Did Jim Jeffries retire at his absolute peak?

What do you think? First, some RBR stuff from JJ's two round demolition of Munroe, his last fight. It seems the first round had a very slow start with both men feeling each other out for a brief time. Then:

"Jeffries danced around his opponent, drew him into a clinch and missed with a right to the body. Jeffries was chewing gum and smiling. Jeffries then sent Munroe to the floor with a left hook to the jaw."

Both fighters would afterwards agree that this was the punch that ended the fight - the first Jeffries landed. James J: "I caught him with a nice little hook in the first round and after that he was in." Munroe: "The first one did me." However, Munroe was able to carry on:

"...the champion drove a straight right to the head and followed it with a left swing to the stomach. Jeffries followed this advantage, driving Munroe to the ropes with a right and left to the body. A well directed left to the jaw sent Munroe to the floor for 8 seconds. He arose, but was floored again with a similar blow. [Munroe rises and] Jeffries starts a vicious right to the jaw, but the bell rang and Jeffries stayed it's progress."



I like this showing of sportsmanship from the champion, sparring the helpless Munroe in accordance with the rules. Round 2:


"They went into a clinch. Munroe recieved a left swing to the mouth that made him spit blood...Jeffries was unrelenting smashing him all over the body with left and right. He floored [Munroe]. Blood flowed from Munroe's face and mouth. Another terrific right to the face rendered him helpless...."

At this point the Referee Graney stopped the fight. "I stopped the fight because Munroe might have been killed." The San Fransisco Call agreed that Munroe's life was in danger at this point. Whatever the truth, Jeffries needed four minutes to destroy his challanger, and possibly would have set some sort of record had this fight been fought in the moder era. Munroe's face was cut and bleeding and he was spitting up blood and complaining of "internal damage". He was utterly destroyed. Munroe was not an outstanding fighter. His title credentials seemed based primarily upon defeats of once great fighters and skin pigmentation, but he was still capable. The best Kid McCoy, Munroe's second, could offer up after the fight was, "if [Munroe] had succeeded in hitting the big fellow he would have shown the public that he is capable of fighting." Press agrees that Munroe did not land "a significant blow" throughout the entire fight.

But he did throw the first blow, a lead left. It missed, and set Jeffries "dancing" before "drawing his opponent into a clinch". Everywhere are references to Jeffries "cleverness". There's an argument on the board concerning what type Jeffries was - some see him as quick and quick thinking, others as a plodding type. I think the reason for this is that Jeffries was a fighter who continued to improve throughout his career. A few weeks ago I posted a thread about Jeffries training habits. In it, various personages associated with the fight attest to JJ's improving boxing skill. This is overwhelmingly the case in the aftermath of this fight:

Referee Graney, who I believe also refereed the Fitzsimmons rematch: "Jeffries is bigger, faster, and better than ever. He improves with each fight...he is to strong and hits to hard for any man."

Munroe had similar feelings. It also appears that Munroe had been in the ring with Jeffries previously*: "The world is yet to produce a man who can beat Jeffries...he is a better man than when I met him previously."

So the two other principles in the ring with Jeffries had been in the ring with him before, and both agree that he was better than on the previous occasion. What was Jeffries opinion? "I am stronger, faster and heavier than at any time in my ring career, and I cannot see the title passing from me." Bill Daleney, Jeffries trainer: "Jim hit harder tonight than at any other time." Everyone connected directly with this fight seems to think of Jeffries as being at his absolute best ever.

Based on the newspaper reports i've read, he seems mobile and quick and many witnesses remarked upon his cleverness, and Jeffries seems not to have used his two most famed attributes - strength and durability - at all in this battle. He also seems to have sharpened up his attack, moving with ease form body to head attack, drawing his opponents guard up then moving dowstairs and using sudden, "short arm" punches. It's true that his left hook seems to do most of the damage to the head, but the finishing blow is a right. He also seems to have had that Liston/Tyson aura. Sources describe his having beaten Munroe without throwing a punch. Munroe appeared terrified in the ring before the fight, though how to explain his game performance?

Do you think it's possible that like Muhammad Ali, we never saw the best of Jim Jeffries in the ring?

This fight was filmed. What's the story with the film?


*I'd presumed this was some sort of exhibition, and it may have been, but in the run up to the Munroe fight it seems to have become an issue, with Munroe claiming to have "got the best of it" and Jeffries becoming increasingly angered by Munroe's attitude. Anyone know anything about the previous meeting between these two?

Sources were The San Fransisco Call, The Desert Evening News and The Times Dispatch.

 

Munroe would late last 4 with Johnson, too. You can be pretty sure Johnson would have been keen to put him away.

 

And what of the press and those associated with the fight rating Jeffries as in the best form of his career, continually improving?

 

San Fransisco Call seems to agree with your weight rather than boxrec's.

 

Yeah, I wouldn't use the Munroe fight to describe Jeffries abilities neccessarily, I was just interested when reading about the fight just how many people thought Jeffries was at his very best, and that he retired after this bought. I'm wondering, based upon what was written about him at the time, if there was more to come.

 

Interestingly, Johnson was at the Munroe fight, and the Call's take was that Jack was afraid of Jim.

"Jack Johnson had announced his intention of challenging the winner but once glance at Jeffries caused him to change his mind. He maintained a discreet silence."

If it's true that Jack was quiet, that's interesting. For me, I'm very happy to say that I would favour Jeffries quite heavily at this time. Horrifically, Johnson wouldn't be ready for THIS version of Jeffries, in my eyes, until 06, when age might have been getting the better of Jeffries anyway...so a prime for prime meeting may not have been possible.

I'd favour Jeffries in the wake of the Munroe fight though.

 

But still, he wasn't one to keep quiet when there was an opportunity to do otherwise.

I genuinely don't think that the man experienced fear in the normal way. There's a minority of people who do experience it in a different way. I think he was one of them.

But he was not a fool. Jeffries was regarded as absolutely extraordinary as a fighter, "the most perfect fighter to ever appear in the ring", and this seems to have been his peak. Johnson wasn't yet the finished article in my view. He may have known when he was beaten.