Prime: Jim Jefferies .vs. Jack Johnson

McVea did not debut in Oxnard. He moved there with a reputed record of 6 wins and 2 draws prior to his earliest bout listed on boxrec, which is his first bout in Oxnard.

He had fights in Australia prior to basing himself in Oxnard, meaning that he was already traveling abroad for fights.

It was not so much that there was nobody left as the fact that they were hyping the wrong type of fighters e.g ones with similar physical equipment to Jeffries.

Munroe, Ferguson and McVea were all dead end leads that generated a lot of interest. McVea of the three at least went on to become a great fighter.

Your logic seems to be that the writer must have had an agenda because he was hyping McVea and McVea's record suggests that he wasnt that highly regarded. That is putting a secondary source ahead of a primary source.

A bit like arguing that a measurment of the shoulder height of a horse must be wrong because it contradicts a rule of thumb says that the shoulder height is N times the circumference of the foot. Logicaly you would take the direct measurement ahead of the rule of thumb.

 

Since when was a skunk a racist term?

Both fighters told the media what they wanted to hear and what they thought would build up the gate.

 

So i am guessing that Jeffries had good reason to trust him not to run back to Johnson with secrets then?

 

His actions and the company he keeps,in Jeffries case, Jim Corbett was his cheer leader in chief, I suppose you will tell me he was not racist?
What is this obsession with Ken Burns?

 

Again, Corbett was a trash talker extroardinaire who used whatever he could to gain psychological advantage.

When he was not fighting a man he behaved verry differently.

 

What do you think that Armstrong , or anybody else , could tell Johnson about Jeffries, that he did not allready know? Whilst Jeffries was champion Johnson attended all of his defences , he had him under a microscope.

He had been stalking him for years.
Johnson was supremely confident of victory,he wired his brother to " bet your last cent on me".And had a $20,000 bet on himself, but he also worked like a dog in training , for the fight he sparred countless rounds and diligently did his roadwork, he was READY, whichever version of Jeffries showed up.
Jeffries in contrast ,sparred with old men , when he could be bothered to in between fishing trips.

 

I did not say it was a racist term ,but it isn't a very polite one either,did Jeffries ever refer to any other of his adversaries in such terms?
Did Johnson ever refer to him as anything other than Mr Jeffries?
Jeffries told the media **** all ,he was rarely available for comment , skunk was how he referred to Johnson in every day usage ,not for media hype.
Jeffries did not even confide in his trainers.

 

On the issue of Sam McVea's standing here are some contemporary quotes:

"Jeffries now fears no pugilist on earth capable of giving him a battle. He laughs at Jack Munroe and smiles when Jack Johnsons is mentioned. The negroe may be a good clever fellow but he would be outclassed worse than Corbett was. He has a soft punch, and could not hurt the big gladiator in a month.

There is one man who might have a faint chance of sucess and that is Sam McVea, the Oxnard giant. He weighs in excess of 200lbs and has a verry solid wallop. He is the only king of man of who the champion would stand in the least bit of danger. Punchers like Gardner, Munroe, Sharkey and Ruhlin are easy game for the champion."

San Francisco evening post

"They say there are only two men left who have any chance with Jeffries, thats Sam McVea and myself."

Jack Johnson

"It really looks like Jeffries might have to fight a black man or quit the game. McVea's easy victory over Denver Ed Martin has boomed the first named's stock at the coast, and a battle between McVea and Johnson would be a big draw card. With that over there would be nothing further to consider than a match between the champion and Jeffries."

Police Gazette

It seems that despite McVea's inexperience, he was seen allong with Johnson as the outstanding title challenger.

 

Corbett swore at Choynski when he met him ,this was long before they fought.
He spat in Fitz's face a year before they fought ,he was a ****.

 

No doubt about it whatsoever.

Under different circumstances he could be charming and personable as i suited his purpouse. He was a man who prety much adopted whatever mask he needed.

 

Come on now.

What fighter would ever want a dangerous challenger to have information from inside his training camp?

 

I bring up Ken Burns because your comments on Jeffries are so lopsided that it's easy to come to the conclusion that you have gleaned most of your info on Jeffries either by "Unforgiveable Blackness" or some other place that uses that book or documentary as a primary source. The fact that you haven't seen any pics of Jeffries with a black person is proof that you haven't read the Jeffries bio "Ultimate Tough Guy" and I would be willing to bet that you haven't read "A Man Among Men" either.

That's not an attack on you, btw. Merely a challenge for you to do a bit more research so that your opinion on Jeffries has a bit more balance. I would actually very much like to hear your opinions after reading this:

http://www.pugilistica.com/jajjeboamana.html

and this:

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Tough-Times-James-Jeffries/dp/0578010550[/ame]

You may still have strong antipathy towards Jeff after reading and that's fine. But at least you'll have a better perspective on him and the type of man he was.

No condescencion meant whatsoever

 

Not at all. Only that the hype must be questioned as there is very little to support it. McVea appears to be exactly what he was- a promising young fighter who might SOME DAY be a worthy challenger to Jeffries. He was obviously starting make make a little noise, yes. But the fact that he was starting to be talked about by some as a challenger is more a statement on how dismal the division was for the most part.

Add the popular sentiment of "let's break the color line" and the hype is very understandable.