One reason why I rate Jim Jeffries verry highly among the great heavyweights.

Another gatekeeper, or fringe contender,

Tom Kennedy seen here with Joe Jeanette

This content is protected

 

In the absence of evidence we have to consider probability.

If we are looking at the surviving record of a flyweight from this period who was a fringe contender, then the liklihood that we are looking at his entire record or even half of it, is so remote that it can safely be dismissed.

 

I think you are reaching a bit here ,Finnegan was drawn into the ,limelight when his boss knocked him down 4 times with four punches,if he were "hiding his light under a bushel ",so to speak, I believe we would have heard of it by now.

If Finnegan where to have been involved in fights with anyone with any pretensions of a record ,surely his name would have cropped up on their resumes?
As it does on Jack Bonner's and Gus Ruhlin's.

 

Oh I am sure that Finnegan was no world beater.

Is it possible though that he was one of those fighters who a bit of a head of steam builds up behind before they get a reality check at elite level?

This is probably as close as Finnegan will come to getting his own thread.

 

It does look like a lot is missing on Finnegan's existing record. Nothing for 6 years from 1894-1899? Nothing before 1894? Didn't someone make a song about Finnegan? Finnegan! Finnegan! Finnegan!

 

F I double N E - G A N spells Finnegan!

This content is protected

 

Bert Sugar referred to him as, "Jack, off again ,on again"
the weights for the encounter with Jeffries were, Jeffries 235lbs, Finnegan 185lbs.
Not only can no other fights for Finnegan be found, no record of him engaging in exhibitions has been unearthed.
Maybe he was in prison for those blank years?

Locked up for impersonating a fighter?

 

What is probability?

I don't find it difficult to believe these fighters might have had under the radar fights.

But it is wild extrapolation to assume that a fighter with one victory on his record and a losing record was indeed a "fringe contender".

If we don't rely on evidence, history is only fiction.

 

jeffries had 50lb on finnegan.what a shock.finnegan was probably carrying lead too.

 

So I may be having a Beavis and Butthead moment but something about the way that was said in my head when I read it...

 

i know what you mean

 

An unintentional pun ,or, should that be pull?
Being English it didn't occur to me when I typed it .

 

I did dig for Finnegan and only found a few more fights-he was also known as John.

 

Well clearly Finnegans best win seems to have been against Jack McCormick.

Jack McCormick certainly must have been a decent fighter. He obviously wasnt a superstar, but he had some good if not mixed performances. I would have thought he could fairly be described as a gatekeeper type although i am not sure about his chin with some losses to unknown fighters. And he wasnt really that big, he looks to be more of a light heavy than a heavy. Jack was beaten by the heavys like Gus Ruhlin, Joe Goddard and Tom Sharkey. And knocked out quite well apparently. But, he did have better results against the likes of Joe Choynski and Jim Jeffords, taking both the distance. He also had draws with the likes of Ed Dunkhorst and former Jack Finnegan opponent, Jack Bonner! All this is great, but he had his huge wins also. He knocked out Denver Ed Smith in two rounds and he beat Kid McCoy by KO1 (although this result was reversed). Perhaps his greatest performance was about 3 months after the finnegan loss and just a week after he was stopped by Tom Sharkey. McCormick fought Jack decision to a No Decision draw over 15 rounds. Both fighters ended up very bloodied and it was a clearly a decent fight which warranted a rematch one month later. In the rematch, Johnson still couldnt stop Jack although Jack managed to get himself DQd.

By the sounds of things, Jack was a gatekeeper type and perhaps one could say that Finnegan's win over this experienced gatekeeper (who was fighting the best guys around) earned Finnegan a bit of legitimacy as World title Challenger (not saying their werent lots of better options). Certainly it is a decent win. I wonder what his other fights turn up?

 

The Jack McCormick win was not the only reason that Finnegan earned a shot at Jeffries. He also had a draw with Jimmy Ryan over 20 rounds. Now Jimmy Ryan was not a nobody, although he was a little small. He was in there with some of the best fighters of the time and it was only the best fighters of all time who beat him. He was a very experienced fighter. Early in his career he fought the legendary young griffo to two 4 rd no decisions. He was knocked out by Dan Creedon, but Creedon was a first class fighter who would have probably been a chance at a world middleweight champion if he didnt have the misfortune to run into Bob Fitzsimmons. Professor Billy McCarthy and Mysterious Billy Smith were both good wins for Ryan. The world class middleweeight Tommy West Stopped him and so did the living legends Tommy Ryan and Joe Walcott. But after this, he appeared to fight some class fighters and take them the distance. He fought Heavyweight Title challenger Jack Root and JOe Choynski as well as Young Peter JAckson taking each the 20 round distance, although Choynski did KO him a few fights before the finnegan fight. He also took George Byers the distance (George was an excellent light heavy) as well as top 10 heavyweight contender Dan Murphy. Sadly, Finnegan seemed to ruin Ryan as a contender and cruel his heavyweight hopes. AFter The finnegan fight, Ryan was KOd by world class featherweight Aurelio Herrera, Future World Champion Marvin Hart, Future world title challenger JAck Root and future Australian middleweight and light heavyweight champion Arthur Cripps.

I know Jimmy was no more than a gatekeeper type, and as a middleweight, he wasnt that great, but times were different and the best fighters smaller. I think that gatekeeper pretty fairly describes Jimmy Ryan. This was a good draw for The Whiskers man Jack Finnegan.