The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1910-07-12

road be WOULD Slt uorSu uuu play CdIue
al. day.
Feared Hitting in ctlnches.
| thought several times OF throwing
up the whole thing and going homo.
but II / had done mat the public
would have looked upon me as trail
tor. About a year ago, when he
signed the final articles for this fight
In Hoboken. | was in GLASGOW, Scot
land. snd-I sent him cable saying.
Don't agree TO hit In cIipches until
you see me.
Jeff never answered my cablegram.
All the time | was with him In the
last six weeks | have been begging
him not to agree to hit in clincbes,
pointed out to him that In his two
fights with me he could not do a
thing with me In the clinches. and
| wns much lighter 1lan he,
With all that there still was a
chance for him to win this fight, be-
cause he did lot OF road work and
physically was all right But, as |
said in my previous letters, Johnson
certainly made fool out Of him In
the boxing. l looked for him TO at
least have punch tiat would break
an egg anyhow.
JEFF in Da1e.
But the last three days before this
fight the man was In a sort of a dazo
and the only way that | can possibly
figure out his miseraoic showing was
the fact that he had been worrying
for the last three days. not 80 much
about getting a licking. because, in
my opinion, a gamer fellow never
lived. but because his whole nervous
system went back on him.
Jeffries had been thinking TO him
self OF the Importance OF this great
contest and that the public looked
upon him as the only man who could
bring the championship back TO tho
white race, He thought TO himself,
What an awful thing 1t will be II 1
am licked by a niger"
All these things preyed on this
mans mind so that while he was
physically right three days before the
fight, yet his long absence from the
ring and the excitement that comes
day or two before fight made him
nervous wreck when he entered the
ring.
Big Fellow Appears Deaf.
You can't imagine my surprise
when the first round was over. Jefi
had that peculiar look In his face that
Is Impossible TO describe, and when
l talked to him he acted like a man
who didn't hear what | was saying
Before Johnson put on his gloves
went over and examined Johnsons g
bandages on his hands, wanted to
talk to Johnson TO see IL he had any
confidence l could tell at once that
he was awfully. nervous. | put John
sons gloves on his hands Then
went over to JEFF before the gong
sounded and l said JEFF, this fell
low Is scared TO death, and think
you can get him while he Is nervous"
Instead Of Jeff saying all right or
showing me some signs of aggressive.
ness and life he had that dazed look
and didn't answer me. | tried to
make myself think that he was just
nervous for the first round and that
he would get over It, But in the first
round he showed not one spark of the
jeff of old. He didn't even have a
punch hard enough to hurt baby
six months old
Tries to Pull Wits Together.
/ was still tryingfi to make myself
think that he would get over IL, and
at the beginning of the second round
as he stepped out at the sound of the
gong said: "Jeff. now just pull your
self together and sec IL you can't hit
this fellow just one good left hand
punch as he is coming 10 you"
Jeffries tried to do It, but it was
the saddest attempt that / ever SOW
made In my life, / began to thi' It
was all over, So I started Gazing
johnson everything, and doing every
thing l could do to disconcert him.
But he knew just as well as | did
he could not help but know it-that
JEFF WAS oil in ana helpless as a
child.
Johnson did most of his effective
work In the clinches Although | don't
think Johnson is a great man because
he whipped JEFF that day, Johnson
convinced me, however, as well as
everybody else. OF all the things /
said against him, and ! was preju-
diced, | will admit. he convinced me
that there Is no other heavyweight
that | can see anyway near his equal
JEFF Shows Stubbornness.
The public forced JEFF into this
match. The poor fellow did everything
he thought was right The fact that
he would not listen to anybody shows
his stubborn nature He didn't take
into consideration that he had not
had a boxing glove on In six years
But L am going to do my utmost to
find some white man that can be de.
veloped and won't rest till / dig up
some one to win back the champion
ship.