This shot always gets me. Look at Jack Johnson, who was facing death threats every day from racist whites, had a target on his back everyday for years, look at him smiling at the white crowd as he knows he's got Jeffries beaten. You talk about having a set of ball$ on you, Jack Johnson had a set the size of grapefruits.
This is an epic shot, Jeffries busted open and bleeding from the nose. Look up close at Jeffries eyes, the expression on his face, he looks like he's seen a ghost. Wicked intense photo.
In hindsight, from a moral standpoint, the Jeffries-Johnson fight had the right outcome, there is no place for racism in this world, we are all the same, we're all in this together, we're all brothers and sisters, and it's a shame that the fight had a dark cloud hovering over it, Jeffries and Johnson were two all-time great fighters. And this isn't the only incident of racism in boxing, there are fighters, great fighters, Hall of Famers, that drew the color line and refused to fight black fighters because that was the way society was back in the day and it's a shame because history missed out on some really great fights. And it's not limited to boxing, all the sports have a dark past, the country as a whole has a dark past when it comes to racism. I give credit to James J. Jeffries though, he didn't draw the color line, he took on great black fighters, Bob Armstrong, Peter Jackson, Hank Griffin, and Jack Johnson.
Hey look, I got to give a shout-out to Big John's Pickled Eggs, they've been sponsoring me here at the forum for years. So thank you to my peeps over at Big John's, and hey folks, try some today, they're eggscellent!
Looking back on James J. Jeffries and his career, he was a force of nature, I really don't know how else to put it, there was a reason he was never beaten in his prime, he was a big, strong, powerful, brutal, punishing fighter with an iron chin, he hit hard as hell and there just wasn't much you could do with him. I wish there was more footage of him in his prime, this is the only known footage of Jeffries in his prime, it's a brief clip of his second fight with "Sailor" Tom Sharkey, the fight that went 25 rounds. This film is from the year 1899, it is a true historical treasure. It's not much, but at least it's a glimpse at a fascinating fighter in his absolute prime, in fact two fascinating fighters in their prime. In the footage, you can see how big and strong Jeffries was, he pushes Sharkey back five or six feet a couple of times, just an overpowering fighter. This is absolutely fascinating, it's like looking back at a lost world, looking back in prehistoric time and watching two Tyrannosaurus Rex's doing battle.
I love photos that were used on cards, and this is the photo of Jeffries that was used to make his 1930 Singleton & Cole Famous Boxers card, this set is pretty rare and these cards can be tough to track down. This was a cigarette issued set in the UK.
Comments
Man, look at Jeffries and Johnson, two diesel trucks, both of them were built like a brick $hithouse.
This shot always gets me. Look at Jack Johnson, who was facing death threats every day from racist whites, had a target on his back everyday for years, look at him smiling at the white crowd as he knows he's got Jeffries beaten. You talk about having a set of ball$ on you, Jack Johnson had a set the size of grapefruits.
Jeffries lands a shot.
This is an epic shot, Jeffries busted open and bleeding from the nose. Look up close at Jeffries eyes, the expression on his face, he looks like he's seen a ghost. Wicked intense photo.
Of course this is the famous photo of Jeffries on the deck and the same shot from another angle.
This was an original advertisement for the fight.
Here is the Jeffries-Johnson knockout, as it happened in 1910.
In hindsight, from a moral standpoint, the Jeffries-Johnson fight had the right outcome, there is no place for racism in this world, we are all the same, we're all in this together, we're all brothers and sisters, and it's a shame that the fight had a dark cloud hovering over it, Jeffries and Johnson were two all-time great fighters. And this isn't the only incident of racism in boxing, there are fighters, great fighters, Hall of Famers, that drew the color line and refused to fight black fighters because that was the way society was back in the day and it's a shame because history missed out on some really great fights. And it's not limited to boxing, all the sports have a dark past, the country as a whole has a dark past when it comes to racism. I give credit to James J. Jeffries though, he didn't draw the color line, he took on great black fighters, Bob Armstrong, Peter Jackson, Hank Griffin, and Jack Johnson.
Hey look, I got to give a shout-out to Big John's Pickled Eggs, they've been sponsoring me here at the forum for years. So thank you to my peeps over at Big John's, and hey folks, try some today, they're eggscellent!
Looking back on James J. Jeffries and his career, he was a force of nature, I really don't know how else to put it, there was a reason he was never beaten in his prime, he was a big, strong, powerful, brutal, punishing fighter with an iron chin, he hit hard as hell and there just wasn't much you could do with him. I wish there was more footage of him in his prime, this is the only known footage of Jeffries in his prime, it's a brief clip of his second fight with "Sailor" Tom Sharkey, the fight that went 25 rounds. This film is from the year 1899, it is a true historical treasure. It's not much, but at least it's a glimpse at a fascinating fighter in his absolute prime, in fact two fascinating fighters in their prime. In the footage, you can see how big and strong Jeffries was, he pushes Sharkey back five or six feet a couple of times, just an overpowering fighter. This is absolutely fascinating, it's like looking back at a lost world, looking back in prehistoric time and watching two Tyrannosaurus Rex's doing battle.
This is a colorized photo of Jeffries vs Sharkey.
I love photos that were used on cards, and this is the photo of Jeffries that was used to make his 1930 Singleton & Cole Famous Boxers card, this set is pretty rare and these cards can be tough to track down. This was a cigarette issued set in the UK.