Jeffries was a strong guy, no doubt foreman was in a class of his own. The men Jeff struggled with I see George absolutely destroying. I don't see Jeffries smashing Frazier to the floor like he did. Jeffries isn't on the same level as a puncher in any way.
Strength is comparative. He was strong when the relief was Corbett or Fitz or Sharkey. If there had been a Rahman or Chuvalo or Lewis around, he would have seemed exceedingly ordinary.
If you watch closely and I emphasize closely since the film is in poor condition his bout with Ruhlin: Numerous times Jeffries throws a very short left hook to the body. It appears as if he is just stepping in to hold his opponent but in fact he is landing via his body torque a powerful very short hook. One of these hooks to the body floors Ruhlin. Jeffries is throwing multiple hooks at a time body to head. (Double and triple hooks) Jeffries appears very balanced constantly pivoting off his lead foot to the left and right. The other thing you see is that Jeffries style has not been described accurately through the years. The fighter one envisioned was crouching crude slow moving low output with his left hand constantly held straight out like a battering ram. This is not what you see when watching this film. Of all ancient boxing film it would be great if this was further stabilized. In its present state it's very difficult to follow. It exhibits Jeffries in his prime.
When viewing Jeffries vs Ruhlin, I see Jeffries face-first, off balance, wide slow left hooks, literally zero defense, and actually the way he leans, he's leaning right into impending hooks from Frazier and open for body shots. Even Frazier would easily step around and outmaneuver Jeff in those clinches. He leans so far forward on those clinches, he'd get uppercutted and hooked to death by virtually anyone with boxing experience, let alone Frazier, who would absolutely butcher him.
In the Ruhlin fight we have a fighter facing him who was frozen with fear,yet he is faster and more fluid in his attempts to avoid contact. Jeffries is stiff,flat-footed for the most part ,and slow of both feet and hands in his attack, taking short steps as he follows Ruhlin around ,he isn't cutting off the ring and he exhibits zero head movement .His left arm is down by his waist,his relies on his left shoulder hunched up to guard his chin,he is also very open to right hands over the top. We don't see him receiving them because Ruhlin shows no ambition and no inclination to make a fight of it.I see nothing here that an average heavyweight like Bermane Stiverne or a Lamon Brewster could not produce.
Jose Urtain was a very strong man ,old man Henry Cooper boxed his ears off. If strength was the be all and end all ,plenty of the huge pallooka's would have been successful.
I understand that strength is no guarantee of success in boxing. All that I am trying to establish at this stage, is that Jeffries strength is well documented.
I'm sure he was a very strong man,I'm also sure his strength was flattered by the fact he was bossing smaller, older men around.Johnson twisted his arms up his back and frog marched him into a corner, granted he was not in his prime but, at 36 and nearly 20lbs heavier, he should have been able to prevent that.