Jim Jeffries beat Fitz, Sharkey and Corbett in under 12 months

Yes, I think this gets overlooked admidst the

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over the Finnegan tune-up.atsch

Also, Jeffries pulled it off with a somewhat bum left-arm for the two defenses.

but, as the Buddha said, "The world will always find a way to praise and a way to blame; it always has and always will."

 

1. That is impressive

2. Do you mean 3 best white heavyweights on the planet?

 

Is this unique?

Joe Louis--Beat Braddock, Farr, and Schmeling within 12 months, as well as Mann and Thomas.

Rocky Marciano--Beat Louis, Matthews, and Walcott within 12 months, as well as Savold, Buonvino, and Reynolds.

Jack Dempsey--beat Fulton, Levinsky, and Willard within 12 months, as well as Gunboat Smith.

Muhammad Ali--beat Liston, Patterson, and Chuvalo within 12 months.
Also beat Norton, Frazier, and Foreman within about 14 months.

Seems many champions have done this sort of thing.

 

Well it is certainly much harder to make a case for jeffries doing that, since when jeffries fought, the color line was being drawn. When Ali, Louis, Marciano accomplished this feat...there was no color line. Did Sharkey, or Fitz ever fight a black contender? Corbett fought a great one, but in a different era. Fitz fought 4 black men, none were contenders. That 1898-1904 period..When did these three take on black contenders? Their were some good ones out there.

Nonetheless,

An impressive display by Jeff.

 

I think more impressive than Jeffries' was Tyson.

Mike Tyson in a period of 12 months from Nov 1986 to Nov 1987 defeated WBC Champion Trevor Berbick, WBA champion Bonecrusher Smith, Top Contender Pinklon Thomas, and IBF champion Tony Tucker.


What champion in boxing history started from scratch to win one belt...then unified all 3 belts (including a dominant win over a top ranked contender in between) in a total of one year?

I doubt anyone in history besides Tyson since Alphabet soup was formed. Holmes had 7 years to unify one belt and couldn't do that. Lennox and holyfield didn't go through each alpha champ one by one to unify their titles.

 

Ali did, I think--Norton, Frazier, and Foreman.

Dempsey--no. Wills would have to be in there.

Marciano--no. Charles would have to be in there.

Louis--Yes. I think I can make a good case. The yearly ratings for 1937 had Schmeling, Farr, and Mann the three top contenders for Louis' title. Braddock had been the champion and would still beat Farr. Both Braddock and Farr had beaten Baer.


On Jeffries--You can make a case that these were the three most famous heavyweights, but not necessarily the three best. Fitz obviously was top of the line, but Corbett had been laying off and hadn't won a fight in years and had not beaten a top man since Mitchell in 1894. Sharkey might have been one of the top three fighters, but the ko by Ruhlin in June of 1900 dropped him from that status. By the end of the summer, he had also been ko'd by Fitz.

Bottom line--I think Ali's wins over Norton, Frazier, and Foreman are more impressive.

Louis and Marciano actually had more fights against top men in such a constricted time span.

That said, I think Jeffries' feat is indeed impressive and only a handful of the best champions have done something like this.

 

What champion had a promoter that had the power to pull this off?

 

"Jeffries in many ways was the prototype for champions like Louis, Marciano, and Ali who aimed to clean out the top contenders. He established the standard."

Good point.

 

I would like to harp on the point about Corbett in 1900. The man had not won a fight in nearly 6 years, and that happened to be against a man weighing 165lb. How could he even be considered a contender anymore? The man had not won a fight in 6 years, that is a whale of a long time not to record a win. Perhaps Johnson should get more credit for beating Jeffries. Jeffries had not won a fight in 6 years either.

 

Um, who were better than Corbett, Fitz, and Sharkey in 1899-1900?

Don't say Peter Jackson, as he was already KO;d by Jeffries and done for.