Jeffries Weighed 235lbs 19th Oct 1909

Jeffries was certainly working on getting his weight down for more than a year. That much is clear.

 

Hmmmmm.... They have footage from late 1909 where Jeff was more like 315 pounds come New Years day of 1910..... If Jeff went into serious training in Jan., 1910, it would be possible to be back down to 226 or so pounds come July 4, 1910... Jeff had a lotta bloatation / water as well as fat on his body......

MR.BILL

 

I got a lotta' old clips and footage from that era... No actual dates set, but Jeff was inactive between '05 and '09 and only doing some refereeing and appearances, etc.... He was a whale in many of them clips too.... From what's been said over the years I find it hard to digest Jeff was 235 pounds going into 1910.... What has been said and reported is that Jeff was over 300 pounds when approached about coming back to fight Johnson in Reno..... And that was in late 1909 after Johnson hammered Ketchel in Ca....

MR.BILL

 

He did very well to get in the kind of shape he did really - says something about the kind of shape the guy must've got himself into at his peak - you just wonder how little or how much he had in the tank tho? And how unusual is it for heavyweights to lose up to 60 pounds in a year for a fight? Physically he still 'looked' pretty amazing for an old guy but really how much of his old self do you reckon was still there in reality at that age? I know people like Riddick Bowe often ballooned to stupid weight in between fights but suppose he did it at a younger age and it looked like it took a lot from him for instance? What do you think?

 

Jeff at age 35 and having dropped a vast amount of fat was hindered on July 4, 1910 by the skills of Johnson, as well as the age / weight loss and the hot Reno sun hanging above.....

However, even a Jimmy Jeff of 1901 never faced a dude like a 6' 2" Johnson who was fit at roughly 212 pounds and only near age 32 in Reno..... Johnson was ahead of his era in the advanced skills dept.....

MR.BILL

 

I'll settle with 80 pounds...... Cuz I've heard that Jeff during retirment was anywhere between 310 to 335 pounds depending on who was telling the story....

Plus, he did ref a fight or two in 1908 or so in which the pics clearly show how tubby Jeff had become..... During his announced retirement from 1905 thru 1909, its no surprise that a big dude like Jeff who was a farm boy loved to stuff his face with bacon, eggs, sausage, steaks and pork chops and beer while the going was good.....

MR.BILLbbb

 

Whatever it is irrelevant. The man was not in condition to fight the best fighter in the world at his age, after such a long layoff with zero tune up bouts and a sparring free training camp. Any attempt to build up Reno as a serious physical accomplishment for Johnson is fantasy. Jeffries had as little chance v.s. Johnson going in as Ali had v.s. Holmes. Johnson's achievement was mental toughness. He kept it together in an absurd atmosphere and performed with true grace.

 

I don't give two hoots what anyone says. This was the original fight of the century and a victory here is what defined johnson as the true great of boxing's early days.

Any condition james turned up in is on james. He had a year to prepare and was a rightful favourite as he was perceived to be superman during his prime and quite possibly would have been considered p4p number 1 back then. This fight had to happen and by 1909 johnson had defeated everyone but james. As the last man standing and the true champion in some people's eyes james chose to take the fight and if he didn't want to train nor spar than I can't see how we could possibly hold that against jack.

Fight of the century and I don't care what others think, this victory was career defining and monumentous.