If Jeffries did Knockout Frank Childs and Denver Ed Martin......perhaps he deserves

Have there been any contemporary accounts of Jim Jeffries fighting Hank Griffin, Frank Childs or Denver Ed Martin? I haven't seen them. There have been a number of accounts about Jeffries fighting Griffin, but they appeared in newspapers a number of years after the alleged bout took place. If such a bout had taken place, I would think that the word about it would get out.

- Chuck Johnston

 

Jeffries definitely fought Griffin twice.

He might have fought Childs.

He almost certainly, never fought Martin.

 

It does seem likely going by timeline that a few of Jeffries fights are missed in between his fights with Hank Lorraine and Dan Long. There is a 9 month gap on boxrec between bouts which is longest gap up until he fights Fitz for title.

 

You totally reversed this stance when Jack Johnson sparred with GunBoat Smith!atsch

 

No evidence that Jeffries ever fought either Childs or Martin has ever surfaced,and Jeffries never claimed to have done so.
You dont think when opponents are beat is important?
Johnson beat Langford,McVey,Jeannette ,Martin,Childs, Gardner,Fitzsimmons,Burns,Jeffries,Ketchel,O Brien.
Its a silly game of lists.

 

Jeffries was not quite the raw novice he is portrayed, he had several bouts at his AC that are not generally known.Fights with well known boxers such as Frank Childs ,and Denver Ed Martin , both at times Coloured Champions would almost certainly have been well publicised.

 

I think it is plausible that the Childs fight took place, because both fighters were operating in the same city when it was alleged to have happened, and they were both local level fighters at the time, so it would not have attracted enormous publicity. I think that we can say beyond reasonable doubt that Jeffries never defeated Martin. If he had, then it seems unlikely that he would have failed to cite it in his defence, when he was criticised for not defending the title against Martin.

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You dont think that after Childs kod Armstrong in a huge upset that an account of Jeffries fighting Childs might have surfaced?
I find it hardly credible that in over a century concrete proof has never been found of it happening. We have accounts of Jeffries with Baker,and Buskirk,if he had fought Childs we would certainly know about it now.

 

Armstrong did not have it all his own way.

"Martin proved the cleverer and never gave his opponent a chance, being declared an easy winner on points at the close of the fifteenth round;

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(Associated Press"

 

Wouldn't there be something in the Los Angeles newspapers about Jim Jeffries' alleged bouts with Hank Griffin, Frank Childs and Denver Ed Martin at the time they took place? I didn't see any mention of them. However, it was mentioned in the Los Angeles Times that Jeffries was taken on the road by Billy Gallagher for a period of time.

- Chuck Johnston

 

Not necessarily. I have never seen any interest in a Jeffries Childs fight, even while Childs was the coloured champion. That would have been the principle catalyst that would have brought talk of such a fight to the surface.

 

Frank Childs was active as a fighter in Los Angeles and the rest of California during the early 1890s. I don't know if he was in California from 1894 to 1902.

According to the Illinois, Deaths and Stillborns Index, 1916-1937 database on the Ancestry website, one Frank Childs, a 70-year-old black man born in Mexico, died on June 20, 1936 and was buried in Waukegan, Illinois. He was a porter who worked in a barber shop.

According to the U.S. Census Records on the Ancestry website, one Frank Childs, a 62-year-old black native of Texas, was living in Waukegan, Illinois during 1930. He was divorced and worked as a janitor in a cigar shop. His parents were born in Mexico.

- Chuck Johnston

 

There was plenty of interest in Jeffries ,if he had fought Childs, we would have known about it by now.

 

With two newspaper articles referencing the fight, we would not be able to say that it went under the radar completely, if it actually took place. Since Childs was never seriously considered as an opponent for Jeffries, it would have been unlikely to be discussed in later years. Furthermore, because both fighters were operating at local level, and little was written about the fight at the time, it is possible that many writers simply didn’t know about it.

The problem with the alleged Martin fight for contrast is twofold. We do not have a primary source referencing it, and there was considerable interest in a prospective Jeffries Martin fight. So in summary I am provisionally saying no to the Martin fight, and perhaps to the Childs fight.

 

What is the second newspaper article referencing the childs fight? I know the first one from Old Fogey is the San Francisco chronicle write up is there also a second report? Thanks