Ellis was ranked in the top 10 for 6 of 7 years in the late 60s and early 70s. How does he fare h2h against the top present-day heavyweights? This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected
Jimmy might test some of these with his right hand but unless they showed some china in their jaws I wouldn't be surprised if he came out winless. Pulev and Povetkin are his best trys, he would be on the small side today.
As already mentioned he'd have his limitations. Jimmy didn't have much snap to his shots and his durability was average at best. That would be a problem in an era of some of the largest heavys of all time. He might squeak out a decision over pulev or give Povetkin a good fight, but I can't see him having a huge impact. I respect what Ellis accomplished given his rough start. He began his career at middleweight and accumulated five defeats early on.. He pulled himself together enough to have a decent run at heavyweight beating Chuvalo, Patterson, Quarry, Bonavena, and Martin and winning the vacant heavyweight crown.. That's plenty to be proud of.
I have to take issue with the "not much snap in his punches" bit,...I mean, he wasn't a devastating hitter, but he did deck Oscar Bonavena twice,...actually, if you view that fight, you'll see that he really decked Oscar a third time, right after the 2nd kd, he had Ringo on one knee (the ref missed it). This was the same Oscar that even Joe Frazier couldn't floor in a total of 25 rounds.
Angelo Dundee called Ellis the best one-punch banger in the world today (1973). And also claimed that it was Ellis, not Jeff Merritt, that broke Earnie Shavers jaw. I do agree with you Red, Ellis could pop.
He might win one or two out of seven. Jimmy was a fine boxer, but not a powerful puncher and too small.
I'll concede that perhaps Ellis had some power. But it was mainly the journeyman and tomato cans who were stopped by him. pretty much anyone who was worth anything took him the distance with the exception of Leotis Martin. Its also worth mentioning that quite a few of them were comparable in size to modern day cruisers. As for Dundee's claim that Ellis broke Shaver's jaw, its somewhat questionable given that Shavers stopped Jimmy in the first round.. Unless of course this happened in a sparring session. I don't see Ellis' power being a factor in today's division.. He'd likely be about the comparable of an Eddie Chambers only smaller yet.
he'd win a version of the title for 3-4 years at least. If he had a brother called Vitali Ellis then he'd have reigns for longer than that, about a decade in total at least.