Sullivan or Jeffries? Who is the Harder Man?

Hard to tell. I may have to go with Jeffries, despite my respect for Sullivan's fighting abilities. Although his style is less well suited to bareknuckle conditions, Jeffries has 30 pounds on Sullivan and fought in longer, tougher, more gruelling bouts. He was also the superior wrestler.

Of course, Sullivan's power may end it early, as even Jeffries has not felt that kind of hitting ability.

 

I think Jeff would keep his head about him, and that could be an advantage against a smaller adversary who's lost his temper.

 

Perhaps Joe Louis if it kicks of in Ceasars Palace?

He did seperate Sonny Liston and Muhamad Ali once when they were intent on going at it.

 

William Burns, a fighter and brother of Sullivan opponent Jack Burns, said the following of Sullivan:

At his best, from 1878 to 1883, in my opinion, he could easily have trimmed Peter Jackson, Jim Corbett, Frank Slavin, Bob Fitzsimmons, Jim Jeffries, or Jack Johnson….

 

this is a hard one.

I'm going for Sullivan. he was one tough son of a gun!.

 

It hapened when young Clay was hounding the then champion trying to get a title shot. They had a showdown in a casino earlier where Liston slapped Clay across the face.

Sony Liston drove by in his car (the bear mobile) and Clay shouted somthing to him. Liston pulled over and confronted Clay seizing him by the lapels and threatening him. Things were about to go critical and old Joe Louis pushed them apart.

Apparently they felt honoured to have their fight broken up by the greatest heavyweight of all time because the situation was contained.

 

Interestingly there have been similar testimonies made about Jeffries. And Peter Jackson for that matter.

 

I have read first hand reports that said Sullivan would have little chance vs Jeffries. John L was a pioneer and a legend, but in the end he failed to meet or beat the best in his era.

 

I believe Jeffries to be the harder man.
As far as seperating them. How about Sam Langford.

 

I don't think that this is entirely corect.

A lot of the fighters that he is acused of ducking came allong at the taill end of his career when his legacy was complete in any event.

He was past his best when he fought Jake Kilrain and Kilrain was the best challenger available at the time.

 

Sullivan was the best of his era. there is no doubting that. It is a shame he didnt fight Jackson. As much as i like Jackson, i am fairly certain that Sullivan would have knocked him out. In any case the fight would have proved no more than Jeffries win over Jackson proved. Sullivan was past prime.

Jeffries Sullivan would be interesting. In his prime Sullivan knocked them all out in the early rounds,much quicker than jeffries. And in later years, he proved as tough as they come. I get the feeling that Sullivan, being the dirtier fighter and more likely to react with a head butt and knee has an advantage in the situation remarked to above, but only slight. The bloke most likely to pull them apart would probably be Dempsey.

 

I beleive that at the verry least there was a window where Jackson would have beaten Sullivan.

I do agree that it would not have meant much in terms of Sullivan's legacy though.

 

Jeffries was no slouch in the dirty fighting category himself. Watch the stabilized footage from the second Sharkey fight and you'll see a one-armed Jeffries throwing forearms, kidney punches, hammerfists to the nose, pretty well running the gamut of illegal techniques. At one point in the second Ruhlin fight Jeffries appears to take the laces of his glove and rake Ruhlin's face from forehead to chin, prompting Ruhlin to duck out and retreat while shaking his head.