Jim Jeffries claims he was poisoned before he fought Jack Johnson and that is the only reason Johnson beat him. He also claims Peter Jackson was in good shape when they met. Perhaps he was drunk when he gave this interview?:think http://www.boxing.com/jim_jefferies_at_the_bar.html
It's probably true to say that his mind was poisoned - poisoned by the white establishment agenda merchants of the time, Johnson was not very popular ( some women of the time may of begged to differ - risky travel arrangements aside) His flamboyance was better received in Europe, Certain people wanted Jack taken down a peg or several, and sadly Old Jeff was on the end of these Toxic Verbals.... in retrospect, you could indeed make a case for Jeff having been poisoned of sorts. A psychological Mickey ?
From his many public comments about Johnson and his decision," never to risk losing his title to a black man".I don't think he needed much persuading in aligning himself with the agenda merchants.
At least Jeffries never claimed a fix, or carrying people when he looked bad as Johnson did. :deal Johnson ran from a fight when Jeffries was in his prime after asking for one:deal As for Jeffries saying he was dizzy and weak, maybe it was because older guys don't fight well in the desert heat that have not fought in six years. Not buying the poisoned bit, unless you argue sun poising. No athlete can be in his mid 30's, lose 80+ pounds, and fight a world class guy at his best and expect good results. Jeffries was shot, and likely lost muscle memory reflex. And his old trainer was in Johnson's corner, a huge advantage as in those days there was very limited film study to prep for a fight. Jeffries is right though, his results from common opponents in Munroe, Choyhsnki, and Griffin is MUCH better. This content is protected
I'm not a fan of Jeffries the man, although he was clearly a strong champion. But I have to say this is a very sloppy article unless I am missing something. Who is the author quoting? Where did this come from? It reads like a 2014 fiction piece written by the author. Hard to believe Jeffries would be as crudely arrogant as he comes across here, but I suppose it is possible. Certainly it is stupid to criticize Johnson for not wanting to go into a basement for a "fight" when he could as easily get a knife in the back from a Jeffries' supporter. Assuming this story is true, it tells us nothing about Johnson, but a lot about Jeffries and anyone else who takes this sort of thing as seriously telling us something about Johnson as a fighter or a man. It would be simply prudent not to go into the basement under those circumstances.
A professional fighter would have to be dumb to fight someone in a cellar, especially when he could make a tremendous amount of money by fighting the same individual in a regular bout. - Chuck Johnston
All Johnson would have to do is lie or shall we say give different view of how it went down ( Even if he got beat up ) , and it could have lead to a ring fight. Telling a tall tale worked for Munroe when he claimed a knock down that did not happen. Boxers, even today occasionally have street fights. Back in the day, it was the more common. Jeffries would have hurt Johnson, which is why Johnson declined. The other part of the story is Jeffries told Johnson he could not draw files. There wasn't a 1910 like guaranteed purse for Jeffries as an active champion to meet Jack Johnson, but if there was, perhaps Jeffries takes the fight and boxing history is very different.
Johnson wanted a title fight with the reigning champion, but that champion refused to accept his challenge.Why would he agree to fight in a cellar for peanuts? Johnson did not need anybody to give him advice on Jeffries, he had been ringside for all his major fights challenging him. After koing Jeffries oaf of a brother he leaned over and said to Jeffries, I can do the same to you,"yeah he was really scared of Jeffries. Johnson walked in to Corbett's bar in 1904 he asked Jeffries for a title shot. That year Johnson had beaten Frank Childs, Sam McVey, Black Bill, and Denver Ed Martin. After beating Martin ,knocking him out for several minutes, the manager of the Century AC offered a $15,000 guarantee for a Jeffries v Johnson fight but Jeffries went deaf. He defended his title once that year ,against Jack Munroe. Here's the ringside account of the Martin fight ,including the $15,000 guarantee. http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19041019.2.136.2# Yes old Jeff was a real sportsman,he refused to shake hands at the contract signing for the fight, he refused to shake Johnson's hand when he came in the ring, and he never shook it after he had the **** punched out of him. Johnson went over to his conrer to commiserate but was waved away. Johnson was gracious in victory after both the Burns and Jeffries fights, in stark contrast to both of them ,who were complete arseholes before the fights.