Pick A Linear Heavyweight Champ To Beat Jeffries Under That Era's Rule Set

The question pits Jeffries under the conditions of his day against the other lineal champions it doesn't just stipulate the modern behemoths.
Going 25 rounds with crude 185lbs 5 '8" Sharkey whose only acquaintance with a jab were the ones that landed on his face is rather different to marching forward being stabbed silly by a 6,3+ 235lbs heavy who can both box and punch.
Johnson wasn't that high on Jeffries he said many times ,Ill beat him as soon as I can get him in the ring.He rated Corbett and Fitz above him,and didn't rate Sullivan at all.
Fighters from the 20's onwards fought at a much faster pace than in Jeffries time. The men of the late 1890's and early 1900's weren't a separate species , the heavies that came after could just as adeptly adopt that style of measured boxing as their predecessors did.
I sincerely doubt Jeffries would be going 25rds with many of the heavies that came after.
Against Corbett the first time, Brady threw Ryan out of the corner and ,after the 16th rd told Jeffries ,"you've got to force it ,you've got to knock him out or you lose your title". My contention is that guys like Charles were better boxers than Corbett, were more durable, and hit a damn sight harder.
Against Corbett Jeffries was cut above and below both eyes ,and his nose was badly swollen he wouldn't be looking any better against Ezzard ,in fact I think he would be in a lot worse shape ,and I don't rate Charles as a top 15 heavyweight!

 

Corbett was ultra elusive in the ring. In a big ring such as was common in those days a marathon runner like Corbett would make a ****** out of many punchers. Just nearly impossible to corner such a fighter in such a large space. He would just run and poke round after round. Charles did not have the wheels to avoid Jeffries...he would be much more THERE to be hit. Jeffries would eventually stop Charles as he would Walcott.

 

Exhaustion from what though? You act like Jeffries was a pressure guy who threw lots of punches, he wasn't that at all. Nobody's going to get exhausted from a guy slowly plodding forward with their head off to the side and tucked in. Not seeing much exhaustion going on here.

 

Ok I say this has two areas of interest for me.

1: a CW sized fighter who's durable enough to out punch Jeffries over the duration of a fight.

2: a SHW fighter who's too big and mows him down.

The latter is relatively ambiguous and I cba arguing about Wlad any more. So I'm gonna focus on the former.

Holyfield, Tunney, Marciano, Dempsey.

 

Against Corbett, Jeffries just followed him around until the 33 years old man slowed down enough to be caught, he had no worries about Corbett's power.He would not be able to walk with impunity through either Charles or Walcott's punches.Reading of the mess the light hitting Corbett made of Jeffries face makes me think he would be appreciably worse against those two.

 

That's the crux of it Jeffries was re-active not pro-active, he wasn't some stone age Marciano continually forcing the pace and pressuring his opponents,if a past prime Charles could go 15 with a prime Marciano ,and a 37 years old Walcott could go 13, and be in front,prime versions of both would give Jeffries a very busy nights work!

 

"Corbett was ultra elusive in the ring", yet middleweight Fitz kod him with one punch in14 rds and crude Sharkey beat him up.

Who was Corbett ultra elusive against apart from Jim Jeffries?

 

If you read accounts of Corbetts bouts with Sullivan and Jeffries he was a mover....boxer. Very elusive in the ring. Again.... fighting such an opponent in a huge ring is a daunting task. Any puncher such as Jeffries, Marciano etc would have a very difficult time trying to find such a fighter in general but in a huge ring? Extremely difficult.

 

We do not know exactly how prime Jeffries fought as there is not enough footage of him. The available footage does not show an inactive fighter in the ring however.

 

The big thing on this is "rules of the day". There were no limits to how many times a fighter could be decked. So long as you beat the count you were in the fight to the end.

There are a few freaks of nature that just don't get knocked out. Without knowing exactly how well Jeffries fought at his best it is documented that in his prime he was (for his day) almost superhuman for strength and durability.

How do we know Jeffries at his best, before his retirement, was not one of those super tough guys like Jake lamotta?

Take George Chuvalo. I think it was Rocky Marciano himself who said "if we had 40 round fights chuvalo would be heavyweight champion".

Now, I am glad Mercante stopped Chuvalo against Foreman. But there is no way a referee would have stopped that fight in Jim Jeffries day.

Even though it is wrong to take such a chance, part of me thinks Foreman might have been the first to have fallen down from hitting chuvalo before chuvalo might have went down himself. The strength was starting to leave Foreman a punch or so more and Chuvalo would have still been standing.

Different rules make different types of champions.

 

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I have the accounts .How do you account for Fitz, never much of a mover, koing him in14rds ? How do you account for crude predictable Sharkey beating him up? How did they manage to catch this ultra elusive mover?

You never answer questions do you?
I'm still waiting to hear your reply to my question, what is Corbett's best win,what signature win makes him an ATG?

I asked you about 6 months ago ,after you said you have been ,"involved in boxing for many years", just what was your involvement,boxer,trainer,manager, promoter,? In what capacity are you/ were you involved in boxing?

 

We know exactly how he fought because there are the newspaper accounts going all the way back to his bouts with Van Buskirk and Baker!

 

I'm quite prepared to accept Jeffries was a super tough guy,in fact I think it's a given . Jeffries second fight with Fitzsimmons would have been stopped in the modern era,his face was a mask of blood.Likewise his comeback bout with Johnson would have been stopped a lot earlier ,he had one eye shut his nose was badly swollen, he had gashes above and below his eyes and rivulets of blood trickled down his torso.
If Mercante had not stopped the Chuvalo fight I think Foreman would have eventually ko'd the Canadian after inflicting what could have been terminal damage to him,absolutely correct stoppage with Chuvalo's own manager throwing in the towel as well.

 

Yes it was an absolutely correct stoppage by Mercante. I have no qualms with that at all. I wholeheartedly support the more civilised officiating of more modern times.

However, it is my belief, in a fight to the finish, that Foreman would have shot his bolt before Chuvalo would have actually fallen though.

The Canadian would most likely have suffered in later life but be that as it may, under more barbaric officiating I'm less convinced Foreman could have finished that fight than I am that Chuvalo might have.

Foreman deserved to win in view that he had already proved to be the better man. But back then, you was not the best man unless you were the last man standing.