James J Jefferies Vs Luis Angel Firpo

[SageBrush]

How would Jefferies do against another Big strong Man who could punch, Jefferies should certainly know he is not in there with some fleet-footed retreating sub 190lb'er, Is Firpo the sprinter of the two ? or did the Dempsey fight Make it appear so throught Firpo's having no choice but to go to war with Dempsey so early ? Would Jefferies seek to drag Firpo into the later rounds gradually breaking him down ? The Boilermaker or the Bull.....?

[Roberto Aqui]

The status quo will claim Jeffries totally outclasses Firpo, but I think it would be a fight similar to the Dempsey fight with Firpo doing better. Whether he could KO Jeffries is another story. Jeffries would beat him down in a long fight, but has to withstand an early barrage he never experienced before, not a given.

[Steve McV]

I think it would be a 15 round war (assuming it's limited to 15 rounds). I'll take Jeffries 9-6. Firpo might go down, but I don't think he'd stay down. Tough sonofagun.

It comes down to this IMO: what Firpo had, Jeffries had a bit more of.

[hagler04]

Jefferies demolishes Firpo in under 10 rounds

[Elmer Ray]

damm wuts with all this credit given to firpo? he was not that good. he was lucky dempsey fought the worst fight of his career against him thats the only reason why he caught dempsey and dempsey still annihalted him in 2 rounds. had dempsey actually sat back and used defense in the firpo fight like he usually does, he would have never got caught. dempsey went right in there with his hands low, head out, and very wild. that was not the peak dempsey.


jeffries is the completle all around better fighter than firpo in every area. he is in a much higher class than firpo.


firpo was an extremley powerful puncher but not a very good fighter



jeffries TKO 8 firpo

[hawk5ins]

All around fighter. Or even a more complete all around fighter than Firpo.

But he did absorb amazing amounts of punishment and pretty much could outlast any fighter. Much of that had to do becuase Jeff rarely expeneded much energy himself.

Firpo, whom I beleive to be the harder puncher and faster of hand as well.

I see Firpo expending enormous amounts of energy on A Jeffries that doesn't go anywhere. As Firpo slows/wears down, Jeff takes over and eventually overpowers a spent fighter.

Jeffries is going to present a target Firpo will HAVE to go after. It will be too appealing to ignore. But when the parachute fails to open, Jeff will turn on whatever limited archaic offense (Let's face it: Jeff was stong as an ox, had great stamina and could absorb enormous amounts of punishment. But his offensive repetoir wil not remind anyone of Marciano to say nothing of Louis) he has and overwhelms Luis.

Hawk

[mrbig1]

If a 187 pound Dempsey could floor Firpo 9 times then a 220 pound Jeffries would put his head 3 rows back. Firpo was hyped up by Tex Rickard to sell seats. There were stories that Firpo once killed a bull with one punch by breaking it's neck. Jeffries would have little trouble with the over hyped glass jawed Firpo.

[Sharkey]

Jeffries certainly weighed more than Jack. I don't believe he hit as hard as Jack. Or Luis for that matter. A comparison to what Jack did to Firpo applied to Jeffries might be more accurate were we to sub Jeff for Luis against Jack. Anyway, Luis isn't bombarded into oblivion by Jeff until perhaps round 18 or so..if at all. Jeffries would win pretty much as has been detailed by Hawk in my opinion, though I am intrigued by the damage Luis would do potentially early. As for being overblown, a few things about him that were not were his strength, power and toughness.

Getting stomped by Dempsey when you are wide open owes more to lack of defense and the rhythm of that fight than Firpo being jaw-challenged. Jeffries would win I believe, but Firpo certainly is on par as a threat, against Jeff mind you, as say Fitz was. Before anyone goes berzerk thinking I am putting Firpo on par with Fitz..I am not..except against a common foe: Jeffries.

What would happen, I wonder, were someone to compare Firpo to Sailor Tom. Not me. I will not open that thing that's like a canny shaped thing filled with those bugs that are all slimy and worm-like.


Two big dudes, Jeffries has the self-confidence he will ride out the storm.
Firpo was a legitimate contender. No more, but certainly no less.

[Colin Maclaurin]

sharkey,

i disagree with firpo being as problematic to jeff as fitz. fitz hit with similar power but was much better conditioned and had MUCH faster hands. further he actually had an effective defense.

against jeff, firpo would not ( in my opinion, which undoubtedly some will disagree with ) be able to land solidly on jeff's chin who was a good defensive fighter. and vice versa jeff threw tight hooks and wasn't wild like firpo and would find luis easy to connect with.

all in all firpo would outhussle jeff for the first 2-3 rounds but does not have the conditioning or chin to match jeff who would soak up anything firpo could dish out like a sponge ( just like he vs sharkey, fitz, corbett, choynski, ruhlin, armstrong, etc.. )

Jeff would beat firpo down with hard left hooks to the head and body and nasty right uppercuts.

not to insult anyone but in 10 fights i believe jeff would win all 10.

