Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1910-07-02
JOHNsoN's COLOR HELPED.

JUIHNSUN . OOLUk HELFEU.
So, after all, it is Johnson's black
skin that has won him his chance to
fight Jeffries.
When the gong signals the fighters
to their work Monday, they will be
surrounded by the greatest gathering
of sport lovers the world has ever seen.
Row after row, rising toward the sky
line, the spectators will fill the great
octagonal structure that has been built
to stage this fight of fights. In gate
money they will represent approx
mately half a million dollars. The
crowd has come from all quarters of
the globe to see the giants battle. There
are men from London and Paris, from
Berlin, and even from Manila, n the
cities of Australia, Japan and China.
1t is doubted if there is a town of
any size in the United States or Can
ada that is not represented by at least
one man. Tickets We're booked months
ahead, and special trains were run the
breadth of the country to bring the
multitude together.
Physically, both Jeffries and john
son are remarkable men. They are
big men in every way, and yet are
scientific boxers, fast in every motion
of their great bodies, with wonderful
control of the blows they launch, and
which are backed by the power of a
steam ram. Their superiority over the
rank and file of heavyweights was won
because of this combination of skill
with great strength, of judgment and
clear head work with the greatest Of
fensive force.
Jeffries is a bigger man than john
son, but they are more evenly matched
han n two heavyweights who have
entered the ring in many years. What
Johnson lacks In size he makes up for
in skill, and in the fact that he has
never known a period of physical re-
Taxation such as Jeffries has enjoyed
for the last five years.
Right there is the second question
that is to be decided tomorrow-the
question to which all fightdom has
been seeking the answer since this
fight was first suggested-could Jeffries
come back?"
Jeffries thought he could, and be-
lieves that he has His opinion as to
the possibility of restoration was
based upon the statements of re-
" AtQ IOiS15A ply ElIldI1S Wiz "A
amined him. 1t was a question he
could not answer himself when the de-
sire to fight Johnson first came to him..
He doubted that he could regain such
physical condition as would warrant
his return TO the ring, and because
of that doubt he refused to discuss
the matter, although the sporting writ
ers of the whole country were trying
to draw him out.
1t became known, however, that he
was beginning to take care Of himself
again; that physical exercises were the
order of the day at his home, and that
the old war-horse was feeling himself
u in a tentative way. The results
pleased him, and then came his trip
abroad and encouraging reports from
the medical men. Jeffries was sure of
himself at last, and he at once an
nounced that he would fight the black
champion.
His belief that he has come back
grows from his own judgment in the
weeks since when early in Nay he
has been seeking athletic rebirth in
his camp at Ben Lomond.
There, in the picturesque uprise of
the Santa Cruz Mountains. and within
easy motoring distance of the surf in
which he loves to plunge his great
body, the big man has been watched by
trainers. physicians. ringside experts
and a corps of correspondents. These
men from their various points of view
unite In saying that Jeffries is once
more fit. and equal to the stress that
faces him. OF Johnson's physical fit
ness there Is and has been no question.
With him it is simply, is he the man
in skill, quickness and endurance to
match the self-retired champion? The
betting is the public's opinion. Tomor-
row will tell.
With the exception of Jim Corbett
and Tom Sharkey, he has met all the
big men whom Jeffries bested, and
has v~anquished them all.
Jeffries's ring career lasted eight
years-from 1897 to 1908.