How long would Jeffries have held onto the title, if he wanted to continue

Not broken.Sharkey had his arm dislocated during the fight, sustained cracked ribs, and broke a finger,so who was the more disadvantaged?

 

Not broken.Sharkey had his arm dislocated during the fight, sustained cracked ribs, and broke a finger,so who was the more disadvantaged?

Jackson wasnt a top heavyweight he had been retired for years was alcoholic and consumptive and 37 year s old TomSharkey described him as a wreck.Jeffries himself called him a shell.
I don't think you will find any statements from Dempsey where he describes a black fighter as a ******,a **** ,and a skunk.

 

Let's flesh out the timeline a bit here, using the title fights of Jeffries successors to give it some context.

While Jeffries might have chosen different fights, they are a guide to what would have been financially viable.

Jeffries fought Munro in August of 1904, aged 29.

Marvin Hart and Jack Root fight for the vacant title in July of 1905, when Jeffries was 30.

Hart defends against Tommy Burns in February of 1906, when Jeffries was 30.

Burns defends against fireman Flynn in October of 1906, when Jeffries was 31.

Burns defends against Philadelphia Jack O'Brien in November 1906, and May of 1907, taking Jeffreis to 32.

Burns defends against Bill Squires, Gunner Moir, and Jack Plamer, again in Jeffreis 32nd year.

Burns defends against Bill Squires, Bill Lang, and Jack Johnson in Jeffries 33rd year (lets assume that Jeffries still swerves Johnson)

Johnson defends against against O'Brien, Tony Ross, Al Kaufman, and Stanley Ketchell in Jeffries 34th year.

 

Clearly Jeffries, because he had an injury going into the fight.

 

Jackson--yes, Jackson was just a name from the past. A shell is accurate. Off Adam Pollack, consumptive at the time of the Jeff fight seems over-the-top. He is described as looking to be in good shape in training. Alcoholic, off Pollack, was a rumor, though he had been enjoying life. But Jackson was still a big name and the odds were only 10-7, interestingly the same odds Jeff had over Johnson in 1910.

Dempsey--I never said you would, but you also did not see him defending his title against a black man. My point was that Dempsey talked a different game but the policy ended up being the same.

 

Just on Burns' size, there was an old article in The Ring by Jersey Jones on Burns negotiating with Tommy Ryan for a shot at the middleweight title with the two haggling over whether the required weight would be 158 or 154. When this negotiation fell through due to Ryan's demands, the promoter turned to matching Burns with Hart for the heavyweight title.

So how big was Burns? There is plenty of film and he certainly fails the eye test as a heavyweight. There is a colorized film of the Squires fight on you tube with Jeffries refereeing, and those two look like little boys next to Jeff. Burns' listed height is actually an inch shorter than Jake LaMotta or Gene Fullmer. And frankly, he doesn't look all that much thicker through the body than those two. Johnson is listed as anywhere from 192 to 196 for the Burns fight, but seems so much bigger than Burns that even the 168 weight for Burns seems doubtful.

Off the eye test in rather extensive footage against O'Brien, Squires, and Johnson, I doubt he was 170 for any of those fights. He looks heavier, a bit stout and thick around the waist, against Moir.

 

Jackson received a punctured lung against Slavin which is believed to have started his slide into TB,his drink problem is well documented whilst he lived in London,he was described as having tremors in his hands.
Burns weighed over 180lbs for several of his defences,he was normally rather plump,short but big chested and with large thighs.He trained very hard for Johnson and in public workouts looked terrific.He later stated he might have overtrained. Burns weighed 177lbs for Moir,according to Fleischers book.

 

Without offical weigh ins they can say what they like, many ,many of the weights were guestimates.

 

Correct. Aside from Johnson ( who Jeffries return to fight much later ), which top African American heavyweight did Jeffries miss out on while he was active? It's short list.

 

Jeffries damaged Sharkey with cracked bones and swelling. He put him in the hospital and Sharkey was never the same after the beating.

Jeffries went into the fight with a shoulder injury and threw it out of alignment after flooring Sharkey in round two. On the film Jeffries seldom uses his left. Sharkey can be seen thrown both hands. It's clear who had the disadvantage that wasn't caused by being hit .

 

Tommy Burns was the size of Canelo, but Burns had a longer reach than Alvarez does. Burns had long arms for his height.

Jeffries was only six feet tall. The same height as Sergei Kovalev and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., who Canelo had no problems reaching. And Jeffries had a 76 inch reach. Burns' reach was 74.

This wouldn't have been David Haye fighting a Valuev, who was nearly a foot taller and outweighed him by more than 100 pounds.

Here is Burns when he was champ. Jeffries is taller, but looks like an old man.

I'm sure Burns would've done fine against Jeffries.

https://boxrec.com/media/images//d/d6/Burns.Squires.1907.JPG

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1e/ba/02/1eba02a7dcc877a1aed6574f49b92f95.jpg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7Kvz66K9Cqs/maxresdefault.jpg

 

By this logic, Canelo would fare quite well against Mike Tyson, right? There is not much difference in terms of height or reach.