Jeffries vs Holmes, in the year 1905. 45 rounds, all old rules and gloves. Both at their best. Who wins and why?
If Holmes' had the stamina to go 45 rounds with Jeffries, he easily outbox James and wins by decison.
Assuming Holmes skill level and conditioning were the same as in his own actual time then he wins easily. Jeffries would be out moved, out classed and outgunned. Holmes would win a stoppage here
Jeff went life and death with old shopworn versions of Corbett and Fitzsimmons. Holmes would not only be prime, he'd be bringing an ATG (arguably#1) jab that rarely misses and could puff up eyes easily, a hell of an uppercut to time Jeff as he steps in, good lateral movement, head movement, and a laser like right hand that rarely misses. Sure if Jeff keeps his stamina from his own era and gets transported to the 80's with small gloves or Holmes is forced to suddenly adapt then his chances increase. But Holmes with equal opportunity to get used to those long rounds would pretty much nullify every advantage Jeff has other than raw power and strength.
The stipulation is a fight in 1905, with those rules and gloves. Those are gloves that are freaking gloves, not what we know as boxing gloves. Essentially bare fisted, tell me how many times you are going to pop your jab at a guy and maybe catch the top of his head? Maybe you think that Holmes would land every jab on the nose of Jeffries, but I would suggest that Jeffries will be trying to win, too, and that leaning forward to let a guy break his hands on the top of your head was a common practice for many years. Fighting in the era of Jeffries, Holmes may still win, but it won't by dancing and jabbing.
In a fight under MMA-gloves-wrestleboxing rules, I'm tempted to go with the wrestleboxer who fought with MMA gloves. Unless there's a really huge talent gap between the eras. Of which, I await the best evidence.
Most fights of that time were not dancing and jabbing. Even the Gans Nelson fight for the most part was pretty flat footing on both sides and clinching and mauling on both sides. I am not saying Holmes would lose here, but if he was going to win, it would not be in the manner that we saw with Cooney or Norton. Gloves Super Tiny, some cases the ring's ground is dirt and not camvas, and even than the canvas is dust up with resin. The heavy leather shoes of the day are not as good as the shoes of today.
Oh yeah forgot other thing. What size thong do you think Holmes would like to wear in the ring?? This content is protected
in my poor opinion, Holmes might encounter difficulties due to the differences of: footwear, unsuitable for dancing; wrestling; smaller gloves, with diversity in jabbing, in order not to hurt your hands. I realize that the comparison (Holmes transported in 1905) is risky, but it is to look for a comparison not only between two boxers, but two eras.
I don't feel there's really enough good quality footage on Jeffries to give him a chance here. Because what I've seen from him doesn't suggest he'd have a chance against Holmes. Now if Jeffries was allowed the tiny gloves and mauling tactics of the times I think his chances would go up but if I had to put money down it would still be on Holmes.
I think Jeffries is the safer bet. It's pretty hard to know even which version 9f Jeffries would be the best. Earlier he seems to have had a tenancy to come in overtrained, which probably explains his massive improvements in speed etc., in his last couple fights. But whether his lackluster late career training would be sufficient to prepare him for a gruelling long fight is guesswork. Perhaps the version of the first Fitzsimmons fight, would be the best. I think Jeffries is a bit misunderstood; he had a reputation for being strong in the clinches, and trained a lot of wrestling, but he fighting style doesn't seem to have been very grapple heavy, atleast for the time. His brst two punches, were the left hook, and the right to the body. I don't think any other heavyweight attacked the body in as sustained way as Jeffries. The hand protection of the time was very poor and many fighters were plagued by hand problems. Holmes not being used to it, it's very likely he ends up with one or both hands broken, which is a pretty dire situation in a de facto finish fight. The rules in general would bring a lot of unfamiliarity. Hitting on the break would generally be perfectly legal. But while you could get away with much you couldn't now, single accidental fouls could get you DQ'd. In fact a real possibility is that many modern fighters time machined to this period would end up losing by DQ. Stylishly Holmes is a bad match up for Jeffries. Corbett wasn't as close to winning as usually made out, but he gave Jeffries a lot of problems. This just adds to how hard it is to predict this match up. Jeffries was never close to being knocked out in his prime, just where his limit is, is pure guesswork. Overall though, I think hammering Holmes' body for 25+ rounds would probably get the job done, but this match up brings a ton of unknowns.
Same for me. I just don't see JJJ lasting to the end of a fight, with a prime Holmes attacking him. Even with Jeffries crouching low or whatever, Holmes superior skill set works his man out and busts him up. I see a 13-15 Rounds stoppage.
