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PUGILIST FORMERLY RECOGNIZED-NOW AMONG GALAXY OF WORLD’S CHAMPIONS Tex Rickard’s story of the great fight between Jim Jeffries and Jack Johnson, by which Johnson became the undisputed champion ot the world has been published. We re produce Jack Johnson‘s statement of the same event. TWO FItGHTS FOR CROWN. It'was virtually necessary tor me to wage two ring battles before I establ shed undisputed ciaim to the championship. My fight with Burns really gave me the title, for he was the recognized champion. When I acquired his laurels, the question suddenly arose as to whether or not Burns was the champion. It was stoutly declared by some that Jef fries was the champion, because he actually had not lost the title in the ring, merely having voluntarily re linquished it to Hart, who had been defeated by Burns. BURNS’ CLAIMS. It was upon this basis that Bums claimed the championship and it hever was questioned until I estab lished mv claim. At any rate I ''as not permitted to rest secure in t?ie title. I was constantly harassed and criticised. Those who conceded, but resented my rightful claim to the title started a turmo 1 by hunting a “white hope” or one who would re gain the title for the white race. This hunt was a long and bitter one. All kinds of condemnation was heaped upon me—originating from no other cause than that I was not white. . • • • • • .. ** WAS STILL CHAMPION. A large proportion of the public or that part interested in boxing at least, insisted that Jeffries still was champion and that I must defeat him if I wished to retain the belt. I did not object to th<s proposal. I was willing to defend my claims against any man in the world. I lent my efforts and /willlngess to arrange a bout with' Jeffries. It is interesting to note that Jeffries him self lad n0 claim to the title» He had retired from the ring and wished to remain out of it. DECLINED TO FIGHT. At f*rst. he declined to fight and much pressure had to be brought upon him to induce h?m to consider a match An ins stent cry went up frnpi the country—a demand that he fght. It was said he was the riiv “white hope” ava’lable and that he must meet me in order to Veen the title in the possession of the white race. Hr had cot foneht for tong time, hut he f nally agreed to meet me and it was ar . v.j vn.t wp should f'ght Ju’y 1 1 f> 1 o ’* San F-anc'-'p. w HISTORIC FIGHT. This r jrM too was an hi •tor e or° - i ]■ on! a’ one cf the p'onf nnnsua’ r ng events in the wort*’ ' <"•< ■ rIm-nofen 0”° of the gre-te-t fghters in the hr » —- • • ’••• iM‘sr> had been coaxed b*v-’* ■ oopto-d for the t tie in or f’ *> lea lousy. hatred and preiiuVc'. r deeply regretted this yd'as'' < f the affair huf I was derer mined that l would defend my title and demonstrate thaf I was worthy Of it. .. .... - CONFIDENT OF VICTORY. I knew that I could whip Jeffries. I was so willing to meet him that I made many concessions just as I had in the Burns fight, but being the title holder. I did reserve the right to dictate some of the finan cial terms as a result of which I was able to obtain a modest fortune, wh ch was really the most substan tial returns I had ever received from my ring ventures. The fight was promoted and managed by Tex Rickard and both he and I had our troubles with the affair. .. .. _ MANY DIFFICULTIES, Throughout the whole business, there were many difficulties aud disappointments. It seemed that Fate was working overtime to stop the fight or to make it a failure. Rickard at f.rst wished to stage the fight in Salt Lake City, but Californ ians brought so much pressure upon him that he agreed to hold the mill in San Frai\cisjco. After he had obtained a license, built the arena and sold $300,000 worth of tickets and Jeffries and myself had estab hshed tra iling quarters in the San Francisco district. Gov. Gillette suddenly forbade the fight, giving no explanation for h.s action. .. LOST MUCH MONEY. .. I Rickard lost $50,000 by that move but undismayed he set out to find another site and negotiated for holding the contest at Reno, Nevada tc wh ch place it was necessary for us to move our training quarters. As the plans for the fight progressed strained relations developed between George Little, my manager, and myselt. He had carried on the nego tiations1 for the f ght in my behalf .but while I was training, events came to such an issue between him and me that we separated and from then on untii the day of the light, he carried on a campaign against n.e, based upon misunderstanding and falsification, that in the end. 1 oved disastrous to him and all who had listened to him. JEFFRIES ANGRY. j Jeffries was very bitter toward me and indulged in many hateful and j venomous remarks concerning me. ■ Tie condemned me in scathing terms. For a long time, he declared