Brute wrote:The Great John L wrote:bjermaine wrote:yes, the greatest "white" heavyweight champion ever. he didn't fight even fight black guys (until the end) (':D') choynski even took him to school giving away 50 lbs.
He fought and KOd Peter Jackson, Bob Armstrong and Hank Griffin, who was a very good but now forgotten HW from that era.
It's always better to not comment if you don't know anything about the topic. Think about it.
Jackson was ill with tuberculosis when Jeffries gave him a shot in 1898. He died the three years later. Jackson had fought a 61 round draw with Corbett in 1891, but Corbett avoided him after he won the title, just as Sullivan had.
With all due respect, neither of those statements is correct:
1. Peter Jackson was not suffering from TB when he fought Jeffries on March 22, 1898. Indeed, in the newspaper accounts leading up to the fight, the San Francisco sporting press marveled at Jackson’s physical condition, and speculated that he appeared in excellent shape and might give Jeffries a run for the latter’s money.
See e.g. San Francisco Chronicle, 3/22/1898 p. 12 (“Jackson is fully ready for tonight’s battle, and from appearances he could not be in better trim.”). According to biographer David K. Wiggins, Jackson did not contract TB until 1900. “Peter Jackson and the Elusive Heavyweight Championship,”
Glory Bound: Black Athletes in a White America (Syracuse University Press 1997), p. 56. He lost, not because of TB, but in part because he was well past his prime, and suffered from years of physical inactivity, hard drinking and partying following the Slavin fight in 1892.
2. Jim Corbett attempted to arrange title match with Peter Jackson in 1894, but the negotiations fell through when Jackson made demands as to the purse, location, etc. that were not to Corbett’s liking and prerogative as champion. Wiggins chronicles the whole episode at pages 51-54. He concludes, “The fact remains . . . that Corbett made an offer that Jackson refused to accept. (page 53).” Unlike Jack Johnson, who saw the big picture and yielded on practically every point to Tommy Burns just to get his shot, Jackson lost out because he didn’t see the big picture, and got greedy with his demands.