Jeffries Corbett II post fight testimony

Wish there was high quality film of it.

 

I totally agree .. so much of the anti-Jeffries sentiment is based on Reno and that is all Jeffries fault .. the fight, the only halfway quality film of him, highlights a version every bit as watered down as the Ali that fought Holmes. It's interesting to see all the Jeffires revisionism from specking him as a 6' 208" guy to a cartoon dancing hippo .. here's my take on reality .. the 1904 Jefferies was a physical marvel of his day .. in prime condition for that time he was a 6' 1.5" , 225 monster with a 76" reach, essentially the size of Tommy Morrison or Ike Ibeabuchi without any PEDs. He had natural exceptional strength , a cast iron chin, very good power when his hands were not injured, outstanding stamina, was very smart, calm and a warrior. His speed of hand and foot was under rated. If you study his career he was getting better and better before he retired. When you factor in how few fights he actually had his accomplishments are terrific.

Nobody did more to destroy Jeffries than Jeffries .. if he fought Johnson in 1905 I personally feel he had a very good shot at beating him. I love Johnson and I am not knocking him but cannot get past the fact that he was in a give and take fight with Marvin Hart in his own physical prime .. irrelevant if Johnson deserved a competitive decision .. I feel that Jeffries would have presented a much, much bigger challenge .. to avoid the fight for the color line in the arrogant manner he did and then come back six years later as a shell of a shell was career suicide. His career really never recovered from a historical perspective.

I tend to wonder what he might have been say in the 70's or 80's , properly trained with ring experience .. my guess is a Morrison with a chin and that is pretty damn good ..

 

I wonder if, "like Alexander of old," he wept when he learned there were no worlds left to conquer.

 

Given that Corbett was said to have gone back considerably by the time of his second attempt at Jeffries title,I wonder how much his deterioration flattered Jeffries performance? Ali v Williams perhaps?

 

When Jeffries said after their actual fight that he could never have touched Johnson in a million years, I think this can be read in two ways. It can be taken at face value, or it could mean, "I fought him, alright, are you all happy now? Will you stop pestering me and let me return to my goddamn farm in peace?".

 

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/...bett&y=4&x=17&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

 

Since Corbett didn't have any fights near this, it's pretty much impossible to say how much Corbett had slipped and how much Jeffries improved, that's the trouble.

I guess the best thing would be to look at comments on his exhibitions and training, but the deterioration sometimes only shows in a real fight.

 

If you consider a 26 or 27 year old heavyweight with over fifty fights against exceptional competition not prime I'd agree but I don't. Just because Johnson did not get his shot till he was thirty does not mean he peaked at thirty. He fought his best competition and had his best performances before ever winning the title.

 

Corbett was a heavyweight who depended on his footwork ,speed and reflexes as few others ever have.I think we can reasonably take it that being a month off 37 years old and having been out of the ring for a full 3 years,he had gone back considerably.
He is described as being tired as early as the 4th round.I'm not saying Jeffries might not have improved ,but the extent he had done so is probably exaggerated by the decline in his opponent.
In between the Corbett fights Jeffries had a total of 19 rounds of ring action.A 4 rds exhibition with Griffin in which Griffin took to the canvas at every opportunity determined to stay the course and collect a cash forfeit.A 2rds blow out of overmatched and out of shape Joe Kennedy .Five rounds with a frightened Ruhlin who was retired by his a corner between the 5th and 6th rds and a gruelling 8rds beating from Fitzsimmons before he landed the finisher on the exhausted challenger whose hands were smashed from landing so many times with full force on his face.Given these facts,how much benefit and improvement can we reasonably expect he would have made ? Its an imponderable imo.

 

The San Francisco call., August 13, 1903, Image 8
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/...asetext=&andtext=&dateFilterType=range&page=1

THE TIMES-UNION, MONDAY, July 27, 1903
CORBETT TRAINING HARD FOR BIG FIGHT
His Intense Nervousness is Fast Disappearing
An Anecdote of His Training for the Fitzaimmons Fight—Corbetts Victory Would Be Popular and Also His Last Battle.
Near York. July 87.—***** how the same idea will strike different persona at the same time. Uptown last night at a half dozen places the observation was passed that Corbett was fighting his battle In training quarters. According to all reports, the former champion is doing a tremendous amount of work preliminary to his match with Jeffries. Of course, readers are entitled to a certain amount of discount when it comes to training news. Even those of us who are familiar with the doings of the training camp have to marvel at some of the reports sent out.
DONT WORRY ABOUT CORBETT.
But, coming back to Corbett, The chantos are his admirers need not worry over the amount of work he is doing tor his battle with Jeffries. One might as well tell Paderewaki how to play the piano as to tell Corbett how to train for a fight. Ha leaves no stone uncovered, and if the truth were known, he is not working any more than he needs to. He was always a faithful trainer, and makes few mistakes In camp.

He is also wiser than he used to be. The Intense nervousness that formerly characterised his every action In training has, to a great extent, disappeared. While he was getting ready for his little battle with Fitzsimmons at Carson City, you couldn't live with him. An amateur boxer of note spent a good deal of his time with Corbett, sparring-with him. He was a heavyweight, and more than a match with Corbett in weight and strength, but of course, could not compare with him In cleverness. However, he found he could take most of Corbett's blows without flinching, and, on the whole, was not much Impressed with the then champion's punching powers. He took care not to tell Corbett what he thought the champion was In a nervous state something frightful to see.

WHAT FITZ'S BLOWS FELT LIKE.
One day the amateur paid a visit to Fitz's camp. They put on the gloves and although the Cornlshman promised not to extend himself, his blows were of such a tremendous nature that the amateur was glad when the three rounds were over. He told a friend In Carson City that night that Corbett's blows were like the lash of a whip; they stung for a time, but the pain did not last, while Fitssimmons' wallops felt like his fist had gone in his body and stayed there.

When he got back to Corbett's Quarters he told the champion to look out for the Cornlshman; that he was a much better man than rated. Corbett flew into a violent rage and accused the amateur of trying to work htm up to suoh a nervous state that he would lose the battle!

But Corbett Is not so nervous now. He has less to lose than the time when he had Fitzsimmons for an opponent. His training work was carefully mapped out before he reached California and his friends can rest assured that he is not doing more than he ought to do. He is trying new schemes to Improve his speed in certain directions, but otherwise he to getting himself Into first-clais condition.

WHAT A SOCKDOLAGER!
When the day of the fight comes he will be as ready as it is possible for him to be ready and then it will simply be a case of whether he can stand off and outpoint the champion. It is to be supposed that no one believes Corbett capable of knocking out Jeffries. It would, Indeed, be a sockdolager not only to Jeffries but to the universal sporting world.

But what if Corbett should actually knock Jeffries out? Would it be a good thing for pugilism?
Yes.
Would Corbett ever fight again?
No.