The Morning examiner. [volume] (Ogden, Utah) 1904-1910, 1910-04-24
TRAINING JEFF
FOR CL|NCHES
(By Eddie Smith.)

Oakland. April 23-At the Jeffries
training camp the men in charge OF tn
big white man who is to make the
supreme effort of his life In a battle
With Jack Johnson on the Fourth of
July are studying the various punch
es used by the colored man and arc
trying to perfect a defense against
them that will make the undefeatcd
Mr.. Jeffries as safe against the favor
ties of the black man as an armor-
plated battleship against rifle ball.
This work puts us in mind of the
fact that both Jeftries and Johnson
have pet blows that are made to or
der for the coming contest. Jeffries'
best punch Is the left hook for the
body. and It is this punch that has
proven the undoing of most OF the
men he has met and defeated Jack
Johnson has perfected right upper
cut that. owing to the crouch used
by the big white man, should provo
one to get away from.
One of the Johnson strong points
in his fighting has been his knack of
turning man half way around while
in a clinch. thus leaving him practi-
cally helpless to either defend him
self or land q punch. This Is one OF
the things that Farmer Burns and
Frank Gotch are to try to prevent,
and to guard against IT the wreStlers
Will show the fighter a few counter
holds with which to break the colored
mans grip.
The stunt Is accomplished In tho
following manner: When the opposing
pueiliSt comes into close play or the
men have locked arms in clinch,
Johnson allows his right hand to
slide down the left arm of the fight
or until such time as 1t reaches the
elbow, never allowing his grip to
loosen to any great extent, however;
then. with the leverage of the mans
arm and his own as we'll. 1t is an
ossy matter to turn a man around so
that he is off his balance and absolute-
ly unable to punch with any effect.
Burns Says Jeff Ie Strong.
Burns has been working with JEFF
fries on this very thing ever since
the men have gone into camp. and to
the unframed aye It would seem that
he Is simply using wrestling holds OF
no unusual kind in his effort to hustle
the big man around.
After his training stunt the other
day the wrestler was asked by the
writer II IT were not a fact that he
was trying TO show the fighter how
TO break this hold of the black man
The Farmer did not deny the fact,
and somewhat to our surprise he be
came enthused over the idea and
said. MIR. Johnson will not turn this
Eian about as he has such little fell
lows as Ketchel and Langford. aud he
VIII not have the easy time he lid
with All. Kaufman in the cliuches, BY
tho time Jeffries enters the ring he
will have counters for every hold that
johnson has. and q few more. Right
now ] find Jeff almost as hard to
handle as Gotch In the clinches and
TO turn him around is one of the hard
est things | have ever tackled In the |
wrestling game-aDd / am a stronger
nan than Johnson, al that
There is little doubt but that John |
son has several other tricks up his |
sleeve that Jeffries will try TO per-
feet counters against. but at this time i
the trainers are doing all they can
to guard against the right uppercut |
and the turning OF the big man In the |
clinches.
Johnson has a natural guard against |
the best punch that Jeffrles has. and |
for this reason he will not have to
perfect a counter for II. The men
who know the game OF fisticuffs and
have been watching the big black man
advance In his chosen profession have
been satisfied for a number OF years
that the one place where Johnson
might be easily knocked out would
be the body. The one thing that has
puzzled the critics most. however
has been to find the man who could
land this much talked OF body punch. /
Johnson Hard TO Hit In Stomach
The writer has seen Johnson In NIL
HE contests about these diggings and
he has never yet discovered the man
who was able TO land this body
punch. Stanley Ketchel and AL Kaut-
man paid particular attention to the
development of the body punches IN
the training for contests with Sho