By David Martinez / Boxing Historian
July 4, 2010 will mark the 100th anniversary of Jack Johnson vs. Jim Jeffries, “Fight of the Century”, for the heavyweight championship of the world.
Leading up to this fight, Jeffries won the title in 1899 against Bob Fitzsimmons and after defeating all challengers he retired undefeated in 1905. Johnson won the title in 1908
against Tommy Burns to become the first black fighter to win the coveted crown.
The build up to this fight was nothing less than controversial with a white champion coming out of a five-year retirement to try to win the title back from a black champion.
Scheduled for 45 rounds, the fight took place in Reno, Nevada on July 4, 1910, with Tex Rickard as the promoter and referee. Prior to the fight, Rickard had invited United States president William Howard Taft to be the referee, but Taft declined.
The day of the bout, in 100-degree heat, a sell-out crowd of 20,000 gathered in an outside venue built solely to host the fight. The champion, Johnson, entered the ring first as this had become a ritual for all of his fights. He took it so seriously that he had it written into his contract to always be the first one to enter. The former champion, Jeffries, followed into the ring moments later with large roars from the majority of fans in attendance who were in favor of him as their champion.
In the bout, the 32-year-old Johnson appeared to be the stronger of the two, and as I have seen excerpts of this fight on film, Johnson fought tall to the contrasting crunching style of the 35 year old Jeffries. This ultimately was a huge factor in the fight, as I saw it – styles make fights.
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I disagree that Jeffries was the greatest heavyweight ever. He refused to fight a lot of fighters simply because they were black. Sam Langford and Joe Jeannette would have beat him if given a chance at a fight. He should have stayed retired. No sense in loosing 100+ pounds to fight Johnson. Ever heard of a tune up fight ??? Stanley Ketchel the great middleweight champ at the time fought a better fight against Johnson.
I believe a prime Jeffries beats a prime Johnson. Jack would not be able to hold off Jim. Their 1910 fight was a bit too late for Jeffries. Had they met in 1905, it wouls have been a good fight but Johnson would not have been able to hold off Jeffries then either. Jim may have been the greatest heavyweight in boxing history. Johnson was not. He gained his big reputation from defeating the older Jeffries.
Although Johnson was 32 years old, he was considered to be in his prime. There was really no one who could stop him. To me, he is one of the greatest defensive fighters ever.
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