Let's talk about James Jeffries

That has conveniently been forgotten along with the Jack Finnegan "defence".

 

Brilliant thread guys. This is what seperates Classic from other forums. Great arguments and insights all round.

 

While I have some sympathy with Jeffries predicament ,ie he had to face Munroe after all the hoo ha,the end result was a mismatch . Jeffries met Munroe on 26th August 1904,that year Johnson defended the Coloured Title against Denver Ed Martin,Black Bill,Frank Childs ,and kod Sam Mcvey in 20rds.Johnson had not been defeated for 3 years .According to Box rec the manager of the Athletic Club offered to put up a $15,000 guarantee for a Johnson v Jeffries bout.Though Johnson would lose a debatable decision to Marvin Hart the following year,and suffer a dsq loss to Joe Jeanette ,he would not lose any other contest for the next 10years,he would certainly have been a worthier foe for Jeffries than the reluctant miner Munroe.

 

The San Francisco Chronicle did not think a Jeffries-Johnson fight would come off even if Johnson won. Here is their comment in their preview of the Johnson-Hart fight-3-28-1905

"The winner is promised a fight with Jeffries, if the winner should be Hart. The hairy one has not withdrawn the color line and has no intention of doing so."

This is a quote from Jeffries taken off a wire service story and printed in the Chronicle issue of 3-29-1905 which also included coverage of the Johnson-Hart fight:

"I am glad the white man won. If Hart, in the opinion of the public, is a fit opponent for me, I will readily sign articles for a fight."

 

My book on Jeffries, In the Ring with James J. Jeffries: A King Amongst Kings, should come out by mid-2009. It will answer a lot of these questions and give thorough analysis of these issues using local and national primary sources, as any of you who have read my previous books know. I'm glad to see there is still some interest in the oldies but goodies.

 

I'm sure it will sell well on this Forum,cetainly judging by the amount of interest Jeff still arouses,think I'll spring for a copy myself!

 

I hope you give some pages to the Johnson fight, in particular to what Jeffries said after the fight.