 1t was like hitting punching
bag.
Jeffries Saved by Friends.
While Jefries was not actually count
ed out, he was saved only from this
crowning shame by his friends pleading
with Johnson not to hit the fallen man
again, and the towel was brought into
the ring from his corner. AT the end
of the fifteenth round, Referee Tex
great crowd filed out glum and silent.
Jeffries was dragged to his corner
bleeding from nose and mouth, and
dozen cuts on the face. He had a black
closed eye and swollen features and he
held his head in his hands dazed and
ircoherent.
Johnson walked out Of the ring with
out a mark on his body except a
slight cut on his lip which was the OPP
ening of wound received in training.
Ring experts agree that it was not
even a championship fight. Jeffr1eS
had a chance in the second round, per-
haps, but after the sixth it was plain
that he was weakened and outclassed in
every point and after the eleventh
round 1t was hopeless.
1t was the greatest demonstration the
ring has ever seen of the failure of a
fighter to come back after years of
retirement. The youth and science of
the black man made JeffrieS look like
a green man. The great Ieffries was
like a log. The revilcd johnson was
like a black panther, beautiful in his
alertness and defensive tactics.
Jeffries fought by instinct, it SEEM
ed, showing his gameness and his great
fighting heart in every round
Fought Standing Straight.
The Jeffries crouch was in evidence
at times, but during most of the fight
Jeffries fought standing straight and
working with something of his old
aggressiveness. The fifteenth round
started with a clinch after Jeff had
failed to land on the body. johnson
then tore loose and before the specta-
tors were prepared for the finish he
had sent Jeffries down with lightning
like left and right blows to the Jaw.
Jeffries rolled and fell halfway
through the ropes on the west side of
the ring. Those near him saw that he
had lost sense of his surroundings and
that the faces at the ringside were a
blurr to him. His time had come. He
was feeling what he had caused others
to feel in the days of his youth and
power.
johnson came over to the spot and
stood poised over his adversary, his
body ready for left hook if Jeffries
regained his feet.
Jim Corbett, who twice had gone
down before Jeffries' blows and who
had stood in Jeffries' corner all during
this fight, telling Johnson what a fool
greatest beating of his life, now ran
forward with outstretched arms, cry
ing:
"Oh, go back; don't hit him.
Jeffries painfully raised himself to
his feet. His jaws had dropped; his
eyes were nearly shut and his face
was covered with blood. With tremb-
ling legs and yielding arms he tried
to put up a defense, but he could not
stop a terrifiec smash in the jaw, fol-
lowed by two left hooks. He went
down again. Jeffries' physician and
other friends jumped into the ring.
stop it." they cried. Don't put
fries manager, ran along the ring
calling to Bob Armstrong: