Did Johnson have a chance at losing to Jeffries?

Jeffries smashes him while he was champion ( 1899-1905 ), but as an old man who had been out of the ring for 6 years, it was Johnson's fight to lose in 1910. Bob Fitzsimmons who saw the fight said Jeffries wasn't a quarter of the fighter who meet me.

Had the match been in doors away from the desert sun Jeffries chances go up a little. If Jeffries had Delaney as his trainer and a better camp, his chances also go up a bit. As it was Johnson hired his former trainer.

If the match was 10 rounds, you could have seen a draw ruled because it was close enough at that point, and the politics / old adage that you have to take the tile from the champion were in play.

 

No, not under those circumstances. Jeffries was old, hadn't fought in 6 years and had to lose 100 pounds. Prime for prime would have been competitive.

 

I think JJ would win.

 

The level of media attention on the fight was such that a scorecard would have had to reflect what happened in the ring.

Even so, Johnson was probably wise to take the referee out of the equation.

 

No.

 

Johnson would always have beaten Jeffries. Obviously a prime for prime battle would have been more competitive.




If their actual fight had gone the distance,in lieu of the disgusting racist attitude of the times,Jack would have got screwed.

 

Notwithstanding the attitudes of the period, there were checks on such behaviour.

If a totally absurd decision had been rendered in Jeffries favour, the gamblers who had bet on Johnson would have raised marry hell, and so would the media.

It is also unlikely that Johnson would have agreed to let Rickard officiate, unless he thought that he would deliver an objective verdict.

Furthermore, there had been extensive speculation in the media, regarding who should officiate the fight to ensure fairness, so whoever was chosen was effectively on trial.

 

It was never going the full 45 rounds so there was no concern about that.

 

The fight was originally scheduled for San Francisco, where Johnson was to be in the bag... so, yes, if that was truly the case, then Jeffries had a great chance of winning.

 

If Jeffries thought Johnson was going to fall down for him, then Johnson has a real advantage because if you think the fix in is, how hard are you really going to train?

Moving the fight out of San Fran to the desert did not benefit Jeffries. It was the opposite.

 

If the fix was in, wouldnt it make more sense from a monetary point of view for Jeffries to take a dive? He needed the money, stood to make nothing out of a rematch and didnt really even want to take the fight. Who knows, maybe the poison story was an elaborate hoax

 

But that's not what Gunboat Smith alleged. He alleged that the fix was in when the fight was set for San Fran. When it was moved to Reno, Johnson informed Mr. Jeffries that all bets were off.

 

You mean as soon as there was no going back for Jeffries.

 

The story was that Jeffries couldn't sleep after Johnson told him the fight was on the level. He was rightly very concerned.

If you buy Smith's story.