(prime)DEMPSEY-FITZ-JEFFRIES

The Finnegan affair is not listed as a title fight,it was a disgrace actually. The Fitz fight has little bearing on this post as we are discussing Jeffries improvement from then to his next fight versus Corbett.Corbett's first fight with Jeffries is not up for consideration ,the subject is Jeffries Improvement form the SECOND FITZ fight to his NEXT fight,the SECOND one with Corbett. Whether a man has fat on him or not has no bearing WHATSOEVER on this thread, the premise is that Jeffries was the fastest BIG man OVER 220 lbs,I queried this and gave other examples of fast big men around that weight who were Champion.Tyson and Holmes.My question to Janitor was how do you explain the improvement you think Jeffies showed from a green fighter to a complete methodical one.GIVEN HE HAD NO FIGHTS IN BETWEEN? Since you have no footage of Jeffries in actual fights other than his win over Sharkey [last round re enacted], and his demolition by Johnson, what do you base your opinion on? You and Janitor work in tandem defending Old Jeff,I was waiting for your response,its quite conceivable that Jeffries could out last Dempsey ,Jack was a huge admirer of Jeffries,but to say he didnt give himself much chance with the Boilermaker is gilding the lily.Dempsey in his prime thought he could beat King Kong,and so did eveyone else.

 

Many title fights are easy. Jeffries had one vs Finnegan, and two others as champion ( Kennedy and Griffin ) where the title was not on the line.

Historians say Jeffries improved as champion. Fleisher said this, and so did the ref and judges or his fights. I think this is enough to say Jeffries did improve as Janitor ascertains.

While I do not think Jeffries was the fastest man over 220 pound ever in a boxing ring, I do think he was quick, had good reflexes, and good hand speed. In a footrace, I recon he was the fastest heavyweight champion of all time. However, I would give hand speed honors to Ail and Holmes over Jeffries.

 

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9C05EFD81739E433A25756C1A96E9C946297D6CF&oref=slogin

round 2 of Jeffries-Corbett II cites Jeffries improvement in speed and cleverness.

 

I have no problem agreeing that Jeffries improved as his career progressed ,it would have been strange had he not.My argument with Janitor is he says Jeffries went from a green fighter to a cool methodical fighter without any fights in between.Jeffries did do better the second time around against Corbett .SO he should ,Corbett was washed up , all but 37 and inactive for nearly 3 YEARS prior to the fight.Jeffries was 28 and 30 lbs the heavier man,why wouldn't he prevail?

 

"In a footrace, I reckon he was the fastest heavyweight champion of all time."

How does anyone know this?

Dempsey was allegedly timed at under 10 seconds in a 100 yard dash--a better showing than Jeffries. I don't know if either his or Jeff's alleged times are accurate.

And who knows how fast Johnson or Sharkey or Charles, etc were in footraces. Did anyone time them? Most heavyweight champions were excellent athletes.

Bareknuckle champion John Jackson was world class in his day in sprints and the long jump, but I don't know if they even had stopwatches back then to time them.