Lewis v Jeffries?

Yes, I would. :good

Essentially it implies, that his defense, is his offense and his strategy is to pitch more than he catches. Pretty dangerous against the likes of Foreman, Lewis, etc.

 

Or Ali's.

 

I agree. We are talking about someone weighing 220lbs in 1900 who is 100% clean and comparing him to someone who has the benefit of modern supplements at the very least, steroids at the worst!

Something changed in the 1990's: Bruno got mysteriously huge, for instance. We know that Holyfield was juiced to the gills as well. Pre 1990's fighters were a lot less muscled on the whole, with the odd exception like Weaver or Norton.

Big dudes from earlier eras would be 20lbs heavier now. Bugner, Lyle, Foreman etc would be lifting weights, getting "help" and would be transformed.

There is so much naivete regarding boxing and PEDs.

 

Bruno was big before and is still big.he's always been muscular and has always loved a physical challenge.
Not a brilliant boxer though, especially with his jab.

 

Originally Posted by Perry View Post
Have you seen athletes on roids vs that same athlete without? Roids do so much to allow faster recuperation between workout so you can work harder and longer. Add to this that today's hwts training for 12 rounds max would need to train for 20 plus round fights. So without roids training for much longer fights and much longer fights with different fight conditions they would be very different fighters. So much more going on here and to think about with these mythical match ups.

Both of you are correct. PED's also help out with the healing process. Old timers were on their own, and when injured the surgeries of the times were very poor to today.

I don't think it far out to speculate that old timers with modern nutrition and PED's would be 5%-10% heavier, with most of it being muscle. Of course, it would vary on the builds.

In other words, a 200-pound man from 1920 would be 210-220 pounds today.

Our a 220-pound man from 1900 would be 231-242 pounds today.

 

Foreman never lifted weights, and he never would. He only advocated for natural exercises that worked the core. That's all he aimed to do, was build his core without weight lifting.

 

Jeffries fought plenty of rough guys who can punch. Most of the scar tissues happened in the 2nd Fitzsimmons fight when Fitz likely did something to his gloves. After the fight ended Jeffries approached Fitz and said I wasn;t marked up in the first fight, let me see those Gloves and Fitz quickly threw them into the crowd.

Johnson fought a few punchers, he lost to those near their prime in Choysnki, Hart, and Willard.

Had Johnson not been a hold and safety first type, he would have been marked up more often. Ketchel who hardly landed jack produced a visible mark on Johnson according to the NY times. I posted it here before. O'brien who could not punch hard made his mouth red.

But okay I get it, Jeffries get his lighter gloves for this match.

2nd question, is Lewis going to wear his padded guard illegally high to help him take body punches as he did with Holyfield?

 

It is a shame that Jeffries never fought somebody like Sandy Ferguson really.

It wouldn’t have told us whether he could beat Lewis, but it would tell us whether a bigger opponent could take away some of his game, or whether they simply gave him a bigger target.

 

It is a shame that Jeffries never fought somebody like Sandy Ferguson really.

It wouldn’t have told us whether he could beat Lewis, but it would tell us whether a bigger opponent could take away some of his game, or whether they simply gave him a bigger target.

 

clever twist.

 

Great minds think alike?

 

Ferguson would have needed a better record! He was 27-8-11 by the end of 1904, and did not likely beat what would have been a top ten contender while Jeffries was champion. Judging on the people who Ko'd Ferguson, Jeffries would have had him out in a few rounds.

Perhaps Ferguson should have received another match with Jack Johnson as their 1905 match was close ( 2-2-1 in rounds ) and ended in a DQ.