Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-07-05
JOHNSON LlCKS JEFFRIES.
California Champion Knocked Out For
First Time In His Career.

Reno, New, July 4.-John Arthur
Johnson, a Texas negro, son of an
American slave, tonight Is the first
and undisputed heavyweight champion
pugilist Of the world.
James J. Jeffries of California, WIN
ner Of twenty-five championship fights,
the man who never was brought to his
knees before by a blow, tonight passed
into history as a broken idol. He met
utter defeat at the hands of the black
champion in the fifteenth round.
While Jeffries was not actually
counted out he was saved only rom
this crowning shame by his f. nds
pleading with Johnson not to Lit the
fallen man again, and the towel was
brought into the ring from his corner.
cree Tex Rickard raised the black arm
and the great crowd filed out, glum
and silent.
Jeffries was dragged to his corner,
bleeding from nose and mouth and a
dozen cuts on the face. He had
black, closed eye and swollen features
and he held his head in his hands,
dazed
Johnson walked out of the ring
without a mark on his body, except
slight cut on his lip which was the
opening of a wound suffered In train
ing.
Ring experts agree that 1t was not
even a championship fight. Jeffries
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. After the eleventh
round it was hopeless.
II 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 the science Of the
black man made Jeffries look like a
green man. The great Jeffries was
like log. The rivaled 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,
but he was only the shell of his old
self. The old 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 a joke.
He smiled and blocked playfully,
warding off the bear-like rushes Of
Jeffries with smarvelous science,
now tucking a blow under his arm,
again plucking 1t out Of the air as a
man stops baseball.
Out Of the sea Of opinions and argu-
ments that bolstered up this fight and
made it the talk of the world, these
pinnacles 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 absolute
ly Jeffries' master that experts such as
w. Corbett, an Australian sporting
and ring expert, declared 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. It
looked as though Johnson had been
holding himself under cover all the
rest Of the time and now that he had
measured Jefferies in all his weakness,
he had determined to stop it quickly.
Jeffries had lost the power of de-
fense. A series of right and left up
percuts delivered at will sent him
staggering to the ropes. He turned
and fought back by instinct, as though
he were dying hard.
With the exception of few fast
rounds, the fight was tame. Jetfries
did not have the power in his punch
to hurt Johnson after he had received
blow after blow on the jaw and his vi
tai power was ebbing.
But even before this stage came
Jeffries could not reach the black.
The blows, almost all of them, landed
with all the speed taken out of them.
1t was like hitting a punching bag.
The Jeffries crouch was in evidence
at times. but during most of the hght,
Jeffries was found standing straight
and working with something of his old
aggressiveness.
The fifteenth round started with a
clinch after Jeffries had failed to land
on the body. Johnson then tore loose
and before the spectators were pre-
pared for the finish, he sent Jefrles
down with lightning left and right
blows on to the jaw. Jetfries reeled
and fell half way through the ropes
on the west side of the ring. Those
near him saw that he had lost sense
of his surroundings, and the faces at
the rngsde were blur 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 went over to the spot and
stood poised over his adversary, his
body ready for left hook If Jefries
regained his feet
Jim Corbett, who had stood in JEFF
fries corner all during this fight tell
ing Johnson what a fool he was and
how he was in for the greatest beating
of his life, now ran forward with out
stretched arms crying:
"Oh go back; don't hit him.
Jeffries painfully raised himself to
his feet. His jaw had dropped; his