I was debating with a poster on here the other day, he said Jeffries had improved tremendously when he fought Corbett the second time.Given that Corbett was just a month off of 37 years old and had not fought for 3 years,and given that Corbett had just 3 fights in the previous 6 years, losing 2 of them by ko and the sole win ,[McCoy,] being achieved under questionable circumstances, how could Jeffries improvement be reliably measured using such a washed up man as a yardstick? Tommy Ryan is talked of as some kind of early day Manny Steward,he is credited with teaching Jeffries the crouch,Jeffries refuted this when he said he took some body punches early in his career and they hurt,and he naturally began to adopt a half crouch to shield his stomach from punches. The efficacy of his crouch has been called into question in adopting it he gave away his height.Fitzsimmons , then touring with Jeffries tried to dissuade him from using it. Back to Ryan he was in Jeffries corner for the 1st Corbett fight and responsible for tactics. After 16rds with Jeffries behind on points his manager climbed up on the ring apron and slung Ryan out of the corner telling Jeffies he was losing and to stop trying to box with Corbett, to use his natural strength and size advantages, saying in effect,"you are losing ,you have to knock him out!"
Huh? That's exactly what I am talking about. The fights we DO have footage of, where the language doesn't match what we see.
No, it's not based upon real life to name Tyson unknockoutable. But it doesn't matter really. The specifics don't matter. There's a long list of world HW champs who were regarded in great excess to their real ability.
Why take my word for it, the people in boxing said he improved in his later years as champion. You said Jeffries was slow, a quick viewing at the sparring clips shows plenty of speed. You are mistaken to have this view. Fitz could not solve Jeff's crouch in the first fight. It was pretty much an easy night for Jeffries. As for Ryan, he had a falling out with Jeffries. They were filmed sparring outdoors pre 1901, and its an interesting view.
I didnt say Jeffries was slow I said this "You can see him plodding and stalking after a retreating, reluctant Ruhlin ,who looks both faster and a better boxer,imo" And I stand by it. Ruhlin looks quicker going backwards than Jeffries attacking.Yes or no? The film is grainy but run at the right speed. This content is protected Fitz in their second is described in the fights reports of the time as being able to hit Jeffries "at will and when and where he pleased," and this is a man nearing 40 years old, how do you account for this? Training clips are not real fights. We know for example Jack Johnson is described as fighting with his back foot at a right angle to his lead foot with his weight over his back foot,yet in training clips Johnson is seen dancing adroitly around the ring covering a lot of ground his fists continually churning in front of his chest.Johnson did not fight like that he waited for his opponents to lead so he could counter them,his hands around waist level.Here is what I mean .It just isn't representative of how he fought and Jeffries skipping around side to side is not how he fought either. This content is protected
