Did James J Jeffries still claim he was the champ whilst burns and johnson wore the belt?

Jeffries was announced in the ring by Billy Jordan as "The great and only undefeated heavyweight champion of the world James J Jeffries."
Johnson was announced before him as"The heavyweight champion of the world, Jack Johnson".

 

Jeffries was very explicit about his retirement and even refereed the Marvin Hart - Jack Root fight to give it his blessing as being for the vacant title. That all changed when a black man became champion and Jeffries announced that he was reclaiming the title.

 

There were those who argued that Jeffries was still the champion, though I have never heard of him making this claim himself.

It seems to have been more of an issue when Johnson held the title, than it was when hart and Burns held the title.

 

Jeffries retiring as undefeated champion set a precedent in the heavyweight division.Jeffries was paid handsomely to referee those fights and announce Burns as champion when he beat Hart, he later reneged on this saying, rightly ,he had no authority to say so. I don't think Jeffries ever claimed he was still champ.

 

Given that Jeffries had retired, I think that Marvin Hart had earned the right to fight for the vacant title.

I am not sure that Root was the best person that they could have matched him against.

Personally I accept the new lineage as starting with Hart, because it is the option with the least problems.