Jeffries vs Jeannette, both at their best. Fight to finish. Jeffries is bigger and probably more powerful, fast for his size, very good at hitting to the body and in the clinch. Jeannette is more skilled and tactically flexible, knows how to be elusive, very good at inside punching. Both have great resistance and physical and mental conditioning. Jeffries in his first fight seemed almost invincible and knocked out a long series of ATG. Few fights in his career though. Jeannette has a much longer career, but against ATG he has almost always lost or drawn. Who wins in a fight to finish between two boxers famous for their toughness?
Two different kinds of toughness I say. The sea and the soldier. One is inevitable, one won't quit. Even if most of what is told about Jeanette's career is untrue he might be the fighter who has received the most messages of disaster without being finished by them. Jeffries on the other hand was impossible to communicate disaster to. Even against Johnson it was more an engine that had run out of fuel and strength than one that had been destroyed. As to the winner, I'll never shake the sight of Jeanette running from Langford. I do not think that Jeanette's chances are serious in a finish fight. Jeffries would always win it.
Right. Jeannette was knocked down dozens and dozens of times in his career, although he was only knocked out twice. A well-conditioned and very determined boxer, but not with the same resistence of Jeffries, who in his first fight took some terrible beating without ever falling.
Jeffries could beat 1905 Jeanette who had perhaps the worst start to a career of anyone in the IBHOF. Prime one? Lol no chance. He held Langford off without being stopped for years in many encounters. Jeanettes on a different level than Jeffries.
There really is no way to know because both had tremendous condition and toughness in their active years, and although Jeff was bigger and stronger and had the better chin, Jeannette proved against the huge-punching rock-solid Sam McVey that he could take it and get up and keep going without fail, sharp-shooting and landing well. Probably a brutal fight that does neither man any favors. Jeannette probably hits Jeff more, but Jeff hits him harder. What does the trick in a finish fight, who knows. After what Jeannette proved with McVey, winning after 49 rounds, taking on Joe in a finish fight could be a precarious decision. Tough is an understatement. A limited rounds bout could be very close, because Jeff might score knockdowns, while Joe might hit him more. Jeannette started his career more slowly than Jeff, and was smaller naturally at the start, but he also became vastly more experienced and grew into his frame. Anyone who is good enough to be competitive with Jack Johnson, and sometimes beat McVey and Langford, is going to be in the fight with most anyone. A fight that simply would have to happen to know how it would play out. Pre-fight odds favor Jeff because of his natural advantages, but of course, odds don't win fights.
Funny , I started reading the post and thought half way through it was really good and then noticed the author.
I think Jeffries is extremely overrated in the grander context. For all his alleged nimbleness and speed, none is apparent on film, and those claiming him to possess such do so before the advent of Dempsey. The fact that he struggled so mightily with pipsqueaks and old men gives me more pause. The fact his resume is so shallow only affirms this further. Did he not look so pathetic against a Johnson less than 3 year his junior, who hadn't fought against decent opposition in a few years, really gives me pause. Dempsey KO7
