Joe Jeannette vs Philadelphia Jack O'Brien

Is this each at their best or a given year, as they were contemporaries for some years?

 

I think Jeannette would win. Was going to say by KO, but I think he might just outpoint O'Brien in a chess match.

 

This is an interesting fight.

They both fought and beat Young Peter Jackson over 6 rounds in a newspaper decision. They also both fought Sam Langford. O Brien fought him in August 1911 and was outclassed and the fight was stopped in the 5th round of a 10 round fight. Just one month later Jeannette also fought Langford. Jeanette lasted the distance, but interestingly, he was also outclassed and was knocked down in the 1st, 4th and 10th round. Jeanette fought langford often in later years and while he did well, he was never as quite as good as Langford. Eventually Langford proved his dominance and knocked him out. Jack Johnson was another similar opponent. Truth be told he dominated both. he was out of shape for O brien and it was technically a no decision fight, but he proved he was the better fighter imo. likewise, jeanette wasnt as good as johnson in their series.

When i think of this fight, i think Jeanette has to start the favourite. He was the bigger fighter. But, O Brien, imo, has the better pound for pound fighter. For mine, i think that o brien struggled to much with Tommy Burns power to be confident of beating Jeannette. The Ketchell ko was also brutal. If i was guessing, i would say that O brien fights defensively and runs, losing a decision. In a length series, i see lots of NDs with both fighters winning some fights but with Jeanette sneaking in at least one KO in the series.

 

Good post!

 

O'Brien was at the very, very end of his career when he faced Langford. Jeanette was in this thick of his career and far closer to prime. So, as normal in these things, the comparables are not cut and dry.

O'Brien was extremely crafty and I always felt Jeanette was learning on the job. I favor O'Brien by a very flimsy and insecure margin.

 

This one's a really tough call. I think I'm going to give O'Brien a slight edge here, outboxing Jeanette to a very close decision, but if this went more than 15, I think I'd go with Jeanette to wear him down over the course of the proceedings.