Can't say I've seen this one discussed before. Jeffries is bigger, has a great chin and his pressure would trouble Louis. Scenario 1: 15 rounds Scenario 2: 20 rounds
I like Louis by decision or late tko by cuts ,depending in which era the fight is fought and how far the referee would let it go. Louis handled bigger men very well,smaller, faster men ,elusive boxers were the ones that troubled him. Jeffries looks predictable on the film available. I think Louis would find him pretty easy to time with the jab and that low left of Jeffries invites the right cross of Louis imo. After being non- plussed by the crouching Godoy, Louis went back to the drawing board and honed his uppercuts until he could throw them with equal facility from either hand, coming in low would invite them but he would have to be careful of leaving himself open to the hook when throwing the right uppercut. Louis was dropped by left hooks from Buddy Baer and Galento. He seemed to me to underestimate Baer's reach ,getting caught whilst still in range, there is less excuse for getting put on his a*se by Galento. Jeffries was a left hooker ,he could find Joe's chin and put him down , I don't think he could keep him there. I doubt the 20 rds would be that big a factor.
It is a lot easier to define what Louis was, than it is to define what Jeffries was, so my predictions carry a health warning. If you put a gun to my head I pick Louis. If Jeffries stands off and counterpunches him, he is just going to get picked apart. If he fights more aggressively as he usually did later in his career, then he will find himself walking into a carefully prepared kill zone. Having said that, his low stance would undoubtedly give Louis problems. Best I can do!
We know how great Louis was. Clear film footage. We don't know how great Jeffries was but my general impression is he was far greater a fighter than given credit for today. I say this based upon close examination of the prime footage that is available. He certainly looks like one hell of an athlete.
i think Jeffries had that old school hands way in front style, no? i watched a very cool video on how Louis "revolutionized" the boxing style...i think that might be a stretch as fighters were already changing stances and their guard by the time Louis came around, but he definitley had the more modern style, and ive seen clips of him looking deadly against bigger fighters i gotta pick Louis
