ron lyle vs jim jefferies

the most compelling arguments i've heard so far (one you touch on): 1) his relative struggles with far past prime fighters 2) his difficulty with choynski.

his resume looks impressive but is deceiving if analyzed in any detail. Reports of him are impressive but his record and ability on film (limited as it is) calls into question his greatness.

man, this is why i love the classic

 

Personally the fight with Armstrong and the two life-and-death struggles with Sharkey are the two that trouble me.

 

:good

Especially considering Jeffries had 6" and 35lb weight advantage against sharkey. Could you imagine Foreman, Liston, Tyson holding a size advantage of that magnitude and not being able to put that man away in 45 rounds?

 

I have no doubt Jeffries was a great fighter, for his times, he appeared indestructible .How he would weather the co -ordinated,mobile,big punching, superheavies of the later eras is a moot point,however?

 

A couple of observations have to be made.

In the Armstrong fight Jeffries had a broken thumb and was scheduled to fight another oponent on the same card. The doctor refused to let the second fight go ahead due to the injury to Jeffries thumb. Now not only did Jeffries have a broken thumb but he was pacing himself for a second fight imidiately after he fought Armstrong.

The first fight with Sharkey was by no means a life and death strugle. Sharkey esentialy fought to survive and di not press the action. Sharkey lasted the distance but it was not competitive as far as I can see.

The second Sharkey fight was a life and death strugle, but lets be fair Jeffries went into the fight with an injured left arm. How many champions would have taken Sharkey on in a title fight with an injured left arm?

 

you are correct on the first Sharkey, Jeff won a hard fight well eneough though some thought it might be a draw(mainly Tom!)
The Armstrong fight not so clear cut, reports suggest a broken thumb, arm,wrist...and we dont know when.
Hand and arm injuries were a theme with Jim and cannot be disregarded as a weakness, similar to a weakness to cuts etc.

 

Geez! Jim was one tough son of a gun!

 

I think we are all agreed on that :good.

 

turned into a great, informative thread everyone!

 

Jeffries is a fighter who if he fought today , with all the conditioning , actual training and medical treatment for his hands would have been a terrific fighter ...

He had natural enormous strength, big time power when his hands held up, vastly underrated hand and foot speed, tremendous stamina and a terrific chin ... when we study his career it becomes so obvious the man was basically a novice with some twenty bouts in his whole career.

I can definately se a modern day Jeffries as a rock solid 230 version of Tommy Morrison with a terrific chin. That would be a dangerous man ..