[Sharkey]

Fitz' advantages are well documented. As per against Jeffries, I would state simply that Firpo is much stronger than Fitz..and would fare better in the pushing/pulling. That is HIS relative advantage over Fitz. I would also be comfortable guessing Luis could take it to the body better or at least as well as Fitz. I base Firpo's 'success' in providing a similarly tough job for Jeffries with a guess that against Firpo Jim won't be tossing around his foe, and will be having to play defense quite a bit...or ignoring it to short circuit Firpo's brand of leather-tossing coupled with Firpo's looming bulk. It is not that Fitz and Firpo are similar. It is my thought that we will have an attritive battle heading towards a similar result. Poor defense and wide-swings will obviously cause him problems and lead to a loss if we agree he will lose. And we do.

I agree we disagree in how important Firpo's un-Fitzness applies here as it may forecast a similar fight with Jeff fielding damage.

Jeffries ought to win 10 out of 10 if he is the pick to win 1..I never quite understood how fantasy fights can plan for contingencies of flukes etc. After all, it is a who would win sort of event, not a what might happen thing...right?

I stand by my statement of expecting Firpo to be a formidable opponent for JJJ. What he lacks in speed, he makes up for in strength. I also hold, by the way, that for all his limitations, Firpo is the sort of guy who in any era would be marketable and a contender. As limited and one-trick as he was, it is not an aberration in heavyweight or boxing history for that matter that such limitation nonetheless brings positive results.

[mrbig1]

I think you guys are reading me wrong. I'm not high on Jeffriers. Jim Corbett was beating the hell out of Jeff in the first fight before he ran out of gas. Firpo was not a boxer. Anybody who stands and trades with Jeffries in a 25 round fight is going to catch pure D hell. even if Firpo had horse shoes in his gloves the outcome would be the same. I believe that a great fighter must first have 3 things. Chin,heart,stamina. Jeffries had all 3. Not a skilled fighter but a tough one.

[nightwing]

I think you guys grozely underestimate Firpo. Firpo should have won that fight with Dempesy he had Dempesy knock out of the ring, and the outside ring men shouldn't have allowed to be able to help him up. Example just like Hasim "The Rock" Rahman was knock out by Oleg Maskaev no one help him back up. There was also alot of unfavor biases for the champion in that fight. I do beleive however that if Dempsey had gottan a rematch with Firpo he would have been able to beat him fair and square. I do believe that Firpo would have lost to Jeffferies, bt it will be a close fight with alot of knock downs, until firpo caves in the 11th round with the score cardfs being very close.

[PeteLeo]

The writers at ringside shoved Dempsey off of their typewriters and onto the ring apron. Jack returned through the ropes himself, and Firpo had plenty of time to finish him if he had been able to. He wasn't. It was actually more of a shove than a punch.
Rahman went through the ropes and onto the floor. To "help him back into the ring" would have entailed lifting the big galoot bodily about five feet straight up.
Most of the people involved in the Dempsey-Firpo affair (from whom I've read quotes, anyway) said that their actions had virtually no effect on Dempsey's condition or ability to re-enter the ring. Even today you'll see ringsiders use their hands to catch boxers who've been slugged through the ropes in order to keep them from falling from the aprons onto hardwood or concrete several feet below. No one makes a big deal about this.
"Dempsey's gloves were loaded against Willard," "Dempsey never could have gotten back into the ring against Firpo," "Dempsey intentionally hit Sharkey three feet below the belt and then 'sucker punched' him to win," "Dempsey was within half a degree of unconsciousness when Carpentier nailed him," "Dempsey spit poison in Fulton's eyes and threw a lighter fluid fireball into Brennan's face," "Yada-yada-yada . . . ." Gosh, did the Old Mauler ever win a single bout without cheating? PeteLeo.

[mrbig1]

Great post.

[Roberto Aqui]

If a 187 pound Dempsey could floor Firpo 9 times then a 220 pound Jeffries would put his head 3 rows back. Firpo was hyped up by Tex Rickard to sell seats. There were stories that Firpo once killed a bull with one punch by breaking it's neck. Jeffries would have little trouble with the over hyped glass jawed Firpo.

??? Surely you jest.

Firpo was a modern day Sam Peter, a major threat against anyone he faces. Jeffries had a lot of problems with smaller fighters, esp a small brawler named Sharkey. The only thing overhyped is your ratings of the Jeffries era. It stands to reason that Jeff would also have problems with other champs and contenders too.

[mrbig1]

Not if they are going stand in front of Jeffries and trade for 25 rounds like Firpo would.

[peter murphy]

great fight jeffries would have his hands full with luis angel firpo ,jeffries would be hurt by a big firpo right in the 3rd but he would have the strength to tire firpo up and last the round,by the middle rounds jeffries would be coming on landing big lefts and uppercuts ,firpo is hurt badly by a big leftt hook in the 10th round and is floored seconds later jeffries tries to finish firpo but the bell rings,jeffries boxes behind his jab at the start of round 11 ,firpo attacks jeffries with a storm of blows but walks onto a jeffries right and is knocked out by a left hook and counted out