Punch Stats Of The 1st Jeffries v Corbett Fight

Why are you trying to make this sound like an interesting battle of nuance and strategy?
We all know they they were windmilling each other all night while doing heroin and cocaine in between rounds for that competitive edge. The jab wasn't invented at this point, so let's not get all excited and make Corbett sound like an old Bryant Jennings, yeah?

 

Fascinating stuff! Worth a bump

Were there any other newspaper descriptions of fights from the unfilmed era with punch stats?

 

A round cannot be ‘stolen’ if it’s not still up for grabs in the last 30 seconds.

If two guys are dead even or close to it through 2 1/2 minutes, then obviously the guy who comes on strong in the final half minute takes it.

I don’t see anything controversial about that.

I mean, if an NFL or NBA game is tied after three quarters, should the team that scores the most in the fourth quarter not win it?

 

A few interesting observations made looking back.

 

For sure.

But if fighter A has been the boss and out operated Fighter B for 2 1/2 minutes and then Fighter B dominates the last 30 seconds. Short of a KD or at the very least a lot of wobbling and desperation on Fighter A's part, that is Fighter A's round.

It's not "What have you done for me lately?" It's the entire 180 seconds, each second being weighted equally.

 

Of course. I just don’t know that I’ve seen many rounds ‘stolen’ when a guy was getting the worst of it for 2 1/2 minutes and flurried in the last 30 seconds … with the exceptions you noted like a knockdown or major damage.

I’m sure it’s probably happened but I can’t think of any instances off the top of my head.

 

Awesome stats.

Interesting feature to the fight, and I’ve read it corroborated in other accounts, is the fact that Corbett actually hurt and wobbled Jeffries.

The reputations of Jeffries chin and Corbett’s power of punch otherwise don’t seem to allow for the reconciliation of Corbett being able to hit Jeff.

So, is Jeffries chin overrated, Corbett’s punch underrated or is it a combination of the two?

It appears that an even more inactive Corbett gave Fitz a real good going over the first 6 rounds of their fight, including knocking durable Fitz down hard in round 6 itself. I think Fitz arose at the count of 9 though I recall Corbett might’ve claimed that there was a “long count” applied.

Corbett tried hard for the KO but began to gas badly thereafter - allowing Fitz to step up his own offence in the ensuing rounds and slowly take the fight over.

Re claims of “long counts” - Corbett is one to talk. In his auto bio, Corbett admitted that the ref for his second fight with Jeffries was a family friend who availed Corbett of multiple long counts during the numerous KDs Jeffries inflicted upon him in their rematch.

Suffice to say, the timing of Jeffries’ rematches with Fitz and Corbett was less than ideal for the ageing and inactive opponents in question.

 

They certainly were. On the score of power, I guess Corbett could be viewed as your classic boxer type, always on the move, not often set to punch to his full potential but when purposely anchored, he could get some steam on his shots. He appeared to rain down some hard punches with bad intentions when he dropped Fitz in the sixth round. Per Adams book on Jeffries, I recall reading that Corbett muscled himself up a bit for the first Jeffries match - though there were no hints or suspicions of Jimbo being on the juice.

 

'The showing made by James J. Corbett in his recent ring battle with Champion JIM JEFFRIES surprised the sporting fraternity so much that the comment has not subsided - that Corbett completely outclassed Jefrries.
This was illustrated by the numbers, compiled for the New York Herald. The blows were recorded by an expert, and according to count Corbett landed 404 blows to 290 for Jeffries - that could justifiably be counted as clear blows.
Had Corbett evaded the knockout blow for 2 more rounds Referee White could hardly have done otherwise than declare him the victor.' - 'San Fransisco Call'
Acdording to the New York Herald punch count 279 punches that were counted as either straight lefts or jabs were landed by Corbett in the 23 rounds the fight went before he got stopped - compared to 197 counted for Jeffries.
Jeffries was counted to have instigated 12 clinches and Corbett was counted to have fone into 11 clinches in the 23 rounds.
Jeffreis landed 66 either right crosses or roundhouse rights compared to 60 from Corbett.
Jeffries was counted to have landed 20 uppercuts to 22 for Corbett and but Corbett landed 42 straight rights compared to a mere 6 from Jeffries.
Corbett landed double figures in 17 of the 23 rounds - his most being 37 in round 8 and 40 in round 9.
By contrast Jeffries only out-landed Corbett in 6 of the 23 rounds - one of those being the 23rd when he stopped Corbett - and only just broke double figures in 3 seperate rounds, those being the 19th, the 20th and the 22nd.
Fittingly the last tally column was 'knockdowns scored' - and it was Jeffries great equaliser Corbett 'zero' Jeffries 'Two' in round 23”