| James J. Jeffries | |
|---|---|
| Statistics | |
| Real name | James Jackson Jeffries |
| Nickname(s) | The Boilermaker |
| Rated at | Heavyweight |
| Height | 6 ft 1 1⁄2 in (1.87 m) |
| Reach | 761⁄2 in (194 cm) |
| Nationality | United States |
| Born | April 15, 1875 Carroll, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | March 3, 1953 (aged 77) Burbank, California, U.S. |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 23 |
| Wins | 19 |
| Wins by KO | 14 |
| Losses | 1 |
| Draws | 2 |
| No contests | 1 |
James Jackson Jeffries (April 15, 1875 – March 3, 1953) was a world heavyweight boxing champion.
His greatest assets were his enormous strength and stamina. Using a technique taught to him by his trainer, former welterweight and middleweight champion Tommy Ryan, Jeffries fought out of a crouch with his left arm extended forward. He was able to absorb tremendous punishment while wearing his opponents down. A natural left-hander, he possessed one-punch knockout power in his left hook.
Jeffries stood 6 ft 1 1⁄2 in (1.87 m) tall and weighed 225 pounds (102 kg) in his prime. Though he would not be thought of as a particularly big Heavyweight by modern standards, he was considered a giant in his time. He could run 100 yards (91 m) in just over ten seconds, and could purportedly high jump over 6 feet (180 cm).
Contents |
In 1891, his father moved his family from their Ohio farm to Los Angeles, California. James worked for a while as a boilermaker before going into boxing,[1] and this became one of his professional nicknames in later life.
As a powerfully built and athletic teenager, Jeffries boxed as an amateur until age 20, when he started fighting professionally.
In his third fight, Jeffries knocked out the highly regarded black boxer named Hank Griffin in the fourteenth round. Jack Johnson had fought Griffin on three separate occasions and failed to beat him once.
Jeffries fought the top heavyweight contender, Gus Ruhlin, to a draw. Ruhlin was knocked down with a brutal punch at the end of the final round and was saved by the bell from being counted out. The decision was met with unfavorable reactions from the audience, many of whom felt Jeffries won.
On his way to the title in 1898, Jeffries knocked out Peter Jackson, the great black boxer whom John L. Sullivan had refused to fight, in three rounds. This had been only the second defeat in Jackson's entire career; his first loss was from a four round fight over thirteen years earlier around the begining of his career. Jackson retired shortly afterward.
Jeffries defeated the formidable Mexican Pete Everett by knockout in only the third round on April 22, 1898.
His next fight was against the Irishmen Tom Sharkey. The fight went the full twenty rounds and Sharkey was knocked down in the eleventh round. Jeffries won the decision.
After defeating the big, fast-moving, sharp-jabbing black, Bob Armstrong, Jeffries had earned the right to challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship.
On June 9, 1899 in Brooklyn, New York he defeated Bob Fitzsimmons by knockout to win the Heavyweight championship of the world. That August, he embarked on a tour of Europe, putting on exhibition fights for the fans. Jeffries was involved in several motion pictures recreating portions of his championship fights. Filmed portions of his other bouts and of some of his exhibition matches survive to this day.
Jeffries held the record for the quickest KO in a heavyweight title fight, which was 55 seconds against Jack Finnegan.
In his first title defense, he won a twenty-five round decision in a rematch over Tom Sharkey.
Jeffries set the record for the quickest KO in a heavyweight title fight ever, which was 55 seconds against Jack Finnegan in his second title defense.
His next defense was against the former heavyweight champion and legendary technician, James J. Corbett. Corbett had put up a perfect defense and could have arguably won had the fight gone the distance. However, Corbett had been knocked out cold from an unexpected left to his jaw in the twenty-third round of the schduled twenty-five round fight.
Jeffries later got the chance to avenge his controversial draw with Gus Ruhlin when he defended his title against him on November 15, 1901. Claims that Ruhlin quit during the fifth round are incorrect. All of the local next day San Francisco sources agree that Ruhlin's manager, Billy Madden, threw in the towel to retire Gus during the one-minute interval between the fifth and sixth rounds.
An example of Jeffries' ability to absorb punishment and recover from a severe battering to win a bout came in his rematch for the title with Fitzsimmons, who is regarded as one of the hardest punchers in boxing history. The rematch with Jeffries occurred on July 25, 1902 in San Francisco. To train for the bout Jeffries' daily training included a 14-mile (23 km) run, 2 hours of skipping rope, medicine ball training, 20 minutes sparring on the heavy bag, and at least 12 rounds of sparring in the ring. He also trained in wrestling.
