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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 a
List of Heavyweight Champions|world heavyweight
boxing champion. 


Jeffries was the prototype for the modern athlete.
 He stood 6 ft 1 1/2 in tall and weighed about 214
lb in his prime.  Despite his bulk, Jeffries, who
was not a trained sprinter, could purportedly run
the 100 yard dash in a little over 10 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, whose
brother was skilled enough to play professional
baseball, 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. Another story
told by Jeffries was that he once purportedly
drank a gallon of whiskey while bedridden, in
order to cure pneumonia. 

His greatest assets were his enormous strength and
stamina.  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.

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 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.

During his reign as champion, Jeffries defended
his title seven times, including two knockout
victories over former champion Corbett. Despite
the fact that Jack Johnson (boxer)|Jack Johnson
was at the time the preeminent challenger,
Jeffries adhered to a colorline that then existed
in professional boxing regarding the heavyweight
championship. Whites and blacks had fought one
another in sanctioned bouts for years, but at the
time sports insiders and the population at large
were decidedly against risking the loss of the
championship to a non-white fighter.  Jeffries
refused to give Johnson a chance at the title,
deciding instead to retire 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 with Fitzsimmons
for the title, who is regarded as one of the
hardest punchers in boxing history.  After losing
his crown to Jeffries, Fitzsimmons fought and KOed
Jim Daly, Ed Dunkhorst, Gus Ruhlin, and Sharkey. 
This earned him a rematch with Jeffries, which
occurred on July 25, 1902 in San Francisco. 

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.

Five years after retiring, Jeffries made a
comeback and on July 4, 1910 at Reno, Nevada. He
fought champion Jack Johnson (boxer)|Jack Johnson,
who had staked his claim to the heavyweight
championship by defeating Tommy Burns at
Rushcutter's Bay in Australia in 1908. Johnson
defeated Jeffries in the 15th round after
Jeffries, who had never been knocked down in his
career, was knocked down repeatedly, causing his
corner to throw in the towel. 

Johnson's reign as heavyweight champion provoked
racial hostility and spawned the "great white
hope" era in boxing.  Johnson, who was a skilled
and fearless champion, easily defeated the "white
hopes" who challenged him.  The newspapers of the
day began clamoring for the undefeated Jeffries to
come out of retirement to reclaim the heavyweight
championship for the white race.  Although,
Jeffries hadn't fought in six years, was 35 years
old and had reportedly ballooned to over 300 lb
(136 kg), he allowed himself to be persuaded to
accept the match.

It didn't take long for Jeffries to realize he had
made a big mistake.  Johnson easily controlled him
and appeared able to end the bout whenever he
pleased.  It was obvious to all that this was not
the same Jeffries who had reigned as champion.  He
was rusty, and was said to have lost over 100 lb
(45 kg) in preparing for the fight.  This ordeal
weakened him and he 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 fast 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.  After the
fight he stated that he never would have been able
to defeat Johnson, even if they had fought in his
prime.  Jeffries later changed his tune and in his
biography implicated that he had been drugged
prior to meeting Johnson.  Jeffries never
acknowledged Johnson's quality as a fighter;
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 one of the great heavyweight
champions of all time. James J. Jeffries was
elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame
in 1990.

start box
succession box |
  before= Bob Fitzsimmons |
  title= List of heavyweight boxing
champions|Heavyweight boxing champion |
  years= 1899–1905 |
  after= Marvin Hart

end box