that lie had drawn the color line. He attacked Burns for fighting me, saying that he was money mad and that he bad sold his pride and the pride of the Caucasian race by fight ing me. Jeffries’ father, a minister said he would disown hi& son if he appeared in the ring with me, for getting that his son, Jack had been in the ring with me in 1902 and that both Jim and his brother, Jack had Jack Johnson's Golden Smile previously fought men of my race. EX CHAMPION ON STAGE. puring all of this long period, while d.scualsion of our fight was carried on, the exchampion was engaged in the theatrical business. He devoted much time t0 denying that he would meet me or informing the public what he would do in the event he did meet me. This talk> which filled the sporting pages was good advertising for him and made his show business profitable, and when the articles were finally signed by us, he proceeded to make as much capital out of it as possible and there was no doubt, but that the cause of his forthcoming meet ing w.th me the public paid more willingly and liberally to see him on the stage. .... JACK NOT BITTER. I bore no bitterness toward Jef fries: I said very little in reply to his taunts and criticisms further than to reiterate my wish and will ingness to fight him. As the fight neared, ugly rumors: were afloat concerning the “fixing” of the fight and frequently it was declared that I was going to “lie down to Jeff.” To these I paid little attention., though I admit that many circum stances developed which made the outcome seem doubtful to me. .. BREAK WITH MANAGER. - My break with Little, my manager coming as U did during the training per.od caused the public to indulge in much speculation and when he h/inted that he had information to the effect that the fight was “fixed” letting it be known that this was the reason for splitting with me, the public was more than ready to be lieve it. Little circulated1 about freely at Reno and became very friendly with members of the Jef fries camp. More than that he bet heavily on Jeffries and that wras the »gnal for many others, who orig inally intended to back me, to switch their money to Jeff. THE BETTING ODDS CHANGED. ! This also shot the betting odds ' upward. The fact is that the things that caused Little and me to separate were insignificant. They concerned the fight in no way and were not even based upon bus.ness relations I liked Little, for he was a splendid fellow in many ways but subject to erratic and hot headed action. When i learned that he was betting on Jeff and hinting at crookedness on my part 1 was not resentful as much as sorry for him and sent him word 'cant oning him not to he silly. j BELIEVED HE WOULD WIN. J i , “I am going to win this fight” I told him “and if you do not want „ to lose your money you better not bet on Jeff.” My warning had no effect upon him. He continued to put all the money he could raise on j Jeff and urged his friends to do the ' :/une. The consequences to him and j his friends, in a financial way. my readers can easily guess. Opposition 1 to me was heightened and belief in the possibility of crookedness was increased, when Sam Langford ar rived on the scene and intimated that he had information to the effect '- ■ Parade of Pugilists that 1 was going to let Jeffries win. SAM LANGFORD QUOTED. Perhaps Luugfoid (lid th.nli that Jeffries would win but neither he nor any other had any except an imaginary reason to believe the fight was not on the square. Langford however disl Led me, principally. 1 think, because I had defeated him having given him a good beating at one time. At any rate, he bet on Jeff, and his friends and others fol lowed his example. The results were d.sastrous for them but preceding the fight Langford’s activities lent color t0 the rumors afloat concern ir.g me. “AN EASY OPPONENT.” Recently, he was reported to have siaid,. in an interview for a maga zine article that he found me an easy opponent, in spite of the fact that I defeated him. I have n0 de sire to exaggerate my ability as a boxer, nor to minimize the capacities of my opponent. Langford calls attention to the fact, that he knocked me down t0 indicate that I did not have the best of him. If Mr. Lang ford really gave this interview, all that I can say is that, in the lan guage of the prize ring, he is punch crazy for no such knocking down of me occurred. The fact is that I dropped him a few times during the encounter. The boxers and sport writers, who witnessed the event, among whom I recall the names of Joe Walcott, Mike Twin Sullivan. John Twin Sullivan, Stephen Mahon ey a noted Boston sport writer and Alec McLean, fight promoter, will attest the truth,of my remarks). (To Be Continued) How Thin Men and Women Gain Weight McCoy's Tablets* sugar coated and rich, in weight building agents are easy