James Jackson Jeffries vs. Santos Saúl Álvarez Barragán 12rds

If Canelo’s fighting the same injured versions of Jeffries that Sharkey had so much success against then he will win.

If not, Jeffries struggles with Canelo’s movement but breaks him down slowly with body shots and gains the advantage over Canelo once he inevitably gasses in the teen rounds. If Bob Fitzsimmons couldn’t put a dent in Jeffries despite throwing the entire kitchen sink at him with 5 ounce gloves on then I don’t see Canelo’s power being much of an issue.

 

James J. Jeffries wins this, in my view. I do not think Canelo can hurt Jim, and if Canelo cannot hurt Jim, Canelo is in big trouble.

 

Jeffries has noticeable strengths and weaknesses going by both the film and the ‘papers. On one hand he’s a crisp and accurate body puncher with those short jolts he uses against Ruhlin, quick to react and counter when Gus throws. Parries well and counters well off of parries with his left hook, effective infighter with good punch form.

On the other hand he has no knowledge of how to cut off a ring or how to effectively move forward. It’s easy to see why moving targets always seemed to get the better of him, Canelo would be dancing circles around him and countering him in the first stage of the fight. However, those short body punches that slowed Fitz down in the rematch would likely do the same thing here, assuming Jeffries takes an aggressive approach like against Fitz and Gus in their rematches.

Also, if there’s evidence behind it is it really an excuse? Say what you want but Jeffries has receipts.

 

When did Sharkey hurt Jeffries?

 

Before first bell the judges will have already awarded Canelo the first 6 rounds at least, so Jeff better step it up and get the little ginger out of there to avert it going to the scorecards.

 

Can’t recall the exact details but it has been described that Sharkey did hurt Jeff at one point -

I think it also involved Jeff’s glove coming off (maybe even twice?) deliberate or not, it allowed time for Jeff to recover.

I don’t want to pass on bad intel so anyone who knows better, please feel free to correct me.

 

From my knowledge the only time Jeffries genuinely got hurt in his entire pre-Johnson career was in the ninth round of the first Corbett fight. Admittedly I am unsure of Jeffries’ gloves coming off against Sharkey but I doubt he actually had Jeff seriously hurt during either of their fights, if so I’m curious which rounds they were.

 

I just checked quickly now - my bad - Jeffries glove came off in round 25 of the rematch (see link below) but no mention that Jeff was hurt at the same time.

Kinda ironic that Corbett of all people hurt Jeff - perhaps we don’t give his punch as much credit as we should. Not so feather fisted.

Corbett certainly gave durable Fitz a good pasting before dropping him hard in round 6 of their fight.

https://thegruelingtruth.com/boxing/bob-fitzsimmons-versus-james-jeffries-ii-1899-1902/

 

Canelo at around 185lbs would still be lean, he’d be an heavyweight, and not even a small one for that era and would show that Jeffries is no match for him.

 

Without footage it's basically just a leap of faith. Stylistically it favours Jeffries, but in all likelihood, I find it hard to believe that Canelo wouldn't have his way with him over 12.

 

Jeffries would pummel Alvarez. Jeffries was 6'2" and weighed 225 pounds of shredded natural muscle. Unlike the PED infused fat ****s that populate the heavyweight division today. His strength advantage would be massive. And, he was clearly the harder puncher. He was a significantly better athlete than Canelo. Jeffries was a competitive track athlete, and excelled at many sports. Canelo is a great boxer, but, I see no evidence he has athleticism that transfers outside of the ring. And, he has slow feet in the ring. As the fight wears on, and Canelo tires, Jeffries would start beating Alvarez down. If it was scheduled for 15 or more, he definitely gets the stoppage. He probably stops Alvarez in less than 12. Only Alvarez's iron chin and savvy give him a small chance of seeing the final bell in a 12 rounder.