For nearly eight rounds Fitzsimmons subjected Jeffries to a vicious battering. Jeffries suffered a broken nose, both his cheeks were cut to the bone, and gashes were opened over both eyes. It appeared that the fight would have to be stopped, as blood freely flowed into Jeffries' eyes. Then in the eighth round, Jeffries lashed out with a terrific right to the stomach, followed by a left hook to the jaw which knocked Fitzsimmons unconscious.
Jeffries and Corbett met one last time in the ring on August 14, 1903. This time Jeffries was in total control for all ten rounds of the scheduled twenty round bout. Tommy Ryan, Corbett's chief second, threw a large palm-leaf fan into the ring to alert Referee Graney that he should stop the fight.
Jeffries had his seventh and final title defense against Canadian Jack Munroe, whom he stopped in only two rounds.
Jeffries broke the ribs of three opponents in title fights: Jim Corbett, Gus Ruhlin and Tom Sharkey. Jeffries retired undefeated in May 1905. He served as a referee for the next few years, including the bout in which Marvin Hart defeated Jack Root to stake a claim at Jeffries' vacated title. Jeffries had never been knocked down in his prime.
Jeffries had likely fought many more bouts than twenty-two at this time. Many of his fights were lost in history. Jeffries had, however, never been defeated before his original retirement.
Sam Langford, the great light-heavyweight fighter, advertised in newspapers his willingness to fight any man in the world, except Jim Jeffries.
Six years after retiring, Jeffries made a comeback on July 4, 1910 at Reno, Nevada. He fought champion Jack Johnson, who had staked his claim to the heavyweight championship by defeating Tommy Burns at Rushcutters Bay in Australia in 1908.
The fight, which was promoted and refereed by legendary fight promoter Tex Rickard, and became known as "The Fight of the Century", soon became a symbolic battleground of the races. The white media, eager for a "Great White Hope", found a champion for their racial pride in Jeffries. Jack London is quoted as saying Jim Jeffries must emerge from his alfalfa farm and remove the golden smile from Jack Johnson's face.
Jeffries at first had no intention of returning to the ring and didn't care about the color of someones skin nor who was world-champion. However as time passed the media put more pressure onto Jeffries and promoters dangled more wealth in front of him. A year later and he finally acquiesced, although was out of shape and lost most of his muscle; weighing over 300 pounds (136kg) while Johnson was in superb physical condition. Previous heavy-weight champion John L. Sullivan remarked during an interview with The New York Times that Jeffries personal doctor was so amazed at Johnson's physical condition that he felt Jeffires could only win if Johnson had a lack of skill on the day. While the media instigated racist remarks about winning the title for whites, Jeffries final words before the fight were It is my intention to go right after my opponent and knock him out as soon as possible. His wife also commented I'm not interested in prizefighting but I am interested in my husband's welfare, I do hope this will be his last fight.[2]
Jack Johnson dominated the fight and won by TKO in the 15th round. He knocked Jeffries down for the first time in his career and again a second time in the same round; Jeffries corner threw in the towel to save face and to protect his record from having a loss via knockout. Johnson later remarked that he knew the fight was over in the 4th round when he landed an uppercut to Jeffries' face and saw the look in his eyes, stating I knew what that look meant, The old ship was sinking. John L. Sullivan commented for The New York Times that never had there been a championship contest that was so one-sided and that Johnson played fairly at all times and fought fairly.[3]
In his later years, Jeffries trained boxers and worked as a fight promoter. He promoted many fights out of a structure known as "Jeffries Barn", which was located on his alfalfa ranch at the southwest corner of Victory Boulevard and Buena Vista, Burbank, California. (His ranch house was on the southeast corner until the early 1960s.) Jeffries Barn is now part of Knott's Berry Farm, a Southern California amusement park. On his passing in 1953, he was interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.
