The newspaper had published a picture of Al Jolson next to a man identified as boxer Jim Jeffries who was training at the Rowardennen. The man in the middle of the group is actually an African American named Godfrey who was the sparring partner for Jim Jeffries who was white. McHugh notes that there was racial tension associated with this fight between a black man (Johnson) and a white man (Jeffries). Jeffries had come out of retirement to fight Johnson and reclaim “white supremacy” but Johnson won the fight.