The obsession of Jim Jacobs in professional boxing began when he became a collector of old-time fight films; a passion that easily made him the greatest collector of them all. He found the very first world championship fight ever filmed: the Jim Corbett versus Bob Fitzsimmons heavyweight match from March 1897 in Carson Nevada when Bob Fitzsimmons dethroned Jim Corbett the reigning champ via 14th round knockout. A savage left hook to the solar plexus left Corbett helpless on the ring floor, unable to pull himself up by the ring ropes.
Jacob’s biggest regret is not finding a film of the 1922 match between Gene Tunney and Harry Greb which was Tunney’s only loss of his career, although he subsequently avenged the loss on two different occasions.
When Jacobs came to Toronto in 1967 for a presentation at the Palace Pier, he also made a stopover at the CFTO-TV studio in Agincourt to tape the Sports Hot Seat show where he discussed in length the historic Jess Willard and Jack Johnson showdown which took place at Oriental Park in Havana back April 5, 1915 . One of the interviewers was Milt Dunnell of the Toronto Star who did the following write-up published January 17, 1967.
“This (Toronto) is where Jim Jacobs found the flicker of the encounter between Jess Willard and Jack Johnson. The print was in the home of Murray McMahon whose grandfather William Kerr was the recreation director for the Goodyear Rubber and Tire Company. Mr. Kerr was interested in all branches of sport. Mr Kerr acquired the film in some unexplained manner. Their historic value came to light when Murray McMahon sent a reel to the National Film Board. The board referred it to the congressional library in Washington and Sherman Grinberg who runs the film library in Hollywood. One of them must have sent a letter to Jimmy Jacobs in New York because Jacobs remarked to the (Hot Seat) panel: ‘As far as I now this is the only film in existence which shows the knockout punch’ Jacobs enthused. There’s a fantastic story behind the picture too. In 1910, the U.S. made it illegal to transport fight films into the country.”
“So films of the Willard-Johnson fight were brought to Canada. Out west on one place on the border, a projector was set up in Canada and a screen was set up in the U.S. The fight was beamed into Canada from the U.S. It’s unbelievable but Canadian authorities arrested the exhibitor on a U.S. complaint that he was sending rays of light into the U.S. Canadian authorities confiscated the film.”
“Scoffers said the picture proved rumors the champion did a dive. The whisper was a saw-off was arranged – the title in return for a pardon back home. Jimmy Jacobs makes a point that seems logical. Why would a man who had sold out wait 26 rounds in the heat of Havana before entering the tank he could have ended it just as comfortably – and more easily – along about the tenth.
Another treat from the rare collection of Jacobs was the first exhibition ever filmed: an exhibition between Peter Courtney and heavyweight champ Jim “Gentleman Jim” Corbett back on September 8, 1894. The real cameraman was a fella named Thomas Alva Edison.
In 1960, Bill Cayton, another boxing historian and celebrated boxing film collector partnered with Jacobs to form The Big Fights, Inc. which produced numerous boxing features including “a.k.a. Cassius Clay” and Academy Award-nominated films “Jack Johnson” and “Legendary Champions”. With the advice and guidance of Cus D’Amato, then manager of Floyd Patterson, the pair also went into the business of managing and nurturing fighters titlists Wilfred Benítez and Edwin Rosario, as well as 1970s middleweight contender Eugene Hart.
In 1984, the pair signed 18-year old prodigy Mike Tyson who was trained by Jacobs’ dear friend D’Amato This would mark the final phase of Jacobs’ fascinating career. In 1986, Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion of all time when he blasted out Trevor Berbick in two rounds. Unfortunately, Cus D’Amato never lived to see the fruits of his labor as he had passed in 1983.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjpwPBI2Io0
In 1986, Jacobs was named Manager of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America.
Jacobs died Mar2 3, 1988 from pneumonia brought on by incurable leukemia, leaving a legacy of 17,000 fight films. This deeply hurt Tyson who considered Jacobs to be a father figure. It has been claimed that Jacobs kept his terminal illness hidden from Tyson, albeit he did get Tyson to sign a contract that would guarantee his wife a percentage of the purse in the event that Jacobs died. This was probably a contributing factor to the distrust between Tyson and the remaining members of the Catskill team (Bill Cayton and Tyson trainer Kevin Rooney). After Tyson’s 1 round KO of Michael Spinks on June 27, 1988to claim the legacy heavyweight title, Don King was waiting in the wings to pounce upon the opportunity of bringing Tyson into his orbit. Tyson sued the Catskill team and the matter was settled out of court. A decade later with his career in tatters Tyson sued for 100 million dollars from King and made a 14 million dollar out-of -court settlement.
Let’s leave the last words to Larry Merchant who knew Jacobs very well:
“1. He’s the greatest handball player who ever lived, he’s regarded as the Babe Ruth of his sport.
2. He has the greatest collection of fight films in the world some 98% of all the fight films ever made. 26,000 of them, and;
3. He has the greatest collection of comic books in the world. Every comic book ever published in America has gone to a warehouse in Los Angeles.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB4WhvuTk3I