Could Heavys like Jeffries, Corbett, Fitz hang with the heavys over the last 40years?

Maybe some of rhe bigger HW's like Johnson, Jeffries, Wills et al would do well or at least hold thier own but I don't see men like Hart, Burns, Fitzimmons and Corbett hanging in there with the likes of Ali, Frazier, Foremen or Holmes. Too much discrepancy in size, athleticism and skill. The evoloution of the jab would be a big deciding factor in alot of these contests. At least for men like Ali, Holmes and even Foreman when he chose to employ it.

 

The "old timers" with the heavy hands, have a shot until they have to fight the Superheavies.

Jim Jefferies was an excellent athlete...who probably could have competed in the decathalon if he had had the chance.

 

Obviously it gets harder to compare the more generations seperate the fighters. If anybody questions that fighters of the eraA could hag with those of the eraA+20, then you can usualy find a fighter who hung round and proved otherwise.

The verry fact of having a middleweight division set at 160lbs and a light heavyweight division is going to be a considerable luxury for some of these fighters.

I personaly think that many of these fighters would have done well in later eras and I will use a few sample cases to make my point.

Bob Fitzsimmons finishing ability is beyond question. Given his combination of power, delivery, punching acuracy, and ability to ice durable heavyweights, would it not be strange if this could not be translated into sucess in other eras? Finishing ability is a prety timeless characteristic so I would be fairly confident predicting sucess for Sullivan, Fitzsimmons, Langford and others.

Sam McVea was a 5' 11'' 215 lb counterpunching heavyweight with a 78'' reach, who had a dynamite left hook that he could quintruple up on, and good head movment. He was also tough and durable enough to fight for 49 rounds. Even given the least charitable interpretation of his abilities, you would have to think that these characteristics would have brought him significant sucess in the 80s for example. Surely one of the beltholders would have come up short against him?

 

Cheers for posting that :good

 

Seamus's echo :yep
Wonder how Jeffries, with his reliance on strength and size advantages would do? :huhatsch

 

Depends against which fighters of the modern era.
Fitzsimmons would have been a WW-MW in our era .
Corbett would have been a LHW.
The biggest of them may have hanged with the links of Chambers , Jirov and Moorer but not against the best or the biggest.

 

Totally embellished fight report, there were just 5 or 6 kd's if memory serves me right.

 

Well, If Jeffreis was around today, he would be a trim 230-235 in shape, which is more than most of the top ten in shape today. Athletically speaking Jeffries would be the best in the division today, and 12 rounds for him would be a breeze. I think he would do just fine.

 

Hell no too small, Jeffries maybe but they didnt seem to use their reach as much I cant see him laying much of a glove on a Lewis or Wlad with those oldtime styles

Great training vid here of Jeffries though

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CauVMvNspIY&feature=related[/ame]

 

maybe jeffries since he was so athletic and durable and big. how can we even answer this question with the lack of footage. I don't really get these H2H matchups with guys we can barely see on film.

 

I certainly do not think any modern fighter was more "athletic" than Fitzsimmons or possibly Corbett. Fitzsimmons obviously had ridiculous strength and fast-twitch ability explosion. No one that size KO's so many men, and so many bigger men, without a high degree of this mystical "athleticism". Corbett was preternaturally quick and anticipatory. This is a gift. And he held onto it till late, late in life by evidence of his trials with Tunney. And his stamina while in his prime can not be questioned.

Perhaps you would wish to explain this proclamation further.

 

On the other hand, what does it say about the heavyweights when the top ranks are littered by middles and lightheavies?

 

My first thought is that it probably says verry little. There are former light heavyweights and middleweights climbing the rankings in every era, and if they were denied the option of fighting at lower weights then you would probably see many more.

If Bernard Hopkins or Joe Calzaghe had to either make 154lbs or fight at heavyweight then they could probably achieve as much as a George Gardiner or Jack Root at heavyweight.

One thing I have noticed however is the heavyweight division almost unoficialy stratified into different weight classes in the early 1900s. Smaller heavyweights such as McCoy, Choynski, and Gardiner tended to arange fights with other highly rated heavyweights their own size to climb the rankings. Gardiner and Root for example had a series going long before they fought for the newly formed light heavyweight title. On the other end of the spectrum a smaller contender would really have to prove himself before he got into the ring with Jeffries. Indeed one newspaper even talked about heavyweights under 200lbs not being in the champions class! In other words by the time Jeffries retired they had almost unoficaly created the modern cruiserweight division around him.