Johnson's first words after the fight were "I could have fought for two hours longer. It was easy. Where is my lucky bathrobe? Somebody wire to my mother. I wish it was longer. I was having lots of fun. Not one blow hurt me. He can't hit." Later he would be more gracious. "One thing I must give Jeffries credit for is the game battle he made. He came back at me with the heart of a true fighter. No man can say he did not do his best. I believe we both fought fairly. There was nothing said between us which was rough. He joked me and I joked him. I told him I knew he was a bear, but I was a gorilla and would defeat him." Jeffries, while still in the ring, his bruised face being attended to by his physician, bowed his head in his hands and groaned, "I was too old to come back." After returning to his training camp, Jeffries said, "I guess it's all my own fault. I was getting along nicely and living peacefully on my alfalfa farm, but when they started calling for me and mentioning me as 'the white man's hope,' I guess my pride got the better of my good judgment. . . .Six years ago the result would have been different, but now--well, I guess the public will let me alone after this." Yet, despite the sports-page theorizing about what he might have done to Johnson when he was still in his prime, Jeffries would later admit, "I could never have whipped Jack Johnson at my best. I couldn't have hit him. No, I couldn't have reached him in a thousand years." Still later, when Jeffries was informed that the $192,066 he made on the fight was far more than he'd ever earned.He would say that the beating he took was not worth it.
Pretty much anything Johnson says, I take with about three salt shakers full of salt. I wouldn't guess too strongly what he ever really thought.
I think Johnson became something of an empty vessel in later life, seeking to fill himself up...I think he was capable of both telling people what he thought they wanted to hear and the exact opposite depending upon the circumstances. I guess he's one of these guys who got everything he ever wanted only to find out it wasn't what he wanted at all. Which has nothing to do with anything. Excuse me, gentlemen.
Writers who interviewed him later in life ,when he was working at the flea circus Burt Bienstock referred to, said the same thing ,he told you what you wanted to hear,and you came away never really getting to grips with the essence of the man.
I don't think there was an essence of the man. I really think he was empty. But...what the **** do i know i never met the dude.
MCVEY,Yes, I and my father in the 1940s visited Hubert Flea Circus. on 42nd st., NY...As I posted before Jack Johnson, appeared in the basement,punching the bag and answering customers questions,about boxing...I just remember his smile, and shaking his hand, as others also did...As a youngster then, I didn't realize his importance in boxing history...What questions, I would have asked him today...But I shook the hand that vwhipped Jeffries, who whipped Corbett, Sullivan etc...Yes I,m one of the few that saw Lil Arthur, in the flesh...
