Jim Jeffries; one of the most under rated heavyweights ever

[bobbydobbs]

sorry but i had to do 1 more.

[GorDoom]

Bobby:

That's great stuff! Whether you're a Jeffries fan or not you have to appreciate these cartoons from the era.

& btw: I realise you're a fairly recent member of the board & I never properly welcomed you.

So ...Welcome to the board Bobby & please keep posting this vintage stuff!

regards,

GorDoom

[bobbydobbs]

thanks, i will try to post more. i was just hoping i didnt make the jeffries fans mad with the first cartoon.

[Roberto Aqui]

thanks, i will try to post more. i was just hoping i didnt make the jeffries fans mad with the first cartoon.

No, it's part of the historical record and gives context and depth to the era. There are much worse cartoons that I've seen.

[mike]

I think people aged faster in those days, bad nutrition etc. My wife is in the skin care biz & she is real good at looking at somebody & being able to tell their age within a year or two.

I've always been kinda facinated at how old Ketchel looks in his pictures. After all he was only 24 when he was shot & killed. I showed my wife some pics of Stanley & asked her how old she thought he was. keep in mind my wife is not a boxing fan & never heard of Ketchel.

She looked at the pics & said he looked somewhere between a hard 37-39.

When I told her he was 23 & 24 in the pics I showed her she was shocked & said man. that guys lfe must have been one hard road because he looked unnaturally aged for such a young guy.

GorDoom

i think they did also. any number of times ive shown picture of boxers around that time -and when asked how old they were-and i told them-alot of times they didnt believe it.no tougher life,no head gear, lots of bouts, brine contributed to it--but ketchel i dont think used brine and was realatively un marked--but did look older--for sure.

[kikibalt]

[kikibalt]

[kikibalt]

[kikibalt]

[bobbydobbs]

where are these photos archived?

[raylawpc]

Kikibalt - a point of clarification: I believe the photo (above) captioned as "James J. Jeffries' residence" was actually that of his father, Alexis. Jeffries grew up in the house.

So much for the myth that Jeffries was the son of a poor, itinerate street preacher. His Dad was a street preacher and evangelist - true enough - but he was also a prosperous farmer in Los Angeles.

[raylawpc]

Also, the unknown boxer above is Bob Armstrong.

[kikibalt]

Tom
Thanks for the info.

[kikibalt]

[raylawpc]

Kikibalt: Where do you keep coming up with these great pictures?

[kikibalt]

Kikibalt: Where do you keep coming up with these great pictures?

I wish I could tell you.

[kikibalt]

[kikibalt]

[Fat Abbot]

He was definitely a great fighter for his time.

But his style wouldn't age well at all, any modern top hw would beat him easily.

[Kid Achilles]

Right. I'm sure Shannon Briggs and Oleg Maskaev would just walk right through him.

[Fat Abbot]

Yup.

[Cojimar 1945]

In other sports records seem to be getting broken all the time with athletes achieving higher and higher performance over time. In the future I am certain that some will argue that the heavyweights of 90s and 2000s would no longer be competitive. I'm sure Tyson and Lewis will be given no chance by many against the heavyweights of the 2020s.

[greek1237]

I think Jeff can complete today. He could adopt. He wasnt dumb or a caveman. I belive Jeff was a great fighter. He just has a habit in not going for the kill in these 20 something round fights unless he is behind. OF couse I not sure if he could ever ko Sharkey. Pretty amazing that the bootlegged copy made it, but NOT the film itself. People call it the greatness heavyweight title fight of all time. I belive it could be. I was impress with Jeff in the few mins I saw of it.

[raylawpc]

I am a big Jeffries fan, but I don’t think he could compete today. Not only has he been dead for 53 years but, even if still alive, he would be 131-years-old. Even given the poor talent in the heavyweight class today, his age would probably be too much to overcome.

All kidding aside and based on everything I have read, Jeffries was a tremendously gifted athlete, arguably the best all-around athlete of all the heavyweight champions. I believe an athlete of that caliber could have adapted quite easily to today’s styles and rules, and performed at top level in any generation. Also, if born in 1975 instead of 1875, he probably would have been bigger and stronger, so I think he could have competed with all the "big boys" today. The larger, more speculative question is whether he would have been a boxer, or chosen instead to go into something like professional football.

[greek1237]

I can see Jeff going into football.

[Kid Achilles]

I think he would be a MMA fighter today. He was said to be a tremendous wrestler, and could give even the top wrestlers at the time, guys who did it for a living, a run for their money. His boxing and wrestling, mixed with some kickboxing and learning brazilian jiu-jitsu, coupled with his incredible athleticism and strong mind would make him a very formidable opponent in Pride FC.

[kikibalt]

[Fat Abbot]

In other sports records seem to be getting broken all the time with athletes achieving higher and higher performance over time. In the future I am certain that some will argue that the heavyweights of 90s and 2000s would no longer be competitive. I'm sure Tyson and Lewis will be given no chance by many against the heavyweights of the 2020s.

Unless the talent pool increases I doubt it.

After ali all black kids wanted to be like him, so in the late 70's through the 80's you had a ton of young talented athletes who had size, along with athleticism to match all coming out of the amateurs.

Greg Page, Tony Tubbs, Michael Dokes, Larry Holmes, tyrell Biggs, Tony Tucker, Mike Tyson at 215 plus all would have been giants say 20 years earlier, but more importantly they moved like lw's.

Boxing peaked in popularity in the 80's it's been going downhill ever since, now it's in a slump. Noone wants to be hw champion anymore, the young hw's with talent are all playing basketball or football.

That's why many of todays top hw's are from former soviet bloc countries, over there boxing isn';t overshadowed by other sports like it is here, so it's getting some of their better athletes.

If boxing continues the course it's going interms of popularity, or worse becomes even more niche then the talent pool will just decrease.

In other words do I think that in 2020 their will be a hw that has the talent to potentially surpass Tyson at his peak? yes, but boxing will be so niche that he'll probably be in another sport.

[Cojimar 1945]

I thought boxing's popularity had been in decline since the 1950s due to the emerging popularity of basketball and football. At one point in time boxing was apparently only rivalled by baseball in popularity.

[Kid Achilles]

Boxing has been on the decline since the 50's, that is correct. The amount of gyms to be found in the USA has gone down BIG TIME.