During their respective primes, who was thought of more highly, Sullivan or Jeffries?

In sports, countryman tend to root for each other and stick together. The famous Irish fighters like Corbett and Sharkey said Jeffries was better, and both in the ring with Jeffries and Sullivan.

I tend to think Sullivan was a big personality type with a huge right hand who for the most part bombed out inferior competition, the struggled at times in his final fights * when the competition got better ) until losing to Corbett.

 

Mendoza that was after a Helluva lot of bare knuckle fights mind.

Like Greb, there being no footage of john l. is just another one of the pities of being a Boxing fan, would be much easier to gauge him.

I've always been under the impression that at the time of his first retirement Jeffries was the most highly regarded among Americans as there had ever been. He was much-loved.

 

I think in his time Sullivan was far more highly regarded ...

 

Sullivan was a LEGEND in his own time. I never really knew just how big he really was, until I read JOHN L. SULLIVAN AND HIS AMERICA by Michael Isenberg. Here was a man who truly was considered the best HW in the world by the time he kayoed Jack Flood and he hadnt won the title yet and had but a mere 4 or 5 fights under his belt. He crossed the eras, was bare knuckle and gloved---he was the biggest celebrity in the world, for all intents and purposes. When he fought Corbett it truly was an end of an era, for at ringside there were telegraph operators to do a round by round for the entire country. He was the first man, really, to challenge America and the world. For nearly 12 years, he was successful in doing this. Sullivan had more skill than what he's given credit for, he was a very capable counter puncher and had speed.

Jeffries, on the other hand, may very well have been the greatest conditioned HW that ever lived. For being nearly 6'2" and weighing anywhere between 220-250 pounds, he was quite fast for his size, and was not only strong, he was all but impossible to slow down. Corbett and Fitzsimmons chopped him up for rounds, only to kayo them with single blows. Imagine, if you will, a man in his first five fights kayoing men who had 100+ fights under their belt. That's the kind of bull-like strength and resistance Jeffries had. His style was copied by Jack Dempsey, who in turn was copied by Marciano and Frazier and later Tyson. Its in my honest opinion, that Jeffries was the greatest HW of all times, that had the rules of boxing remained the same that no HW in history could have lasted 45 rounds with him (championship bouts were generally scheduled for this length).

H2H Sullivan/Jeffries would have been an interesting encounter. I liken Sullivan's defeat at the hands of Corbett the same way I look at Jeffries defeat to Johnson. Yet, sadly, both Sullivan and Jeffries for several decades have been considered ponderous, slow, wild swinging, brawlers who couldn't box on the basis of those losses. Sullivan lost only once, and so did Jeffries. Jeffries lost 6 years after his last bout, Sullivan lost because of alcohol abuse, inactivity, and lack of interest in boxing as he had become an actor of the stage for the last three-five years.

 

I tend to agree.

Both were regarded as unbeatable when they retired, but I think that Jeffries had to work harder for the acolade.

Some observers still questioned whether Jeffries was the best around in the middle of his title reign, but nobody would have questioned that of Sullivan.

 

Not really....... Since John L. Sully was the pioneer dude who fought with bare knuckles and later with gloves, he was revered as the ultimate fighting male in the late 1880s............. However, in a time machine, prime-4-prime, I'd bet heavy on Jimmy Jeff to park Sully's ass like a Cadillac......... Word........

MR.BILLhat

 

If I recall Jeffries sparred Sullivan once and proclaimed John L. to still be the "king of kings", as he called himself in his prime. Sullivan way passed his best was still capable of kayoing prospects in exhibition bouts into his 50's. I wonder how the Fitzsimmons/Sullivan match would have played out, had the authorities allowed it to happen.

 

Sullivan was a monster in his prime.

Before Corbet, everybody either fought to survive (at the expense of winning) or go destroyed quickly.

Even when old and fat he had to ease up on Joe Choynski in exhibitions.

 

Sullivan best wins are vs whom? No one in Fitzsimmons, Corbett's, or Sharkey's class. John L's resume of wins over quality fighters is thin.

He also seemed to aovid the best fighters in his day....Jackson, Slavin, and Goddard.

Jeffries went 6-0 vs three hall of fame guys, each of the above were better than anyone Sullivan beat. If a champion is defined by who he beat, Jeffries in his day should tower over Sullivan in his.

Boxing when Sullivan was king was barely a sport. By the time Jeffries was champion, there were far better promoters, rules, and quality of opposition.

 

As a boxer I think Jeffries was more highly thought of

But

John L. really did capture the hearts of peopel and you had amazing wacky stories about him and legends about him