The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1910-03-06
CHANCES OF
jim AND JACK
JIM coRBETT FAVoRS JEFFRIES
ON HIS OLD FIGHTING FORM
JoHNsoN'S BIG FEET ARE,
LIKE ALL OF HIS RACE, FLAT
AND TO HIS DISADVANTAGE.
By C. e. Van Laon.

BY C. e. Van Laon.
New York, March 6.-The question
of the chief second has been settled.
Jim Corbett admits that he will be
the man behind the human bearskin
rug when jeff and Johnson meet in
the ring.
Jim has been talking about the
fight, but with an amount Of restraint
and caution foreign to his enthusiast
tic nature. Jim Corbett always was
an enthusiast There has never been
any middle ground for him. In his
vaudeville addresses Jim has been
touching ever SO lightly upon the
subject of the coming battle with Il
few words of the praise for Jeffries
and a brief appreciation of Jack John
son. After It is all over, when the
casual spectator unwraps himself
from the whirl of words which Jim j..
has furnished, said spectator goes
away with an Impression something
like this:
Jim Corbett says that the men
will Fight. He will help Jeffries to
get into shape. Jim thinks that JEFF.
fries Is a great fighter, but he also
thinks that Johnson is great hight
eF, and very tough proposition for
Jsrties. jim thinks that JEFF wit!
win if he gets into shape, but in
CASE"
and then old John L., who has
been showing over the New England
circuit, comes along and says that
the whole thing looks to him like "a
barney" 1t is the difference in opin-
H. n1 1o1r 1Ac
horse races. And fights.
Speaking of that difference in opin.
ion, somebody started fat argumnet
when he came out with the stuff about
Johnson being a f1at-f1ooted fighter.
1t wasn't a new argument to bring
against Jack Johnson, but it attract
ed attention because when the argu-
ment was made the first time the big
negro was a nine spot in the deck
pugilistic, and nobody cared how fat
footed he was. or whether he had
any feet at all, and the next time
they said it about him he was a
champion Of the world.
Therefore, when somebody peddled
that scandal about Jack having fiat
feet there was an immediate roar
from many quarters. 1t is a signifi-
cant fact that as yet nobody has
risen to deny that Johnson has fiat
feet. There are two reasons for this.
They are mates and they are the
largest, widest, --LATEST reasons man
ever looked at, and Jack Johnson
wears them around on the ends of
his shin bones. All the patent leath.
er and all the artificial leather COW
cred insteps in the world will not
hide the fact that Jack Johnson's
feet are fiat. They are worse than
fiat.
The first time I remember seeing a
criticism of Johnson's "skids", was in
a Melbourne paper. Jack had gone
to the Antipodes in the hope of get
ting a crack at Bill Squires before
Bill sailed for this country. The
match missed fire and the Australian
boxing critics, who know the theory
of the game, even though they have
few great fighters nowadays, looked
over Johnson very carefully, and one
of them alighted at once upon his
big, fat feet. This Melbourne sa
want said that Johnson was a great
| defensive fighter, but had ba-a-ad feet
| and he went on to advance the very
| same argument against fiat feet which
| has recently been poured forth by
| Jim COrbett and answered by Billy
| Madden and others.
Some people really seem. ito blame
| Jack Johnson for his f1at-footed style
| of fighting. This is unkind. 1t would
| be just as fair to walk up to a blind
! apple woman and upbraid her for hel
! blindness. She didn't have anything
| to do with it and neither did johnson
have anything to do with the brace
! of 14-inch hoofs, which grew on him
| A man with pair of feet like those
| OF Jack Johnson's is lucky to be &
| fighter at all, and he must fight fiat
! footed because his feet are fiat in the
| first place, and in the second place
| they can never be remedied unless
he has them trimmed down.
| To hear some of the critics ravine
| about Jacks fiat foot a stranger coulC
not be blamed for carrying away the
impression that Johnson is anchored
| wherever he plants those feet of his
| This is not strictly true. He does
| like to stand still in one place ant
| pick off punches three feet away
from his jaw, but he can move arounC
when he has to, and move fas
enough to suit any ordinary man.
| have seen him, on a few rare occas
| ions. made in the fight, as fast as any
man in the world, shifting those bis
| fat feet of his from side to side with
| the punches and working like a de
mon from his fiat feet up to the TOT
| of his shiny head.
| Corbett makes a very good. poin
| against Johnson's fiat-footed style il
| that Johnson, if compelled to retreat
will be compelled to retreat straigh
| backward. If Jeffries carries his old
| time strength into the ring, he will b;
| able to hustle Johnson backward, ant
| if he carries him to the ropes witt
a single rush. there may be tn,
chance of ripping in that pile-drivin.
left to the body. No clever mar
when rushed off his feet and forced
backward appears at his best.
On the other hand, a man with
good stance" as they say in golf
in other words. a man who sets him
self firmly upon his feet, gets moro
value out of punch because if hi;
feet are set solidly upon the floor b.
| can lift every pound of his perpetu
skipping in and out, on his toes al
the time. and he never seemed to Sc
| for a good healthy round arm wal
| lop. He came in like a flash-on hi
toes-and was going away on his toe
| almost before his punch had time t,