Who was in better condition for the ring? Jim Jeffries at Reno 1910 ? or, Peter Jackson in San Francisco 1898? Jeffries had his last fight as Champion on 26th August 1904. He made his comeback fight on the 4th July 1910 . Jeffries announced his comeback 16 months prior to the fight, so one assumes he went into training shortly after. Jeffries had worked his alfalfa farm , and done some refereeing during his retirement ,he had accumulated a lot of weight during this time. Jeffries , when he challenged Johnson for the title had not fought in 6 years, and ,though he had 16 months to train ,he had to lose a significant amount of weight ,some say up to 100lbs. Jeffries was 34 years old when he challenged Johnson ,and was beaten over 15 rds. Jackson ,after his win over Frank Slavin in London 1892, became despondent that he could not lure either John L Sullivan or his successor Jim Corbett into a title defence. Jackson tooK to drink and soon became an alcoholic ,suffering a physical collapse while in the U K. Jackson later contracted TB. Which ultimately killed him at the age of 40. Jackson returned to the US ,and later in the year fought no hoper Danny Kelliher 3-15-4 over 4 rds. Jackson then retired for 3 years. Jackson came out of retirement in a meaningless fight with Gustav Wilkie 2-3-1 a no dec 6 rounder , this was in May 1895 . Jackson then retired for a further 3 years. Jackson, bankrupt, agreed to fight Jeffries 3 years later . As has been documented, Jackson did only perfunctory sparring for this fight. The 23 year old Jeffries swept the 37 year old Jackson aside in 3 rounds . To capsulate. Jeffries came into the Johnson fight, after 6 years without a fight ,he was 34 years old ,and had to diet severely.Johnson gave him a one sided beating stoppng him in 15 rds. Jackson came into the Jeffries fight with 10rds of boxing in the previous 6 years, and none in the last 3 years,he was alcoholic and tubercular, and 37 years old. Jeffries stopped him in 3rds. Who was in the better shape for the RING ? This content is protected This is Jeffries, in the ring ,ready to face Johnson.Choynski is next to him. No photo of Jackson during his fight with Jeffries is available .
