The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1910-02-04
SPORT
JEFF'S CONDITION
A Big FACTOR
(By Bill Blunt.)

| possible To pin them down TO an opin
| DIN on the winner When Corbet
and Sullivan were matched or JeffrieS
and Fftzsimmons, for instance, IL was
an easy matter to get the average
/ fight fans views. A newspaper could
! send out a reporter day or two be
! fore the bout and In two hours nc
would come In with the names Of fift5
sports and their wives on the battle
Try IL with tho Jeffries-Johneon fight
ID you are lucky II You get any OF
them to try TO pick a winner. Even
the real close students refuse to start
to alibi RS soon az you ask them for
an opinion.
The cause OF Il seems 10 be Jeff's
unknown condition Everybody wants
To know how good he can get before
hazarding q conjecture. The general
dope Is that II he con get within 20
or 80 per cent OF his former self he
should come In on the bit Otherwise
It will be repetition OF the Corbett-
Sullivan affair at New Orleans Every
body accords Johnson a good chance
even Jeff's strongest admirers They
know that no matter what Jeffs condi-
ton he will have fight on his hands,
He is meeting a big, strong, clever,
crafty man who is fairly bubbIing over
with contidece. On top of that he
holds the title and that Is bound to
give him added confidence. He won
tie title from Tommy Burns thirteen
months ago and although he has
fought several times since then, no
body has been able to hurt him TO any
dppreciable extent That all counts
in his favor and has given him de-
pendencc in himself.
After winning over Burns, Johnson
boxed the six rounds With Jack
O'Brien in Philadelphia. He was
twenty pounds overweight, made
lamentable showing for a champion
and really was outpointed In the con-
test, although no decision was given.
But he received In the neighborhood
of $1,000 for the eighteen minutes
work, he wasn't stung badly and Ii
was really pretty soft money, Then
came the siX-round bout at Pittsburg
with Tony Ross A little more easy
money aud nobody badly hurt. Next
came Al kaufman for the ten rounds
la Frisco, and last Stanley Ketchel,
He cleaned up pretty well In the last
bout Getting through those contests
without being punished very much,
picking up a lot OF easy money and
having your followers telling you con-
tinuouSly what a great champion you
are, has made him consider himself
we'll nigh unbeatable He is unusual
lv susceptible to flattery anyway He
always has believed for several years
that he could beat Jeffrfes, at least
those were his own personal state
ments AS long as three years ago
he told We scribe he could trim JEFF
sure. They keep telling me about
his crouch and his left swing, but he's
not going TO hit me with his left hand"
said he "I'll keep paving his let
away with my right so often that he'll
get tired of using It, His right hand
is impossible and he won't reach ME
with that by long shot "
That's all right Confidence is
good thing to have. but he doesn't
know whether he'll be aoIe TO paw
Jei('s left hand away or not It's a
puzzling member when it's working
top class and Is hard to get away
f'om. Sharkey, Rubin. Fitzsimmons.
Corbett and a number OF others tried
to get away from 1t without success.
BY having it extended at all times II
isn't necessary for him 10 draw back
very far TO deliver blow with it, a
stiffening of the arm, a side move
ment o1 the body and the left swing
gees fun force without teiegraphing IT,
II the left hand is working as In
days OF yore. the eye for distance Is
there and the wind, people Will get
cOrking good chance OF seeing how
hand away.
They don't seem to understand AL
Kaufman around New York They
just can't figure him out Since he
WAS beaten by Jack O'Brien over four
years ago he has never been defeated
except the time Johnson outpointed
Kim in ten rounds. He wins all the
time, but not in an impressive way
He gave Fred Bradley an awful lacing
over at the National A c and up at
the Fairmount he trouuced Tony Ross.
but neither victory gained many
friends for him. The opinion seems
to prevail that he thinks 100 slowly
when pitted against a clever man and
that he lets too mony opportunities
slip by He's strong enough, game
enough and can hit like q trip hammer
Az times he jabs prettily with his left
hand and whips in the short rights 70
the body, He shows steady improve
nent in his work. but it is SO slow
they don't give him much credit for
il. At that. very few OF them are
breaking leg taking him on for
torty-flye rounds Mister Johnson
didn't want him Tor that distance and
was quite satisfied with ten. Kauf-
man beat O'Brien handily the other
night In six rounds iii Philly and got
his revenge for the Frisco beating.
Slow as he Is. Kaufman would be
something Of a tiger cat In forty.
five round or finish fight His youth
and strength would likely cut a lot Of
figure
Sam Lansford. through his manager.
Joe Woodman. is again getting busy
with the newspaper talk II seems
Victor Breyor, the Paris promoter.
offered Sam $4,000 to so to the French
metropolis and fight Joe Jeanette.
Laneford accepted. but when IL came
time TO come across with the coin
there was slip-up. 1t surely wasn't
Lansford's fault. because there isn't
more willing fighter in the ring thnn
he He'll fight anybody at any time
as long as the coin is in sight and
S3,oo0 for meeting Jeanette would
nave looked pretty nifty. He'd fight
him for good deal less than that il
YOU showed it 10 him In real money