Tough guy, strong and fit. Did the best he could for his time. Anyone who can use a jab and move gives him trouble I belive. Great chin on him. If he was around today, tough contender but think he'd lose the big fights.
I think he was far more nuanced fighter than people try to describe him nowadays. Of course he was big and very tough, but these two alone never created dominant champion at HW division. From very little footage and fight reports we have, we can conclude that he didn't rely on his power, as he was more into body punching and clinching than head hunting. He also seems to be light on his feet despite massive frame. I'd like to see any of his prime fights to get a better picture. To be honest, nobody here knows much about Jeffries style.
Ruhlin fight is in horrible quality and we only have one round when Ruhlin was hurt and didn't want to engage with Jeffries. I'd like to see the first rounds of this fight as well. Sharkey fight is in such a bad condition and is so incomplete that we can't draw any conclusions from it. Jeffries also injured his arm, which is why he basically used only one hand.
In the second Sharkey fight Jeffries lay back and countered the rushing Sharkey. Jeffries pursued Ruhlin around the ring hooking him to the body whenever he got close.
Jim Jeffries was greatly admired by his contemporaries, and was a great physical specimen for his day. IMO his heart was never really in fighting, much like Jess Willard years later.
I think Jeffries was definitely somewhat good as size alone is not enough to dominate his era but not sure his advantages translate against bigger better men .. simply not enough experience with only twenty fights or so ..
I believe that nearly any Heavyweight boxer, from any era, facing off with a prime James J. Jeffries, would be in for one tough fight! A prime Muhammad Ali would probably have had the easiest time with him, but he would have been wise to have kept moving, IMHO.
He is indeed, besides Tunney, the most underrated heavyweight in prize boxing now. I think he has even an argument for top 5 (more than Lewis or Dempsey).
But they are against good completion. The bigger his opponents the less length his fights went. What do you think he weigh today? 230 seems likely.
The only one of his opponents that was near 200lbs and was of class was Ruhlin199lbs.Corbett and Fitz were old men by the standards of the day, old coming out of retirement and greatly outweighed.
Wrong, Several his opponents were over or near 200 lbs Van Buskik was over 200lbs, Jackson very near the mark. Kennedy was over 200lbs, so was Johnson. Munore was over 215 lbs. Not many good fighters were around 200 but a few were, that he fought and none were in his class except the 35 year old comeback version in Johnson the only fight he lost.