1904 James J. Jeffries vs 1882 John L. Sullivan

I think that Jeffries is far more proven of the two. It would be interesting to see him against big powerful puncher like John.

 

Probably Jeffries

 

I SUSPECT this would be a much closer fight than many believe. Obviously, I've never seen Sullivan on film, in an actual fight, and have only seen limited footage of prime Jeffries. But, there ARE other things to go by. I've read a lot about both of them, from contemporaries of theirs, and we have a lot of their records preserved. I'll go with Jeffries by 25 round decision, in a fight closer than anticipated by many, with both men bruised, bloodied, and swelled.

Jeffries fans would be applauding the verdict; Sullivan fans would be booing loudly.

 

Jeffries. Not only is he bigger, he has more technique and durability. Proven vs better fighters.

 

I’ve always wondered about this one myself. If forced to choose I’d give the edge to Jeffries by virtue of his wins over more proven competition as well as having the edge in physical size and strength

 

I am not sure how you conclude that he had better technique or durability.

We only have eye witness accounts to go on, when reconstructing Sullivan's style.

As for durability, they were both stopped only once, when well past their prime.

 

It seems that Herald did stagger Sullivan, but he couldn't take a punch like Sullivan could.

I think that Elliot could crack as well.

 

Jeffries had a horrible open stance, was open to most any punch. He won fights by be able to take horrendous punishment and just
wearing the other guy down. Sullivan was used to long, arduous bouts. He'd go 25 rounds and be drinking beer between rounds.

Easy win for Sullivan. Well, not EASY but easy. He'd take some punishment for sure but would outbox the lumbering Jeffries.

 

Sullivan himself said Jeffries was way beyond him. Jeffries most certainly faced better completion and better punchers.

 

Pretty interesting take to this who the hell knows match up. I’d say Sullivan should be able to put up a better fight than Sharkey but how many long distance M of Q bouts did Sullivan have? He did go over twenty w Corbett as a shell of himself.

 

Fair question. No MOQ fights that I know of, other than Corbett. Personally, based on the entirety of his long career, I don't think a prime, properly trained John would have had a problem going 25 rounds or more. I suspect a 25 round decision here, with both men pretty beat up at the end.

Edit: There was no edit. There was 97 year old blurry vision. Ha!

 

The winner would be people at ringside who got to watch this ultimate brawl,, fighting with his rules and at that time I would not bet against John L. Sullivan. But a Jefferies win probably wouldn't be an upset.

 

One thing pretty hard to doubt about Sullivan was his power .. Choynski was a monster P4P puncher and he saw Sullivan live and is quoted as saying Sullivan was a considerably bigger hitter than he was .. that registered with me ...