Jim Jeffries, the Iron Man ,retired undefeated at age 29, he had never been floored in a fight . Reports state Corbett dropped him a couple of times when he was Corbett's sparring partner but he was never down in a fight. If Jeffries had continued fighting ,he would have been the same age as Muhammad Ali was ,when he came back from his 3 1/2 years of enforced retirement. Ali fought good punchers and great punchers during the next 7 years including Quarry Bonavena Frazier Foster[M] Quarry Norton Frazier Foreman Lyle Frazier Norton Shavers. He lost 2 decisions and was floored once ,by Frazier in their first encounter. This brings Ali up to 35 years old ,the age Jeffries was when he unwisely cameback to fight Jack Johnson. My query is. If Jeffries had not retired at 29, but had stayed active ,and met the fighters I have named ,[ and I have left out some opponents that would have looked better on Jeffries record,ie Patterson , than Finnegan & Munroe]. Would Jeffries remain undefeated? Would he remain unstopped?
I think he would have remained pretty dominant, but I see his refusal to breach the color line and Johnson's antics provoking him more and more into a title fight. Watching these two go at it closer to their primes would have been incredible.
I wasn't sure if that's what he meant either, but if he did, then I wouldn't pick him to have the same record as Ali against those men.. In fact, I think he might actually lose to quite a few of them, especially once he entered his 30's..
If he continued to draw the colour line then he could have remained champion untill hell toook him, in either his own era or Ali's.
What about Jeffries leads you to believe this? Would you say he even understood the concept of combination punching? Who did he fight who could throw 70 punches a round like Frazier? Could he defend against 70 punches? How effective was he at cutting off a ring? Give me some examples.
Sorry I worded it clumsily.If Jeffries remained active ,[ from age 29 ,when he retired, ]but his opponents were those I picked out ,who were, in the main, the punchers that Ali met until he was 35.And, Jeffries fights them over the same time period ,[7 years ].Does he remain ,unbeaten and unstopped?
Yes those I picked ,sorry for the confusion. I selected the best punchers Ali met from age 29 to 35,and substituted Jeffries for Ali ,so it would start with Jeff facing Frazier in FOTC.The time scale would be the same ,7 years ,but Jeffries would not have to take on all the other guys Ali fought, just those selected.
That's okay friend. No worries. To answer your question, I think that Jeffries would have to be given a chance against anyone, but I am skeptical about him beating some of those punchers, especially while aging. Foreman, Frazier and Shavers would be particularly dangerous. Still, James was game.
You know, if you are putting up a theory like "Jeffries would get destroyed by most of those guys" it´s up to you to bring up evidence for that theory not others to bring up evidence that you are wrong. If you write something like that and don´t back it up with some evidence you just look like a fool.
Anyway, ruling out the colour line: Quarry is getting broken down and stopped. Same again. Here is a major danger point. The Frazier of the FOTC is a verry live threat especialy over 15 rounds. See the Munroe fight. No reason to think that Quarry does much better than last time. Norton gets steamrolled despite the fact that Jeffries is visibly slipping by now. By now Jeffries is 33 and has probably lost more than Frazier. Smart thing might be to bet on Frazier. Jeffries suffers his first stoppage loss, if it has not already happened. From here on its not a question of whether he picks up loses but how many.
A slipping Jeff could be beaten by any of them. Prime Jeff I think would be beaten by Frazier, IMO Joe will just set a pace Jeff won´t be comfortable with. Foreman has a 50/50 chance. If he can do enough damage to Jeff early on he might get him stopped - look what Fitz did to Jeff´s face - if he can´t Jeff simply outlasts him.