to take and will not upset or even disturb the most delicate stomach... These wonderful health building, strength creating, weight producing tablets are now sold in every drug store in North America and millions of them are used every month. Mc*Coy takes all the risk—Read this ironclad guarantee. If after taking i s'xtv cent boxes of McCoy’s Tablets or 2 One Dollar boxes any thin, unjlerweit lit man or woman doesn’t gain at least 5 pounds and feel) completely satisfied with the n^arked improvement in health—• your money will be returned. Just ask for McCoy’s Tablets at any drug store in America. DO YOU KNOW HIM? Wanted to know the whereabouts of my cousin, Raymond Jackson who has been gone about seven years. He is 6 feet tall, dark brown skin with a scar on his head also one on his chin, about 25 or 26 years old. I am very anxious to find out if he is living or dead. Address DOUG SMILEY, 50 Lewis Street, Nashville Tenn. Send us your name and address and we will send you The Planet for 5 cents per week. TEX RICKARD Though Dead Yet Spesketh HmH Estimate oi '“"Jack’'' joanson anti ihe Lattes'’s Lie s*i$Jtion Jeffries**'chirsoii Fight at Reno, Nevada. ' (By Tex Rickard, In collaborat on with Bozeman Bulger.) i (Written exclusively tor the Rich j mond Times Despatch and the ! . North American Newspaper Alliance) Jim Jeffries was not actually : knocked down and out by Jack John son. In fact, as referee I did not count h m out—made no count at all. This statement is made in answer to several requests I have had to tell just how Jack Johnson knocked out Jeffries on that memorable Fourth of July in Reno. The end came after it was very apparent that Jim Jeffites was beaten. Johnson was entirely too clever for him and seemed to have more physical strength. Jack was gradually wearing the big fellow down and had him wobbling about the ring. In the twelfth round, after Jeffries had been knocked down and laid up against the ropes and had showed that he had no more chance of winning Sam Berger jumped in the ring. .... “That’s enough!” he said to me TEX CATCHES JOHNSON’S ARM. Just as he said it Johnson had drawn back for a final blow and I caught his arm. That was the end of the fight. Jeffries was on his feet.. It was scored. a technical knockout, of course. In a few min utes Johnson would have had him out. Sam Berger was very wise and sensible in stopping it when he did. For me the end of that famous fight was a great relief. My job of , refereeing had been no trouble at all. The men fought cleanly, and there was little for me to do except keep them at it. The greatest relief, thou-gh. was that the fight, at last, had been successfully pulled off. T knew it was a financial success before we entered the ring. Hundreds of those holding tickets for the fight in San Francisco had exchanged their tick ets for seats at Reno. The arena was full. JEFFRIES MAKES MISTAKE. At the very start of the fight, Jeffries made the mistake of trying t0 box with Johnson. The darky was entirely too clever for him. In the first round however, Johnson was extremely cautious. He feinted around to be sure of his ground. For three minutes, he took, no , chances whatever. Johnson was a very clever ring general. He was trying to see how far he could go. When Jeffr.es tried to box him, Jack I began to grin. .. i As the fight progressed Johnson knew he was going to win. Then his boyishness came to the surface. He could not resist making Jokes. In one mixup Jeffries missed and Johnson soaked him a good one. “Mr. Jeffries,” said the darky, his lips parting in a big grin, “ain’t no use in talking, dis is one time you’se met yo’ Waterloo! Jes’ go an’ tell |’em J said so. Yas, sir—Waterloo is j right!" | JOHNSON "KIDS” CORBETT. The Jeffries crowd still had hopes and were yelling encouragement from all parts of the arena. Jim Corbett, second to Jeffries, was fol lowing every move and making occasional comment. Finally John son caught his eye. Again he smiled —showed those gold teeth. .. "Mr. Corbett,” he remarked, look ing ever the edge of the ring, "you better come up here and help <out Mr. Jeffries.” .. .. A few minutes later he spoke to CorVett again. "Cain’t do no good out there, Mr. Jim” said the grinning darky. "This Mr* Jeffr'es needs somebody up hem and right now!” There was never a gamer fighter than Jim Jeffries. He gave all he had, but he w-as up against it. I don’t know if anything could have saved him, there is no doubt in my mind that. the. stomach, trouble weakened him H° appeared heavy and slow moving from the start. When it was all over I hurried to find out Just how we stood flnan cially. The receipts for that fight were *270.715! I suppose my smile would have been as golden as that of Jack Johnson if I had had the gold teeth. After all the troubles and irritations I was a big winner.