On Jim Jeffries 75th birthday he was interviewed by Fleischer

His high jump performance is usually listed as six feet, not five.

Jeffries was obviously a great athlete.

I would say though that we should keep in mind that we have no comparable data for some other champions, such as Jack Johnson, who were obviously athletic. I have read that Jack Dempsey could run the 100 yard dash in less than 10 seconds.

 

A few years ago, i read that Wladimir Klitschko's 100m sprint was amazing as well. Of course, his height helps him here. That was back in the early 2000's when he was in his 20's and trained by Fritz Sdunek. I forgot the time though, but it was good.


Still, while these are interesting facts, they're not more than that, to me.

Joe Frazier nearly drowned when he had to swim. Yet he'd drown 99% of all heavies if they were to fight, athletic ability or not.

Does 100 yard equal 100 meters? If it does, i'd find that hard to believe, considering he would've been a good 200 milliseconds under the world record of that time.

And he still manages to find time to comb his hair nicely. What a man. No wonder he knocked out Jack Johnson.

 

100 yards is about 10% short of 100 meters. It would be about the equivalent of doing 11 seconds or so in the 100 meters.

 

11.4s is a great time in the 100M dash for a non-runner.

 

Dempsey did the 100yards in 11.2 seconds given when he did it, its impressive .I used to run this distance many moons ago,allmost as far back as Dempsey

 

You may find Choynsky comical Chris ,I actually think he was an interesting man,I can remember an old photo in a Boxing Illustrated mag ,it showed Choynsky seated at a typewriter,drafting a boxing contract ,he was an educated man for his times ,a p4p puncher and a fine boxer,unfortunately his chin let him down, it did not match his other qualities.
Jeffries ,Johnson,Fitz and Corbett all named him as the hardest puncher they met ,I thinks thats astounding, considering he was never more than a super middle.

 

no, there arent.
Considering the 100m women's world record is 10.49 and was set by hyper-athlete/roid freak Flo-Jo.

i'd still say his time is impressive for running on dirt and not being a trained sprinter.

also his high jump was done before the invention of the flop technique.

 

There have been a few great fighters throughout history who had serious issues with their hair.

A bit of Ali there maybee.

 

That photo was taken in 1914,Choynsky was then 46 years old, he looks in a damn sight better nick than most of the fat turds masquerading as Heavyweights today.As to his hair ,it was fashionable to have it parted in the middle then, check out most of the old classic pics.

 

Seamus,

I have to disagree. The division today is not stacked. There are two elite level fighters, and a few solid contender types. This is hardly stacked.

Regarding the track numbers they were 10.5 seconds in the 100 yard dash, and 5'10" on the high jump.

However in those days the track shoes were un-scientific, there were no starting blocks. If there were, Jeffries times would undoubtedly be much better.

On the high jump, the flop technique was not around either. The 5'10" high jump for Jeffries was his feet, not his back clearing the bar. That is a great feat in any era.

I checked the Olympics in 1896. I think Jeffries would have won two gold medals had he competed.

 

I was having a go but i agree that he's a an amazing fighter and one of the hardest hitters that division has ever seen.

As for his weak chin: in order to land a tremendous punch, you also take a risk by leaving yourself open. Perhaps he had a controlled, all-out style, if that makes sense, which may have left him more vulnerable to getting hurt himself. A bit like Shavers.


By the way, are you sure he was 46 there?? He looks as ripped as Holyfield (p4p) at 46, but then without the steroids...

 

I checked and the record for the 100 yard dash has not been contested since the 1970's, when it was 9.0 seconds by Ivory Crockett.

Ten seconds would seem to be out of the reach of Dempsey or Jeffries. Eleven odd seens more reasonable.

Here are Jim Thorpe's (contemporary to both Jeff and Dempsey) stats:

100 yards----10.0 seconds

220 yards----21.8 seconds

440 yards----51.8 seconds

880 yards----1.57

mile----------4.35

120 yard high hurdles-----15 seconds

220 yard low hurdles------24 seconds

Long Jump-----------23 feet 6 inches

High Jump-----------6 feet 5 inches

Pole Vault-----------11 feet

Put the shot---------47 ft 9 inches

throw the javelin------163 feet

throw the discus------136 feet

 

I ran a lot faster and jumped a lot higher and weighed 200 lbs. I was a decent athlete. So was he.

 

I have to doubt this, you can take hero worship too far.