Bob Fitzsimmons on Jeffries versus Johnson, one day after the fight

Jeffries was not there. He looked great. I never saw him looking better; but he left his vitality on the road. He worked himself out training for thisi fight and when he got into the ring it was without his vim.

He wasn't even a quarter of the man he was when he went against me. It was the most pitiful sight I have ever seen to see that man, once the greatest of us all, lying feebly on the floor trying weakly to get up. I felt so sorry at the spectacle that I cried like a baby. I felt like leaping into the ring. If I Johnson had met the Jeffries I had met there would have been a different story to tell. But there's no use in speaking as to what might have happened. It is all over now.

In the first round I thought Jeffries had the shade better of it but he did not display the aggression I expected of him. I thought he would rush Johnson. The second and third rounds were about the same and I kept waiting for Jeffries to display his old tactics, the irresistable tactics that beat me. After the fourth, I realised that Jeffries was not Jeffries any longer.

As far as Johnson is concerned, I say, the king is dead, long live the king. He is a big, strong, clean fighter with a powerful punch. He is one of the cleverest fighters we ever had. I used to think he was only a defensive fighter. He showed today he was an offensive fighter. When he wants to be he can be terribly aggressive. I believe that if he had forced the fighting it would not have gone further than the fourth.

But Johnson works along his own plans. He fought a clever, cool and masterly battle. He made me change my opinion of him as a fighter.

I don't think there is a man in the wolrd that would have a chance against Johnson in the ring. But he was a weakling compared to the Jeffries of old. He is a terrific hitter, a clever blocker, and one of the most dangerous aggressive fighters the ring has ever seen.

 

Various small stories that appear in the press in the following days:

WHITE MEN SHOOT TWO NEGROES IN NEW ORLEANS

James Lee and Emil Thompson, two negroes, were shot and seriously wounded by two white men here last night. The white men approached with the decleration, "Johnson won, but we'll get even with all n*ggers." They then began to fire.

Leen and Thompson will recover.





JOHNSON'S MOTHER SAYS HE WILL RETIRE FROM RING

Tiny Johnson, mother of Jack Johnson, announced late today that the champion would retire immediatly. "Arthur told me positively that he would whip Jeffries and remove all possibility of the slightest dispute, then quit fighting. He promised me. He said he would quit so I believe he will."




ONE HUNDRED WHITE AND BLACK RIOTERS IN COURT [Philadelphia]

More than 100 whites and blacks appeared in front of the magistrate today, many of them wearing bandages and other evidences of the affray which followed Johnson's victory in Reno. As a rule disturbers of the peace were released with a fine, but those more seriously involved in the riots were held in jail for short sentences.

It was a wild night amongst the rought element of the coloured neighbourhood but no-one was seriously hurt either in rioting or in the hilarios celebrations.

The trouble was not confined to any given part of the city, fights breaking out nearly everywhere.

 

I think it was in The San Francisco Call.

 

From what I can pick up Jeffries was thought of more highly than Sullivan. In fact that deserves it's own thread.