Prime Jim Corbett v. prime Jim Jeffries

Thanks, Duodenum, I'll look into this!:good

 

66 knockdowns in 12 minutes. That is by my count, 1 knockdown every 11 seconds!

I would have thought it was quite hard to criticise such a performance under any circumstances for any reason. I am thinking the contest might have been stopped earlier by some modern referees!

 

Where does Tunney rank for you at HW?

How about on all time, P4P wise?

 

I would go with the smaller, yet much more clever, James J. Corbett. He had his way with James J. Jeffries for most of the fight, when they fought in 1900. The sudden end came in round 23. Jeffries could hit and hit he did. He had been beaten to a pulp by Gentleman Jim, but in boxing it isn't over until the final bell. Corbett never heard that bell, though he may have heard another. Corbett wasn't really known as a banger so a 25 round fight definitely favored the champion.

James J. Corbett from the years 1890-1894 would have beaten any form of Jim Jeffries, in my opinion. By 1900 Corbett was well past his best and Jeffries was just reaching the top of his pugilistic mountain. As I mentioned before, Corbett still had his way for most of the bout. Just imagine what Gentleman Jim would have done against The Boilermaker, prime to prime.

Just incase any of you are thinking that I am one of those people who underrate James J. Jeffries, you are wrong. I actually think very highly of his ability and would rank him fairly high on an all-time heavyweight list. No, not top-ten, but somewhere. His boxing ability is underrated by a lot of boxing fans these days. The legendary Tommy Ryan worked with Jeffries and helped improve his defense a great deal. Jeffries fought in a crouch and had unbelievable stamina. He was as strong as an ox and could knockout a mule. He could take as much punishment as one could dish out and still comeback to get the KO. So, by me saying that Gentleman Jim Corbett could beat this guy, I am actually making quite a statement.

 

I scored it on video yrs ago in California at Tower records....... It is one of my favs of all-time........
:yep:good

MR.BILL:thumbsup

 

Interesting. You probably posted this days ago, but I thought it was neat. I would like to visit there. Did the house still look old fashioned or was it refurbished?

 

:thinkHmmm.... It's something I'd need to ponder carefully. Those are challenging questions for me to contemplate, and I've conveniently never tried pigeonholing Gene neatly into such a ranking. Head to head though, he had the speed, conditioning, intelligence, toughness, skills and mobility to give Jeffries, Louis, Marciano and Liston fits, and Dempsey would have to be at his absolute best, ready to capitalize on the first mistake Tunney made. (The Long Count knockdown suggests he could have done just that.)

Ali and Holmes would have had the combination of height, reach, speed and quality of jab necessary to out box him over the distance.

Futch understood how to take on a great jabber, and that may well give Norton and Frazier an edge in dealing with Gene.

When it comes to dealing with modern sized super heavyweights, we never saw Tunney attempt this, but Loughran did do it successfully from time to time, and Gene had greater size, much better power, and a far sturdier chin.

 

Hya Abdullah,The house is a neat turn of 1900's home...I think it is designated as a landmark now..There is the sign by the front yard,saying ,"this was the home of James J Corbett,Heavyweight Boxing Champion"..I am sure that custodians live there now, so I believe there are no visitors allowed...As I posted before,while I was standing alone in front of this unexpected sign,I visualized James J Corbett walking out of the front door towards me in his high celluloid starched collar..The house is on Corbett Pl., Bayside NY, in case your interested to go back in time...Good luck...B.B.

 

This is a thoughtful appraisal.I too find it hard to pigeonhole Tunney, but I suspect he would pose problems for the majority of the Heavy Champs.

 

If you schedule this fight for 25 rounds, you see versions of Jeffries and Corbett trained to go 25 rounds if needed. If you schedule it for 12 rounds, you see a Jeffries and Corbett prepared for 12 rounds or less. I see Jeffries winning both of these matchups and anything in between. Would they be easy fights? No. But I believe Jeffries would prevail. A prime Corbett was evidently a wonderful boxer, but he could not really hurt a prime Jeffries. He couldn't hold off a crouching, steadily stalking, motivated Jeffries, had nothing to hold him off with, and he would lose...in my opinion, of course.

Frankly, I think a prime Sullivan would have beaten Corbett. Of the first 3 of 4 champions, I think a prime Corbett's best shot for a win would be against a prime Fitzsimmons, and I wouldn't bet on Jim Corbett in that one.

 

To be fair, a prime Sullivan would arguably have been a worse matchup for Corbett than Jeffries.

 

Prime Sully was quick afoot,and with his mitts and could hit a ton.
Corbett would be dicing with death everytime John L closed the distance, imo.
Jeffries would likely have the edge over Sullivan in durability , strength and physical attributes .
Sullivan may well have equalled or even surpassed Jeffries in one shot power, whether he could do what no one else could and stop the Bear is very doubtful.

 

More based upon the fact that he was a more agressive finisher, likley to capitalize on a single opening or mistake, with terminal effect.

Sullivan was simply more likley to close the deal in a shorter timeframe e.g. 15-25 rounds.

 

No no no.

I was saying that Sullivan (prime) might have been worse for Corbett than Jeffries would have been.