ABSTRACT
“IT AMUSES ME TO hear this talk of Jeffries claiming the championship. Why, when a Mayor leaves office he's an ex-Mayor, isn't he? When a champion leaves the ring he's an ex-champion. Well, that is Jeffries; if he wants to try to get the championship back then I'm willing to take him on.” Johnson was tired of hearing about Jeffries as if the former champion were still the title-holder. In fact, that was just what many white Americans believed. They believed Johnson's claim lacked legitimacy, that if Jeffries had not retired, Johnson would not be champion, which was true, since Jeffries would never have broken the color barrier. At best, Johnson was viewed as a regent, a temporary ruler who would step aside once Jeffries decided to resume his reign. And throughout 1909, as Johnson humiliated one white pretender after another, the pressure mounted for Jeffries once again to raise high his scepter. 1
