Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-19

I5s=S=ySs7sslI EVER has the aItentlon OIL llle
lA YNl transporting public been so
III k E keenly brought to bear upon
ia " professional boxing as 1t has
in SA5l been since James J. Jeffries,
GsgkSxsal white, the undefeated heavy
weight champion of the
world, came out of retirement ana
signed articles to fight Jack johnson,
| the negro heavyweight from Calves
ton, Tex, for the title. What has
| aroused the interest of the general run
| Of Americans in the contest, as much
as the bout itself, is the enormous
amount of money at stake for both
/ men, 1t IS no eXaggeration to say that
should Jeffries vanquish the huge negro
he will be richer, directly and indi-
rectly, by 1925, 900 for his trouble.
! Should Jeffries lose he will still be
better off by a total ranging from $11O-
/ 600 to $lS0,000.
johnson as winner should get out of
| the engagement more than Jeffries
! would for this reason: If Jeffries wins
/ he will probably tour the country for
| year with theatrical troupes and then
retire permanently, while johnson will
! continue to appear in combat for three
or four years more. If he wins the
| prestige Of beating the white cham
| pion will add immensely to his value
! As a loser johnson will make almost
as much as Jeffries will by winning
unless he should be ANONYMOUSLY and
! decisively beaten in a very few
rounds There is little likelihood that
! Jeffries will ever fight again under
/ any circumstances, and the white man
retiring q victor would leave the de-
| feated negro still the champion de
| facto, if not de jure, position he now
occupies, and as such he would con
| tinue to make money long after JEFF
fries had returned once more to his
farm near Los Angeles.
The figures given above are estimated
thus The men are to meet, according
! to the articles, on or before July 4,
| 1910, for a bout limited to forty-five
rounds, for a purse of S101, 900. to be
| divided Is per cent to the winner and
% per cent to the loser. Each man
also bets $4,000 on himself. Hence
from the purse and bet alone the Win
ner will receive $50, $50, and the loser
will get $2O25O, which is his share
minus the side bet.
/ 1t has been estimated that the
moving pictures of the bout, if it is
| ten rounds or more, will be worth
! 100000, of which the promoters take
| one-third and the fighters the remain
| ing two thirds, giving each of the
| pugilsts about $4,000. But if their
| battle is desperate and sensational the
pictures should be worth far more
than the sum named. and will continue
to draw money throughout the civil
lied world for ten years or more, cas-
lily bringing their income up to $4,000
each.
Jefferies emerged from retirement
last January and was paid princely
salary on the vaudeville stage before
he went abroad. In that period he
must have made S25. 900. possibly
double that. At present he is filling
an engagement of one-night stands,
for which he is to be the gamer by
the tidy sum of $4,000. On con-
servative basis this totals up $223,0O0
in round figures that Jeffries will
make out of preliminary exhibitions
and the fight, if he wins, and $4,000 if
he loses. He cannot help getting this,
as much of it is already in his hands.
After the battle Jeffries can go on the
road for a year at salaries ranging
| from $4,000 per week for the first
month. down to $1,000 or $500 per
week for the fag end of the season.
| He would not have to remain on the
| stage twelve months to earn an add1-
tional 100000. Most boxers would
undoubtedly do this, but it remains to
be seen whether Jeffries will
1t is hard to estimate Johnson's earn
| ings between last February and the
coming July. but they should not be
less than $4,000. He has already
fought five times since last March, and
one of the bouts was with Stanley
Ketchel for a large purse. In fact, it
is possible that Johnson will have
pocketed 100000 before he goes against
Jeffries. If he wins he will make more
after the fight than the white man
would have made, and il he loses he
will continue to enjoy a big income,
boxing for purses of many thousands of
dollars. Verify, this is worth beating.
Previous to the huge purse of $1010O0
offered for johnson and Jeffries, the
largest was $4,000 hung up for the
bout in which Bob Fitzsimmons
knocked out Jim Hall in the fourth
round at New Orleans on March 8, 1898.
Fitzsimmons received very little of his
winnings because of a too abiding faith
in human nature. Next to the money
Fitzsimmons did not get the largest
purse was $4,000, battled for by Joe
Cans and Battling Nelson at Goldf1eld,
New, September 3, 1906. OF this Mel
son. although he lost the decision on a
foul in the forty-second round, re-
ceived $23, 900, he having forced Cans in
advance to such a division of the