Dempsey vs james j jeffries

When Johnson fought Willard he was behaving in an uncharacteristic way, because he was old, and knew that he was not good for the full distance.

When Johnson fought Jeffries, he was fighting in an entirely characteristic way.

He was a defensive specialist, who avoided taking risks, economized on effort, and was happy to win on points if he thought that he would get a fair shake.

A quick glance over his record should bear this out.

Johnson was not carrying Jeffries, he was simply doing what he seems to have done in nearly every fight!

 

The way I would read Johnson here is as follows.

He didn't know exactly how dangerous Jeffries would be after his layoff, but he was astute enough to know that he could almost certainly outlast him.

He didn't want to get drawn into a slugging match with Jeffries early, and he didn't want to leave it in the hands of the third man (in as much as this was possible).

He decided that his best option was to fight defensively, soften Jeffries up, and then take him out when he started to tire.

He basically played a chess match to make a Jeffries win impossible.

I imagine that he knew that he had the fight won, when Jeffries came out of his corner lethargically, and waited for Johnson to come to him.

 

No, I think that he had unusual power for a defensive specialist.

I just don't think that it was his style to go for early knockouts.

What we see in the Jeffries fight, seems to be very typical of Johnson's MO, with the possible exception

 

No, I think that he had unusual power for a defensive specialist.

I just don't think that it was his style to go for early knockouts.

What we see in the Jeffries fight, seems to be very typical of Johnson's MO.

 

Apart from the underlined I agree with this.He wasn't carrying Jeffries ,but neither was he trying to get him out of there and expert ringside observers such as ex champs like Sullivan and Fitzsimmons believed he could have done so had he put the pedal to the floor.
Do you dispute that he could have ended it earlier?
As he could have the Burns ,Ross,Kaufman, Flynn, Munro fights.

 

During the 7th round Corbett said to Jack Jeffries ,"your brother's getting beat up what shall we do?"
They considered having him foul out,and also stopping it .
John L Sullivan sitting just a few feet away from Johnson corner found himself having conversations with Johnson during and between rounds he stated in his write up of the fight he could not believe the confidence Jack exuded.
Johnson later wrote that he knew all along he was Jeffries master and two days before the fight he publicly stated Jeffries would come second in the strength stakes.

A stupid man on this forum, a rabid Johnson hater ,will try and tell anyone fool enough to listen that it was pretty level at the half way stage ,it isn't true, he was beat the **** up and imo he had it coming!

 

With the benefit of hindsight, he probably could have done.

I think that the strategy that he chose, was probably the correct one however.

 

I never felt the fight to have been particularly competitive.

 

We agree.

 

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Then he saw something that everybody else had missed.

 

C'mon Jeffries stayed away from the top fighters who all wanted a title shot Corbett was even brought out of retirement on a 1W 5L streak in the final 3 years of his career rather than risk him against a top black fighter with the size and power to spark him.....

 

I go back and forth on Jeffries power, but I have never questioned his strength.

The feats of strength that he performed are very reliably documented.

Among other things, there are photographs of him moving around a 300lb sand bag, during his preparations for the Munro fight.

I would put his strength in the same general category as George Foreman.

 

I am telling you, not body gave Johnson a chance during Jeffries prime, including his supporters!

People gave Denver Ed Martin more of a chance against Jeffries quite frankly.

Even after Jeffries was pulled out of retirement, most people favored him, and those who favored Johnson had usually see inside Jeffries training camp!

Sometimes the truth of such matters, is not what you would instinctively expect it to be!

 

I question all the myths about his great strength as being near Foreman....Carnera was a circus strongman what does this prove in a ring??? IMO comparing Jeffries to Foreman in strength is following in line with the boxing establishment Bert Sugars etc...status quo story telling.