It's mentioned as reported but not confirmed on CBZ, and not included on boxrec. I've seen some early mentions of Jeffries talking of him having a win over Childs, when Jeffries was coming up, but it seems no one has found a report of it. It should be noted I don't know of any reports from his first fight with Griffin either, but that seems more widely accepted. It's not really surprising that a black fighter against an unknown wouldn't really be reported, so it's seems reasonably likely from what I know it happened, but there's plenty of bad reporting about stuff in the past in the early papers, so I wouldn't take it with a lot of certainty. Anyone have any more info on it?
*If Adam Pollack couldnt find any solid data on this I don't think it happened.Childs would certainly have been a more worthy foe than a lot of Jeffries opposition, but you can say that about almost anyone.
There are contemporary sources implying that he did beat Childs, we we have to regard it as being unproven at time of writing.
One thing is sure - Jeffries was one of the biggest talents ever in HW division. To be so good as a complete novice is extrmely rare. He's in the same tier with Tyson and Louis in that aspect.
The problem with the contemporary sources that reference a Jeffries Child's fight, is that they all refer to it in the past tense (at least all the ones that I have seen do). I am not saying that it didn't happen, but we don't quite have the smoking gun yet!
1.Can you produce a contemporary newspaper or verified quote from either Childs or Jeffries saying the fight happened? 2. Have you ever read an article in which Jim Jeffries claims he fought Frank Childs? 3.Have you ever read an article by a respected boxing man claiming this fight took place? 4.Frank Childs was a leading fighter of his era ,a Colored Champion,he wasn't some dub that nobody heard of ,if Jeffries fought him why didnt at least one of Jeffries vociferous supporters such as his brother Jack,Jim Corbett ,Joe Choynski, Sam Berger , his manager William Brady or his trainer Billy Delaney ever mention it? 5.If this fight took place why hasn't the diligent research of Adam Pollack been able to unearth it when he was researching Jeffries life for his biography? 6.There have been five biographies of Jeffries to my knowledge, none have this fight in them. 7. Tracy Callis a huge Jeffries fan does not count this as an actual fight . 8. Jeffries lived into the 1950's, nobody ever heard him mention such a fight.
Adam Pollack did find a reference to Jeffries beating Childs: He quotes the San Francisco Chronicle of May 22, 1896. This is from a longer article: "Jeffries has bested his opponents in short order. Two rounds, three rounds, five rounds is the history of his fights. He put George Griffin out in eleven seconds. Frank Childs, the 'colored cyclone' of Los Angeles, went out in two rounds, and Childs had bested La Blanche and 'Billy' Smith. It took the young giant the same length of time to put out Joe Cotton." As there were no sanctioning bodies in those days, who knows exactly what kind of contests these were. But this is a reference to a Childs' fight. Quote from In the Ring with James J Jeffries, page 21, by Adam Pollack. For me, this cuts both ways with Jeffries. It increases his number of name victims. But it would also mean he was not nearly as green during his rise as his supporters maintain. As for Childs, he at most was a middleweight at this time, so I don't know how much a huge heavyweight beating him would prove.
I have the book, bottom line Pollack does not believe the fight happened. Try and find details on a George Griffin or a Joe Cotton I couldn't!
I don't believe that there are any contemporary accounts of Jim Jeffries fighting Frank Childs or Hank Griffin during the early part of his career. Later on, there were at least a couple of versions about Jeffries stopping Griffin, but they appeared in newspapers least several years after the presumed bout. - Chuck Johnston
No. No Irrelevant, because there is no evidence available to them, that is not available to us. Why would they? It would have been a minor fight on his record. He unearthed two references to it, so it would not exactly have slipped under his radar if it happened. If it generated an almost non existent media footprint at the time, then you would not expect biographies written decades later, to have it in them. Irrelevant, because he is under the same constraints as the rest of us, in terms of evidence. Why would he? It would have been a footnote of his career.
San Francisco Chronicle, May 22, 1896... A long write-up on the new prospect Jeffries lists two opponents that are not usually seen on Jeffries' 20 fight ledger... And this is assuming that George Griffin is Hank Griffin. "Jeffries has bested his opponents in short order. Two rounds, three rounds, five rounds is the history of his fights. He put George Griffin out in eleven seconds. Frank Childs, the colored cyclone of Los Angeles went out in two rounds, and Childs had bested La Blanche and Billy Smith. It took the young giant the same length of time to put out Joe Cotton."
Childs was the Colored heavyweight Champion in 1898 how would a victory over him be a minor fight on Jeffries record? Childs beat Klondike 5 times by stoppage Butler x2 Conroy Bonner Walcott Armstrong 4 times, 3 by stoppage Byers Everett x2 Russell x2 Childs is a major scalp for any fighter in the 1890's ! Do you seriously think none of Jeffries connections not his manager,his trainer, or his chief second ,his brother would have ever mentioned that he fought and beat him? Foot note of his career I don't think so!
