Jeffries power

Wow, putting me in the role of Johnson champion is quite a twist. But while I certainly think Johnson is vastly overrated, I think Jeffries was crude as hell and did little with the physical blessings with which he was endowed. He generally had to out last inferior athletes, take their best shots on the chin and win a battle of attrition. Hell, if Jeff-Shark had been 20 rounds there was no debate who would have won. Even at 25, there was still considerable debate and surely by today's standards Sharkey would have won. The criteria of "who would have won were it a finish fight" thankfully no longer exists.

 

No, but it answered your question! In typical fashion you do not try to debunk the majority of what I write. In fact you don't even bother to re-quote it because you know better.

Like I said before, Jeffries has KO wins over hall of fame fighters, and produced a knockdown in all of his fights save his comeback fight when he was rusty and had limited stamina. Ring Magazine had Jeffries in their top 40 for all time greatest punchers. Only in your book could he not punch hard.

Once again, Corbett at age 33 was in great shape, and performed well. To suggest he was past his prime is folly. Fitz was older, but older does not mean past your prime when you are knocking the top guys out.

Take Vitali Klitschko for example. He had not won a fight in years, and came back at age 37 to tear up the field. You could not call Vitali past his prime at 37 would you? Certainly not base on his ring results.

 

Langford was hardly accomplished at heavyweight back then, and was but 156 pounds. Modern day welter weights enter the ring above that weight. Clay Molye says Langford was only 20 years old!

 

One of the main reasons Shareky lasted the distance was Jeffries hurt his shoulder after flooring Sharkey in round two. Other reasons include Sharkey's no retreat, no surrender attitudes in the match regardless of his own injuries. The conditions were horrid under white hot lights.

 

It didnt answer my question at all ,and the very fact that you had to resort to using Griffin ,shows the paucity of Jeffries resume, over young class men, in their prime .
Wins over hall of fame fighters only mean something if they are active and somewhere near their prime .For example Kevin Mc Bride and Danny Williams have wins over Mike Tyson.
Omar Gonzalez,Vinny Pazienza,and William Joppy, have wins over Roberto Duran.Brian Neilsen has a win over Larry Holmes etc.
Both Corbett ,and Fitz were coming out of extended retirements.
I dont bother to debunk the majority of what you write because it is so palpably biased, and agenda driven ,it needs no help from me in discrediting itself.
I never said Jeffries could not punch hard I said he is not a super hitter , and the majority of his wins were by way of attrition, wearing down much smaller men,and the facts support this view.
Jeffries never kod a top flight heavyweight who was in his prime,you can rattle around as much as you like but that is the truth.
Please show sources to back up your claims of Jeffries flooring all his opponents,except Johnson.

 

I don't think Johnson was over rated. I am saying by what I have seen (basically all that exists) and reading a ton of coverage it's clear that JOhnson was a defensive fighter who very often exerted himself to the degree he felt necessary. He was an extremely bright and complex man and who the hell knows his motives ... likely common sense/self-preservation .. whatever , it did not often help drive his possibilities forward in a market stacked against him to start ...

 

I can't believe your serious in your question as you're a very knowledgable and experienced poster but since you asked ...It was an extremely important fight for Johnson. He had been campaigning for a fight against a top white fighter for years. He had been chasing Jeffries for years at every stop, begging for a title shot. He knew how rare the chance was to fight a top white fighter and he knew an impressive victory would make it harder than ever for a Jeff to draw the color line. In many ways it was an elimination match for a title shot. The Norton fight was filler for Ali, the former champ and still top contender simply staying active on his own terms, almost his own bum of the month tour ... against Hart Johnson was in the most important fight of his career and he blew it by allowing a face first, brave but highly limited fighter with little skill engage in a competitive fight with so much on the line. Bad stylistic matchup ? If Johnson could not handle a strong, aggressive, face first opponent with a big heart, excellent stamina, a good chin and decent power how in the world was he going to handle Jeffries who was much bigger, much stronger, at least as fast, a haredr hitter, better conditioned and impossible to hurt ? In many ways the Hart loss may have been a huge break for Johnson's career. He might have gotten a title shot v.s. a prime , motivated Jeffries, gotten thrashed and become a historical footnote.

 

Langford was 23 years old, and a veteran of 51 fights,considerably more than Johnson.:nono
Langford had just beaten Joe Jeannette, and Black Fitzsimmons two heavyweights.


And it's Moyle not Molye.

 

I think it's fair to say Jeffries wasn't an opportunistic KO puncher on the order of Louis, Tyson, Liston, ect. In all likelihood these guys put punches together better than Jeffries. Jeffries liked going to the body before the head, and sometimes stayed with body punching to put an opponent away. He's basically a starfish that latches onto a clam and wears it out with steady pressure, though more in a pound-away steadily wrecking-ball style, rather than Frazerian infighting. I don't doubt he busted people up pretty bad.