“Farmer” Burns Trains Jeffries

When the great Jack Johnson defeated Tommy Burns for the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship, the boxing establishment started searching for a “white hope” to defeat Johnson. In desperation to find someone to defeat Johnson, promoters and sports writers started lobbying former World Heavyweight Champion James J. Jeffries to end his retirement to fight Johnson.

Jeffries retired undefeated in 1905. After five years of inactivity, Jeffries weighed over 300 pounds at 35 years of age. Jeffries refused the call at first, but Tex Rickard promised Jeffries $40,000 for the fight and a personal service contract for $75,000. The fight purse and personal service contract are worth 3.8 million in 2024 dollars.

Jeffries took the opportunity to set his family up for life but knew it would be next to impossible to get in shape for Johnson in just three months. Jeffries hired Martin “Farmer” Burns, who trained professional wrestlers including World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch, to help get Jeffries in shape.

Burns agreed to train Jeffries but thought he would be free to train Gotch for the last three weeks before Gotch’s title defense versus Stanislaus Zbyszko in June 1910. However, Jeffries refused to let Burns go to Iowa for a couple of weeks to finish Gotch’s training.

While Gotch was okay because his manager Emil Klank and his training partners were trained by “Farmer” Burns and knew Burns’ methods, Jeffries’ refusal infuriated Gotch. Gotch was supposed to come help Jeffries train for the final three weeks before Jeffries’ fight with Johnson. Gotch decided to return to Iowa after defeating Zbyszko and left Jeffries to fend for himself.

As part of Jeffries’ training, the 49-year-old Burns wrestled Jeffries daily. As Jeffries worked himself into better condition, Jeffries gave Burns a tough tussle. Burns said Jeffries wore him out towards the end of camp.

While Jeffries improved his wrestling, Jeffries was still behind with his boxing primarily because of loss of foot and hand speed. Also troubling was Jeffries serving as his own manager and trainer.

Burns made suggestions and protested when Burns felt Jeffries strayed too far from his training schedule. However, Jeffries did what he wanted throughout camp. History records few instances where a fighter successfully trained themselves.

Towards the end of camp, even those closest to Jeffries realized that Jeffries could not beat Johnson. Camp members reported that Jeffries knew that he was not where he need to be and Johnson would defeat him.

On July 4, 1910, Jack Johnson sent Jeffries back into retirement with a 15-round technical knockout. Johnson dominated the fight. Jeffries was not able to threaten Johnson at any point.

The fight did setup Jeffries for life. Jeffries not only farmed his alfalfa farm in California, but he also trained fighters and promoted boxing at an outbuilding on the farm. Jeffries passed away in 1953 at 77 years of age.

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Sources: Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) May 4, 1910, p. 14

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