Born: James Jackson Jeffries
Heavyweight Champion 1899-1905
One of the finest heavyweights in history, James J. Jeffries retired undefeated but, six years later was coaxed into an ill-fated comeback fight with Jack Johnson. Jeffries moved with his family from Ohio to a Los Angeles-area farm at the age of seven. As a youth, he was a great athlete who distinguished himself in boxing, wrestling, and track. While working as a boilermaker and for a meat packing company, among other jobs, Jeffries boxed at the East Side Athletic Club. In his first professional fight , he knocked out Hank Griffin in the fourteenth round. Nineteen at the time, Jeffries waited until he was 21 to box professionally fulltime, honoring a promise to his parents.
The Boxing Register