The Detroit times., 1912-12-02
Loss Of Clean Hitters Is the
Basis for His Feel
ing
DOESN'T LIKE CLINCHERS
OR ROUGH WORK ARTISTS
Says Counter Blows Won and
Kept Championship
for Him

LIS A1N1EL<nsc, Dcc. zs--Ja0- y.
Jenries. once worlds heavyweiEht
champion, is disgusted with the nght
game. He says 50 himself Jeff'a dis
gust Is based on the loss OF clean hit
ters and the predominance In the ring
lists.
There is too much holding. clinch-
Ing and other rough work In the ring
To-Day, declared Jeff In q recent In
terview.
4 was not lighting long before
came 10 the conclusion that II was OF
as mich importance to me TO thor
oughly understand the rules as II was
to know how to hit blow properly.
studied them closely and the
knowledge ] gained was an important
factor in helping me win my fights.
Howy you may ask. In the first
place In all my contests. was never
warned, cautioned or censured by any
referee. There never was any occa-
sion ior II. knew the rules and obey
ed them at all times.
Why a boxer should hold I never
have been able to understand and
when see one doing SO. I cannot helD
but believe that he Is afraid OF get
ting hit. How in the name of heav-
ems can you hurt any one in the ring
by holding his hands or arms? You
have to hit him to do that
The man who leads first always
leaves himself open to counters more
or less
'Supposing both men adopt the
ask
That same thing has happened to
me many times, and In that case 4
never hesitated to carry the going to
the other man, and II was always un-
der these circumstances that got c,iS
up the worst.
II won the championship by a
counter blow. also defended my title
on four other occasions by counter.
II beat Bob Fitzsimmons with 4
counter when he was coming to me.
and won the championship. later
defended 1t against him and beat him
a second time with a left-hand swing.
ing counter TO his body.
Il beat Gus Rubin and Jim Corbeti
each with the same counter anc de
feated Jim Corbett the first time with
a left-hand swinging counter to the
chin and put him out with one punch
How often do you see q boxer
counter these days? Few can tel
what a counter really is. IT Is usual,
rushing in with head down and slam
bang away Without the least effort e
block, duck, -or jump away from 4
blow. fhey swing from all positions
and all angles and II Is getting to be
i quite a common thing to see q boxer
stand with his right foot forward.
ut Is wild rush and immediately
n INWan nVa a - - Al
on each others backs with the open
hands, The slapper is fast coming 10
his own. When nowadays do YOU see
In boxer hit and drop his man for the
full count In one punch? These things
were a common occurrence years ago
and unless toxer conld do this when
he has good square crack at his
nan, he was not considered q good
hitter.
I'm my early fights 7 was constantly
hurting my hands ind thumbs. used
swings principally in those days and
did not turn nay hands properly when
hitting. When | learned to hold them
correctly / never received an injury
Ia them. but still stuck to the foolish
idea OF bandaging my hands.
II came to the conclusion that this
was a bad practice as figured that I
never wore them while training AMI
there should be no good reason FOR
doing so during contest, so discard
ed them and never had the least troub-
lie after.
Good foot work Is seldom seen
these days. Many seem TO think that
the more a boxer dances and jigs
around the ring the cleverer he In on
his feet.
did you ever watch Jim Corbett.
Abe Attell or Joe Cans? Any OF these
three great boxers could make you
miss blow by moving their feet an
inch or two.
"Feinting is also a joke. Jim Cor
, bett was the peer OF all men at this
|, art. and Il surely Is an art In Itself
"Corbett could. by feinting. make
! most any man hit any kind OF blow
, he wanted him TO strike. and knowing
this. Il was an easy matter to counter
Referees are also somewhat to
iblame for the backward move IN the
lboxing game. While many thoroughly
Understand the rules. they are power
less TO a certain extent when II comes
/ 70 enforcing them. But II they were
more determined and hesitated less
about disqualifying boxers for hreak-
ing the rules, they would soon bring
! A back to the real thing, the marly art
OF self-defense...
Matty's Bear story