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James Jackson Jeffries ("The Boilermaker") (born April 15, 1875 in Carroll, Ohio, United States – died March 3, 1953 in Burbank, California) was one of the greatest world heavyweight boxing champions.
Jeffries stood 6 ft 3 in tall and weighed 225 in his prime. Despite his bulk, Jeffries, who was not a trained sprinter, could purportedly run the 100 yard dash repeatedly in 11 seconds. The world record in 1900 for the 100 meter dash was 10.8 seconds. While working as a sparring partner for James J. Corbett, Jeffries consistently outsprinted Corbett. Corbett was an outstanding all around athlete and had never lost a footrace to any of his campmates. Jeffries was also nimble and could purportedly high jump over six feet.
His greatest assets were his enormous strength and stamina. Using a technique taught to him by his trainer, former 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.
Biography
Youth
In 1891, his father moved his family from their Ohio farm to Los Angeles, California where the powerfully built and athletic teenager boxed as an amateur until age 20 when he started fighting professionally, going undefeated. On his way to the title, Jeffries knocked out Peter Jackson, the great black fighter whom John L. Sullivan had refused to fight, in three rounds. On June 9, 1899 in Brooklyn, New York he defeated Bob Fitzsimmons 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. Parts of his other bouts and films of some of his exhibition matches survive to this day.Becoming champion
Jeffries has the record for the quickest KO in a heavyweight title fight ever, which was 55 seconds against Finnegan. During his reign as champion, Jeffries defended his title seven times, including two knockout victories over former champion Corbett. He won a 25 round decision over Tom Sharkey. Jeffries broke the ribs of three opponents in title fight: Jim Corbett, Gus Ruhlin, and Tom Sharkey. Jeffries retired undefeated in May of 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.'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. After losing his crown to Jeffries, Fitzsimmons fought and knocked out Jim Daly, Ed Dunkhorst, Gus Ruhlin, and Tom Sharkey. This earned him a rematch with Jeffries, which occurred on July 25, 1902 in San Francisco. For this fight Jeffries each day would have to run 14 miles, 2 hours of skipping, medicine ball training, 20 minutes on the heavy bag and at least 12 rounds of sparring. He also trained in wrestling.
For nearly eight rounds Fitzsimmons subjected Jeffries to a vicious and merciless 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 lethal left hook to the jaw which knocked Fitzsimmons unconscious.
Comeback
Six years after retiring, Jeffries made a comeback and 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 Rushcutter's Bay in Australia in 1908.Although, Jeffries hadn't fought in six years, was 35 years old and had ballooned to over 315 lb, he allowed himself to be persuaded to accept the match. After his six-year layoff, the out of shape Jeffries had to lose close to 100 pounds,and he had no warmup fights to determine if he could still fight at all.
Johnson, who was not a big puncher by heavyweight championship standards, took 15 rounds to defeat the shell of Jeffries. It didn't take long for Jeffries to realize he had made a big mistake. It was obvious to all that this was not the same Jeffries who had reigned as champion. Jeffries was unable to bull Johnson around, as he had every other ring opponent he faced. Jeffries, who had been known for his seemingly superhuman stamina, faded under the mid day Reno heat. Aside from a few flashes of the Jeffries of old, the results of the fight were never in doubt.
Jeffries, however, made no excuses. Jeffries later in his biography implicated that he had been drugged prior to meeting Johnson. Johnson, in his own biography, named Jeffries as the greatest heavyweight of all time. 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." 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.
An all-around fighter with a devastating punch, many consider him the great heavyweight champion of all time. James J. Jeffries was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.
See also
External links
1875 births | 1953 deaths | American boxers | Heavyweights | Aryan people | World boxing champions
"James J. Jeffries"