only the third round on April 22, 1898. His next fight was against the Irishman Tom Sharkey. The fight went the full twenty rounds and Sharkey was knocked down in the eleventh round. Jeffries won the decision. After defeating the big, fast-moving, sharp-jabbing Bob Armstrong, Jeffries had earned the right to challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship. On June 9, 1899 in Brooklyn, New York he defeated Bob Fitzsimmons by KO in the eleventh round to win the Heavyweight Championship of the World. That August, he embarked on a tour of Europe, putting on exhibition fights for the fans. Jeffries was involved in several motion pictures recreating portions of his championship fights. Filmed portions of his other bouts and of some of his exhibition matches survive to this day. World Heavyweight Champion In his first title defense, he won a twenty-five-round decision in a rematch over Tom Sharkey. Jeffries set the record for the quickest KO in a Heavyweight title fight ever, which was 45 seconds against Jack Finnegan in his second title defense. His next defense was against the former Heavyweight Champion and legendary technician, James J. Corbett. Corbett had put up a perfect defense and could have arguably won had the fight gone the distance. However, Corbett was knocked out cold from a left to the jaw in the twenty-third round of the scheduled twenty-five round fight. Jeffries later got the chance to avenge his controversial draw with Gus Ruhlin when he defended his title against him on November 15, 1901. Claims that Ruhlin quit during the fifth round are incorrect. All of the local next-day San Francisco sources agree that Ruhlin's manager, Billy Madden, threw in the towel to retire Gus during the one-minute interval between the fifth and sixth rounds. An example of Jeffries' ability to absorb punishment and recover from a severe battering to win a bout came in his rematch for the title with Fitzsimmons, who is regarded as one of the hardest punchers in boxing history. The rematch with Jeffries occurred on July 25, 1902 in San Francisco. To train for the bout Jeffries' daily training included a run, 2 hours of skipping rope, medicine ball training, 20 minutes sparring on the heavy bag, and at least 12 rounds of sparring in the ring. He also trained in wrestling. For nearly eight rounds Fitzsimmons subjected Jeffries to a vicious battering. Jeffries suffered a