East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1910-07-04


80 years ago April Is last, first
class fighting man was created. He
was endowed with everything that
goes to make up fighter, right from
the start. He did not need to train
and school himself to any great extent
He had both the grain and the Drawn
and all he liked was the ambition
to win fame as a fighter. When that
ambition did come to him it required
but two vars for him to vanQuish
every fighter worthy of consideration
and make the championship title one
of his personal assets. once he Sc
of ridding himself of the burdens it
imposed was to give it away. That
is what Jeff did with it. He looked
over the field of worthy heavyweights
with a view of adopting one of them
as his heir. Eight years after his first
fight he decided that Marvin Hart
was the heir-apparent and abdicated
in Hart's favor.
One of the striking things about
Jeffries is the fact that it took a great
deal of argument to convince him that
he was a fighting man at ALL d. De-
spite Natures generosity to him in
the matter of size and strength, he
had a strong suspicion all the time
that he was intended for a farmer.
Through his early life he displayed
great fondness for getting close to
Nature via a fishing rod or a gun,
and spent quite a bit of time among
the mountains. He developed a de-
sided fondness for country life, and
when he resigned his high state
as champion, having annexed enough
money through purses, moving pic
lures and stage appearances to do
what he pleased, he fastened to a
farm in southern California with the
intention of ending his days as a sort
of country squire. Had John Arthur
Johnson and the color question not
interfered with his plans, he would
in all probability, have carried out
that determination.
Jeffries was born in Carroll, O., in
1875, but his parents came to Cali
fornia so soon after his arrival that
he is looked upon almost as a native
of that state. Little is recorded OF
MS tcihSS PAAoL " IOJi lllt
fact that he was a mighty hunter, g
good boilermaker, and a rough-and.
| tumble fighter with whom few cared
to mix. He never was an amateur
| fighter. The first time he entered the
ring he did so on the spur of the mo.
ment, accepting the challenge of q
colored fighter named Hank" Grit
fin because of the money he would
get by defeating the challenger. The
fight occurred in Los Angeles, Cal.
in 1898. and Jeff accomplished the
defeat of the man in IA rounds, wind.
ing up with an artistic knockout.
While this victory did not seem tC
| arouse Jeff to any ambition as q
| fighter, it attracted the attention Of
| fighters to him as a valuable training
! partner. He seconded a middleweigh
named Billy Gallagher in San Fran.
| cisco and two years later Gallagher
| got him a match in 1896 with Dar
| Long. of Denver. There was a $1,000
purse up, and Long went to sleep il
| the second round when Jeff's left en-
| countered his nose.
II was shortly after this that jim
I
fight with Bob Fitz simmons, which
gave the latter the championship
Harry Corbett, Jim's brother, who wa
| on the lookout for sparring partners
sent Jeff up to Carson City, Nevada
to join Jims training staff. Corbet
hammered the big fellow unmerciful
ly but Jeff was absorbing knowIedg
OF the fighting game through ever
pore These were his first real box
ing lessons. and he took them from
a master Of the craft. Within tnre
weeks after Corbett's defeat, Jeff wa
in the ring again on his own hook, do
ing away with the aspirations Of tw
promising heavyweights n quick sue
cession.
So much had Jeff benefited by Cor
belts training that he was marked a
a coming fighter at once, and a matcI
was arranged for him with Gus Rub
lin Of Akron, Ohio which was Tough
in San Francisco in 1897. The flgh
went 20 rounds to a draw
In the same year Jeffries fought 10
Choynski a 20-round draw. He re
calls this fight particularly, he says
because Choynski landed on his jay
: the hardest blow he ever received.
was right-hander and had so muc
good will behind it that Jeffries nev
or forgot it That punch was one O
the things that made Jeffries ca
Choynski to mis- aid when he decide
TO return to the ring to fight John
son.
During the next year Jeffrles be
gan to find out how strong he reall