Is Jim Jefferies the Best Heavyweight of all time ?

Question

After reading the ( closed ) question re: asking who would have won in a Fight if MARCIANO fought JEFFERIES ?? I agreed completelty with the answer by Douglas C that JEFFERIES would have won but I was unable to answer the closed question, Since I believe that JEFFERIES was the BEST Heavyweight of all time...I thought I'd ask others if they agree ??and, if not, who they thought was the best Heavyweight ( Champ or otherwise) of all time ??

Answer 1

I personally wouldn't put him at the top, but he's definitely a top 10er in my opinion. Laura P's post is a typical modern assessment of Jeffries and clearly illustrates how badly the passage of time have dimmed his star in the public eye. Jeffries in fact beat almost ALL the top heavyweights of his era- Sharkey, Corbett, Fitzsimmons, Ruhlin, Armstrong, Griffin, Jackson(albeit a past-prime Jackson), etc. The only exceptions were Jack Johnson, whom he drew the color line with due to public pressure, and Sam Langford, who publicly refused to fight Jeffries. Everyone else got their shot and lost.

People also forget that Jeffries fought top fighters from his second fight onwards. There was no working his way up through a bunch of trialhorses and journeymen and there is very little "padding" on his record. Almost every guy Jeff fought since his second bout was a top fighter. Case and point, Hank Griffin. I wish boxrec had a complete record of this guy(we're still looking). He was a seasoned pro who later gave Jack Johnson 3 of his toughest fights, beating him and drawing twice(Jack never could best him and said that Hank "hurt me worse than anyone"). Jeff fought and KO'd Griff in his second fight. When still young and green he also managed to draw with the deadly clever and much more experienced Joe Choynski(the same Choynski who, when past his prime, still managed to knock out Jack Johnson).

Bluedevil and Allen make some good points, but remember that Jack Johnson was much larger than most of his opponents as well. Tommy Burns, Ketchel, Langford, Fireman Jim Flynn, Al Kaufman, Philly Jack O'Brien, Joe Jeanette....Jack almost always had the big size advantage, yet nobody ever mentions it. I think Willard and old Jeffries may have been the only guys he fought who were larger.

ALLEN- I appreciate the compliment and agree with you 100% that any and every heavyweight in history had better be wary of power like Marciano's. The guy could swat. But I still don't see what advantages he had over Jeffries. Power? Debatable. Chin? Again, debatable, but if you go with the evidence we have you have to say Jeffries as he fought the bigger punchers and for many more rounds than Rocky. Stamina? Comparable, but once again we have to go with Jeffries just based upon his record. We won't penalize Rocky for it, but he never had to fight a 25 round marathon like Jeff did. Could he have? Maybe, but we can only speculate. I prefer to approach this dream fight like a lawyer approaches a trial, which is basing the argument upon provable evidence.

PS- I hear there's a home movie that was taken of the Marciano-Carmine Vingo fight! How great is that? I've read that it was one of the divisions great slugfests. I have feelers out on it and may be acquiring it soon.

Answer 2

Jim Jeffries has such a great KO record because he fought fighters who weighed less than he did. I am not saying every fighter but almost every fighter he fought weighed less. He is not in my top 15-20. He outweighed Johnson by 19 pounds but he lost to Johnson. As far as Jeffries - Marciano. Jeffries would again outweigh a fighter by 30-35 pounds but do you think Marciano would lose to Jeffries? I don't. Marciano would have knocked out Jeffries.

Doug C is a great boxing mind but I differ with him on Marciano. Put Marciano in with ANY heavyweight and that heavyweight is going to be wary of Marciano. At least they should be.

Forgot to answer who I thought was the best of all time. The complete package of power, ability, and appeal for me was Joe Louis. A few days ago a poster asked to name the top ten in several of these traits and I name Joe number one and Dempsey number 2. They would match up against any heavyweight.

Answer 3

Jeffries ws a very tough and durable fighter and had a good punch as well but I wouldn't rank him in my top 10 of all time greats based mostly on his small amount of career fights. I don't think that he could have beaten Jack Johnson at any time during his career though it possibly would have been a better fight.as Johnson was certainly a great fighter. I also don't believe that he could have beaten Dempsey, Tunney, Louis, Marciano, Holmes, Liston, Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Lewis, Holyfield, Charles, Walcott for instance. I also don't believe that he had more power than Marciano at all although I will admit that Jim was certainly a very strong man physically. This is no knock on Jeffries but he only fought what 18-20 fights?

Answer 4

basically in CHIN does great Jeff compete. he's taking a greater useful punch than Liston. Liston has a greater useful Punch because of the fact he has greater useful potential. great Jeff isn't a boxer and does no longer make the terrific use of his capability. Jeff could make a combat of it as quickly as he realizes Sonny can no longer knock him out. He could push and turn it right into a Bar room brawl. Sonny could score a knockdown in around 4 and yet another in around 11. great Jeff could lose an incredible style of the early rounds yet grind Sonny down later interior the combat. Sonny ought to knock Jeff down 10 circumstances yet he does no longer positioned the punches at the same time properly adequate to end him or keep him injury. Jeff lacks Sonny's skills yet he's hard adequate to hold in there and take in spite of Sonny dishes out. Jeff sees an threat and takes the final 2 rouds, bringing it nearer on the playing cards yet nonetheless springing up short. Liston by potential of determination.

Answer 5

Jim Jefferies would have dominated today's current heavyweights, only Holyfield would have had a chance against Jim. Historically there have been plenty of other heavyweight champions superior to Jim, but currently the heavyweight division is about a weak as it has ever been.

Answer 6

Uh, NO. Not even in the Top 50. Why? Too few fights, too short a career. Therefore Not Enough Information to Put him among the elite.

Answer 7

No, that distinction has always belonged to Rocky Marciano. The Brockton Blockbuster would have retired Jeffries if they'd ever met in the ring.

Answer 8

i dont think so with out a doubt it would be muhammed ali. he has fought the best heavyweights in any era.(frazier, foreman, liston, shavers, and norton). He knocked out the invincible george foreman, beat joe frazier twice, and knocked out sonny liston in 1 minute(idk if it was real but it happend). Jeffries only fought one big name in johnson and got knocked out. if he was so good he would have fought longer and fought better opponents. if he kept fighting maybe but still i think ali is the best and joe louis finishing a close number 2

Answer 9

No, maybe in the top twenty, I think he fought a limited number of fights.

Answer 10

Jack Johnson KO him easy....Jim was a puncher, but he was very slow. He was a good champion but far from being the best.