Jeffries v Frazier !

While Foreman was undoubtedly the better finisher of the two it is hard to be sure whether he hit an order of magnitude harder.

Some contemporary observers questioned Jeffries power for the same reasons that you do and some thought that he hit like a truck but took rounds to finish oponents off for stylistic reasons.

What I will say is that like Frazier Jeffries broke his oponents down by atrition but inflicted horible damage.

 

Jeffries only stopped a 200 lb man once in his career, and that was more or less by corner retirement or some similar sort of ending.

At one point in time, I rated Jim Jeffries as being among some of the most powerful hitters of all time, but after careful review of his record, I have since reconsidered. I suspect that a lot of fans and historians commonly mistake him for being a devastating slugger, when in fact he may very well have been a man who used his size and strength to gradually wear down smaller and or older opponents

 

Testimony of his oponents would tend to suport the idea that he was among the hardest teir of hitters.

 

Testimonies of fighters who neither fought nor lived through the eras of latter great sluggers are meaningless.

 

Super slugfest this one.

The big question is how much of a factor would Jeffries strength be against Frazier's style...

 

I strongly disagree.

Jack Johnson for example would have shard a ring with every type of puncher imaginable. He foght Sam McVean and Jess Willard but still rated the jeriatric Jeffries among the harder hitters he faced.

In your defence some contemporary observers questioned Jeffries power while absolutely nobody questioned Sullivans power or Langfords power.

 

Yes but I really don't think Chuvalo is that more skilled

 

Yes but he had also fought a whole slew of "200 lb+ monsters" who acording to the modern orthodoxy are the bigger punchers.

Bottom line is that Johnson fought a lot of punchers of every type and style imaginable.

Perhaps the fact that he rated both Choynsky and Fitz above nearly everybody proves that the smaller faster punchers can pose a stiffer test of the chin than the 200 lb+ slugs.

 

Watch footage of Jeffries sparring with his brother for the Rhulin fight and see how quick his reflexes are.

He can make an opponent miss a punch by an inch by pulling his head back.

This is not the primeavel monster our granfarthers told us about.

 

Not to start a subject that would be better suited for a different thread, but as much as I don't particularly care for Jack Dempsey, I think he would actually beat Jeffries somewhat badly. Dempsey's foot work, fast hands, punching power as well as his tendency to pummel larger, slower moving white men, would make him a nightmare for Jim.. This fight would look similar to the Willard, Firpo and Big Bill Tate fights ( even though Jeffries was much better than those men. ) Dempsey is not going clinch with Jeffries and turn this into a wrestling match. He will circle the ring, use angles and when opportunity provides, bombard Jeffries with shots like he's never been hit before.

 

This is a tough call due to the fact that there isn't alot of reliable footage of Jeffries. At least not enough to gauge him against a modern great such as Frazier. Based on the video that we do have of him I think that he is at a styalistic disadvantage. Jeffries fought in an era where there was alot of grappling and holding with infrequent punching. If he's to defeat Frazier then he has to kick it up a notch so to speak. Joe will be throwing a lot of leather for 3minutes a round and he sends them in fast and furious. Plus Joe at his best was not an easy target to hit cleanly..just ask Ali. Big Jim will have to forget the old paw,punch and grab style that was prevelant back then. Joe will make him fight every second of every round. Jim's best chance is to land a haymaker on Joe's constantly bobbing head or better yet a succession of haymakers which Jim is not accustomed to doing. Can he? I don't know. But I do know that if he can't then Smokin' Joe takes it.