James J. Jeffries was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.
| 19 wins (14 knockouts, 5 decisions), 1 loss, 2 draws, 1 No Contest [1] | |||||||
| Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round | Date | Location | Notes |
| Loss | 19–1-2 1 NC |
Jack Johnson | TKO | 15 (45) | 07/04/1910 | Reno, Nevada, United States | For World Heavyweight Title. Reportedly the first time a venue was constructed specifically for one boxing show. Jeffries had to lose 100 pounds in order to get in shape for the fight. |
| Win | 19–0-2 1 NC |
Jack Munroe | TKO | 2 | 08/26/1904 | Mechanic's Pavilion, San Francisco, California, United States | Retained World Heavyweight Title. Retired afterwards. |
| Win | 18–0-2 1 NC |
James J. Corbett | TKO | 10 (20) | 08/14/1903 | Mechanic's Pavilion, San Francisco, California, United States | Retained World Heavyweight Title. |
| Win | 17–0-2 1 NC |
Bob Fitzsimmons | KO | 8 (20) | 07/25/1902 | The Arena, San Francisco, California, United States | Retained World Heavyweight Title. |
| Win | 16–0-2 1 NC |
Gus Ruhlin | TKO | 5 (20) | 11/15/1901 | Mechanic's Pavilion, San Francisco, California, United States | Retained World Heavyweight Title. |
| Win | 15–0-2 1 NC |
Joe Kennedy | KO | 2 (4) | 09/24/1901 | Reliance A.C., Oakland, California, United States | A short left to the jaw put Kennedy on the canvas and half through the ropes where he was counted out. |
| NC | 14–0-2 1 NC |
Hank Griffin | ND | 4 (4) | 09/17/1901 | Hazard's Pavilion, Los Angeles, California, United States | Griffin went down from a push in the first round and was knocked down twice by clean punches in the second. |
| Win | 14–0-2 | James J. Corbett | KO | 23 (25) | 05/11/1900 | Seaside A.C., Coney Island, New York, United States | Retained World Heavyweight Title. |
| Win | 13–0-2 | John Finnegan | PTS | 25 (25) | 04/06/1900 | Cadillac A.C., Detroit, Michigan, United States | Retained World Heavyweight Title. |
| Win | 12–0-2 | Tom Sharkey | PTS | 25 (25) | 11/03/1899 | Coney Island A.C., Brooklyn, New York, United States | Retained World Heavyweight Title. |
| Win | 11–0-2 | Bob Fitzsimmons | KO | 11 (20) | 06/09/1899 | Coney Island A.C., Brooklyn, New York, United States | Won World Heavyweight Title. |
| Win | 10–0-2 | Bob Armstrong | PTS | 10 (10) | 08/05/1898 | Lenox A.C., New York City, New York, United States | |
| Win | 9–0-2 | Tom Sharkey | PTS | 20 (20) | 05/06/1898 | Mechanic's Pavilion, San Francisco, California, United States | Sharkey was down in the 11th round. |
| Win | 8–0-2 | Mexican Pete Everett | TKO | 3 (20) | 04/22/1898 | Olympic A.C., San Francisco, California, United States | Everett was down twice in the 2nd round, and one more time in the 3rd when the referee stopped the fight. |
| Win | 7–0-2 | Peter Jackson | TKO | 3 (20) | 03/22/1898 | Woodward's Pavilion, San Francisco, California, United States | Jackson down twice in the 2nd round. |
| Win | 6–0-2 | Joe Goddard | TKO | 4 (15) | 02/28/1898 | Hazard's Pavilion, Los Angeles, California, United States | |
| Draw | 5–0-2 | Joe Choynski | PTS | 20 (20) | 11/30/1897 | National A.C., San Francisco, California, United States | |
| Draw | 5–0-1 | Gus Ruhlin | PTS | 20 (20) | 07/16/1897 | Mechanic's Pavilion, San Francisco, California, United States | Guhlin down and "almost out by a terrific right swing on the jaw and only the call of time saved him. The referee declared the fight a draw, a decision which was received with mingled cheers and hisses." - Brooklyn Daily Eagle |
| Win | 5–0 | Henry Baker | TKO | 9 (20) | 05/18/1897 | National A.C., San Francisco, California, United States | |
| Win | 4–0 | Theodore Van Buskirk | KO | 2 | 04/09/1897 | National A.C., San Francisco, California, United States | |
| Win | 3–0 | Hank Griffin | KO | 14 | 12/01/1896 | Oakland Tribune, Los Angeles, California, United States | Exact date is uncertain. |
| Win | 2–0 | Dan Long | KO | 2 (10) | 07/02/1896 | Occidental A.C., San Francisco, California, United States | Long was knocked down twice in the 1st round. |
| Win | 1–0 | Hank Lorraine | KO | 2 (4) | 10/29/1895 | Los Angeles Athletic Club, Los Angeles, California, United States | Jeffries' professional debut. |
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Bob Fitzsimmons |
World Heavyweight Champion 1899–1905 |
Succeeded by Marvin Hart Filled vacancy |