Combining great strength with an agility and speed rare for a man his size, James J. Jeffries epitomized the collective vision of what America thought its champion should look like. A powerful hitter, Jeffries mowed through every available white opponent and retired to his alfalfa farm at age 28 with no more worlds to conquer.

A product of his times, he held a racial bias, and vowed never to allow a black man to meet him as champion. In retirement, he claimed that the title was still his having never been defeated. Swelled with that pride, Jeffries picked up the gauntlet thrown his way by Jack London and white America, and vowed to set things straight once again.