Who rates higher all time Jeffries or Dempsey?

Jeffries best names were older retired men, a 5'8" Sharkey, and Ruhlin whom Fitzsimmons had half killed two fights earlier.

 

Those were the key contenders of his era.

 

Yes ,the others Martin,McVey,Johnson he refused to risk his title against.He is probably in my top15.

 

I think Jeffries reign was a match for any heavyweights pre- Joe Louis.

 

If this were true it would be fair to say his era sukked ballz.

 

Sharkey was I his prime at 25 years of age, Ruhlin in his prime at age 29. Corbett in shape at 33 years old. Hardly old men!

Fitz was a freak and a great over 35 yea old fighter, still beating name guys post Jeffries.

 

That's fair comment.

 

Apart from Ruhlin all were conceding huge lumps of weight and Fitz was twelve years older than Jeffries.

 

McVey was a teenager and an unknown. Martin a new comer and very fragile. There are reports that Jeffries Ko'd Martin...one day some one might find the fight report.

Johnson numerous losses and draws while Jeffries was champion from 1899-1905 gives him a narrow window though he was qualified by 1903. In the end he lost to Marvin Hart in 1905. Before that Johnson lost to Choynski, Klondike and Griffin.

 

Make up your mind, you can't say Fitz crushed Ruhlin or Sharkey then claim he was too old.

 

Footnote:

Jeffries was scheduled to meet Kid McCoy. I believe McCoy was ill and the match was called off.

If you believe the press is correct, Jeffries has a reported KO over Ed Martin.

He returned to face Johnson, with his lineal title on the line, so its not an omission. Johnson was likely #1 for about 1.5 years, but the loss to Hart in 1905 took him out of the picture.

 

Oh yes I can! Fitz ko'd them both inside two weeks but he didn't get his title chance till two years later when he was 39 years old and retired.Not a move of tactical brilliance on your part!lol

 

You could definitely argue that it wasn't the strongest era, but that is not the point.

I treated the questions of "who missed the most key contenders", and "which era had the most talent" as separate entities.

If Dempsey was entitled to any redress on the second point, then he got it when I discussed who beat the greater variety of styles.

 

Jeffries was not the champion when he returned and only a blinkered fool would suggest it!

No one has ever been able to ascertain Jeffries beating either Martin or Childs and he never claimed to have done so.Nobody does more diligent and exhaustive research that Adam Pollack and he found nothing to back up these fairy tales.

 

I'll toss my hat into the ring for Dempsey.

Seems to me that the overall class of his opposition was better than Jeffries' and that he managed to keep his fighting record looking good despite the fact that he fought almost 3 times as many fights as Jeffries had.

To narrow it down a bit further: Jeffries was taken to hell by Sharkey (180lb) while himself weighing in at 205ish. Jeffries drew with Choynski who was basically a SMW.

Dempsey took care of business against guys like Willard (240lb) and Firpo (216lb) ... he's got some fairly big names there like Carpentier and Levinsky.

He's also got more losses than Jeffries, but given the better quality of opposition (imo) it's not surprising.

I also think that head to head Dempsey may have beaten him, although given the available footage this is more an educated guess than based on facts.

So: Dempsey > Jeffries is my call.