Who would you rate higher : Tim Witherspoon or Jim Jeffries ?

I am not disagreeing with you ,just trying to look at it as it was viewed or,as I imagine it was viewed at the time.

 

"he lost three fights in his prime years"

Three more than Jeffries lost.

"significantly smaller man"

This doesn't matter. This man was heavyweight champion for five years.

"WORTHY OF CRITICISM"

But how worthy? He won decisively in the end. Great old fighters sometimes pull it together for a last hurrah. Perhaps Corbett did. Be that as it may, Jeff did not lose as Witherspoon did, nor did he let it go to the judgement of an official.

And it speaks volumes that the focus of criticism is on a Jeffries ko victory over a former champion.

 

How was Foreman, coming off a loss to Tommy Morrison?

But Foreman won.

 

Unforgiven, are you possibly hinting that times were different in the 1983 than they were in 1900?

Perish the thought.

 

Childs, Klondike, or Martin would seem to have been as least as qualified as Corbett in 1900, but of course they lacked one crucial qualification.

 

Unforgiven pulling a PP here.

 

Martin wasn't realy seen as a top contender until a bit later. Klondike was never realy seen as being world class anyway.

The top black contenders around the time of the first Corbett fight were George Byers, Frank Childs and Bob Armstrong.

Its not hard to see how an inactive Corbett was seen as abetter bet.

 

:rofl:rofl

:deal

 

The 1900 Corbett might have had his work cut out with any of the top black guys.

 

In hindsight, I seriously doubt it.

The coloured heavyweight champion when Jeffries won the title was George Byers, who lost to Tommy West. He was simply not in the class of Fitzsimmons, Sharkey, Corbett or McCoy.

Jeffries didn't fight the top coloured contenders at this stage, because none of them were in the championship class.

 

I can see people ranking spoon as the better fighter in the ring but greatness wise it really is no contest.

Say what you want about Jeffries defences but there's no dispute that they were the best of the division. Just like rocky and just like wlad today it can be called a weak era but all a champ can do is beat his beat contenders. sure he could have sealed the deal by beating a young Johnson but his legacy was signed sealed and delivered long by then.