James J. Jeffries vs. Gus Ruhlin (2nd meeting)
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James J Jeffries 218 lbs beat Gus Ruhlin 200 lbs by RTD in round 6 of 20
- Date: 1901-11-15
- Location: Mechanic's Pavilion, San Francisco, California, USA
- Referee: Harry Corbett
- World Heavyweight Title (4th defense by Jeffries)
- Program
- See Also: James J. Jeffries vs. Gus Ruhlin (1st meeting)
Notes
- There was a crowd of 10,000.
- The gate was over $40,000.
- The fighters received 62½ percent of the gate, which was divided 75 percent to 25 percent in favor of the champion.
- Jeffries was a 2 to 1 favorite.
- Jeffries claimed to weigh 212 pounds, but Ruhlin's seconds said he appeared to be about 225.
- Ruhlin was knocked down once in the fourth round and once in the fifth.
- Between the fifth and sixth rounds, Denver Ed Martin, one of Ruhlin's seconds, told the referee, "We give up."
- The Akron Daily Democrat reported the following on November 16, 1901:
- Almost from the beginning of the fight Ruhlin appeared to be scared. In the second round, when Jeffries landed a left hook on the jaw, it seemed that all the fight was gone out of Gus. In the fifth, after a round in which Ruhlin had all the worst of the fighting, he was assisted to his corner and claimed that a chance blow on the pit of the stomach had rendered him unfit for fighting. His seconds tried to induce him to continue, but Gus insisted that he was the victim of an accidental punch. Jeffries walked to Ruhlin's corner, asked what was the mutter, and then turned and went to his dressing room, while the crowd cheered him and denounced Ruhlin as a quitter and a faker.
Post-Fight Comments
- Jeffries: "I was certainly surprised at my easy victory and Ruhlin's amazing defeat. While it is true that he did not punish me hard enough during the five rounds to cause me any alarm, I believed him strong and cautious up to the moment of his collapse, and was surprised when he quit. I certainly had no difficulty in whipping him, and had the fight gone on the result must have been the same. Ruhlin was inaccurate and in poor wind, and I cannot say that he even had the courage and force I expected to encounter in him."
- Ruhlin: "I believed from the top of the gong that I would win, but as the fight progressed I was beaten down until I received a blow in the stomach, which I must say was very low, but which may not have been a foul, and which no living man could have survived. Jeffries departed from the written rules and from the common regulations of boxing when he threw himself upon me and wrestled rather than sparred. I do believe that had I not received the stomach punch, I would have worn down Mr. Jeffries a few rounds later and beaten him as a matter of endurance."