What Happened in Reno, July 4, 1910

He didn't look good in sparring. His lifestyle of drinking and eating didn't help and he had not been in the ring for 6 years. No one, not even Ali or Holmes would do well under the same conditions at age 35. One you balloon up in weight losing it doesn't make you magically transform back into your prime. See Riddick Bowe.

Dewitt Van Court, the man who discovered Jeffries saw him spar in 1909, and said stay retired.

If the fight had been indoors, Jeffries might have done better. If it was 10 rounds, a draw in the times would have been possible as Jeffries won rounds 4 and 9, and was slightly more active in the early rounds, and also drew first blood, now clue in Mcvey, even though all the above is true.

Jeffries looked dried out. But the coup de grace for Jeffries was Johnson hiring his old trainer Billy Delaney, who knew Jeffries well. Delaney should have trained Jeffries, not a dink like Corbett who hardly did any sparring and had a different style than Jeffries.

For those who watch the film, the rounds are pretty close. Johnson took over late when Jeffries tired.

Fitzsimmons who saw the fight said Jeffries wasn't a quarter of the fighter he faced, but that was good enough to go 15 with Johnson, who was in his prime for this fight and active.

 

Jeffries had not been hit in a fight in 6 years, he barely sparred according to Corbett (who wanted way more sparring) and yes, some of his handlers said he looked great but they were being well paid to be positive. The limited sparring he did do were with smaller and older fighters than Jack, not what Jeffries needed.

He had too long to think about Johnson beating him and would have been jittery about the pressure of being the last great white hope.

If he had fought a real tune up fight or two prior to Johnson, he might have stood in better shape than going in underprepared against Jack.

As it was, it is a testament to his toughness that he lasted so long against Johnson, a brave effort.

 

Yes its a comprehensive collection of all the reports written at the time and collated together for his Jeffries biography which we both have.In that sense it is Pollack's.Nobody does more thorough research than Pollack!

 

Anyone claiming this fight was level after 10 rounds and might have been a draw is
1.Seriously biased.
2.An idiot.
Congratulations on qualifying on both counts !
William Brady, Jeffries old manager, stated Jeffries was always leery of Johnson and never wanted to fight him.
Johnson was always confident he could beat the Californian and after koing his brother leaned over the ropes and said to Jeffries," I can do the same to you." Jeffries did not reply.
Jeffries could not match Johnson for science and when they met for the first time in his life found himself mastered for strength .
You mention Fitzsimmons?
The next day Fitz wrote a column stating Johnson could have ended the fight whenever he wanted.
Corbett? After 6 rounds he turned to Jeffries brother Jack and said, "your brother's getting licked what shall we do?"
They discussed pulling him out or having him deliberately foul out.
So much for your talk of the fight being level after ten rounds!
Jeffries did not draw "first blood," as meaningless as that is anyway.Johnson had suffered a cut lip in sparring with Kid Cutler ,it had scabbed over.
Jeffries knocked of the scab and it bled a little.BIG DEAL!
Halfway through the fight blood was cascading down Jeffries body and legs, his nose was broken and both eyes were cut and swollen Johnson finished the fight unmarked apart from the afore- mentioned lip.
Johnson told reporters ,"I could have fought 50 rounds I was having fun in there".
On the train going home Jeffries was interviewed by Bohun Lynch for the London Times,Lynch commiserating with Jeffries said," it would have been different if you were in your prime Jeffries said," no I couldn't have licked Johnson at my best, I couldn't have reached him in a thousand years".
The only redeeming feature of this mismatch was Jeffries courage in absorbing a thoroughly one sided beating,it must be said however,after his behaviour before the fight and his distastefuly racist public statements about Johnson, he certainly had it coming,and he got it!
It's really time for you to get reconciled with the fact that Jeffries got a good beating in this fight.Just concede he wasn't in the fight ,it will make you appear so much less absurd than you presently do!

 

Jeffries actual fights mostly consisted of smaller,older fighters,maybe he had developed an unbreakable habit?
After watching both men in training John L Sullivan came out for Johnson!

 

My best guess:

We have some decent footage of primeish Jeffries sparring, and while I understand that it is not an actual fight, he looks fast and sharp.

In Reno Jeffries looks sluggish, and not particularly sharp.

I think that the bottom line, was that his reflexes were gone, and he couldn't get them back.

There were doubtless other factors.

The fact that he didn't really ant to be there, probably didn't help.

 

His wife said he did not sleep the night before,not exactly good preparation.

 

Indeed.

He didn't want to be there, and he probably knew in his heart that he was not in good shape for it.

Once he went into his defensive crouch, and waited for Johnson to come to him, Johnson knew it too.

 

It amazes me when the people helped Jeff to his fight. Did they really think he had any chance at that point? I suppose they probably reacted without really thinking.

 

The ignorant masses were sure that he was going to win.

Plenty of people who should have known better, got drawn in by his legend.

The people in his camp, knew exactly what was going to happen!

 

Apparently if Jeffries hadn't, Corbett said he would.

Imagine how bad a slaughter that would've been!

 

Sam Langford and Joe Jeannette were two of the most vociferous of Jeffries supporters ,loudly proclaiming his power and predicting Jeffries ko victory! Choynski ,Fitz, and Corbett all predicted a ko win for Jeffries. Stanley Ketchel and Billy Papke ,after visiting the Jeffries camp both came away convinced Johnson would win. Ketchel hatched a plan in which he would sucker punch Jeffries when he was brought into the ring,thereby causing the fight to be aborted ,but Wilson Mizner, his manager pointed out that ,since both had bet heavily on Johnson this would not be a financially advisable move.Nevertheless Mizner made sure Ketchel was kept away from Jeffries during the lengthy introductions of current and former champions.

 

I don’t think any fighter at any weight in history in those circumstances could ever have looked good in that fight.
Six years out of the game without even any warm up fights and fighting the best man in the world at the weight, not a hope.

 

Yeah, age and inactivity will do the trick. He was 35, right?

 

Yes, 3 years older than Johnson.