A Myth-Buster--Jim J. Jeffries was indeed a Mover!!

[Caractacus]

Check out former World Heavyweight Champion Jim J. Jeffries in this movie released in 1932.
THEY NEVER COME BACK.
He is the referee.
At age 57 years and what looks to be about around 260 ibs,watch him move around the ring.
So big and yet so quick and light on his feet
He even reminds me of a California Grizzly Bear!
check it out beginning about 4:20 of this clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulgEq2mxu0k

[Controversial]

Quicker than Clay

[HomicideHenry]

Not to burst your bubble... but it was the custom/fashion of old Hollywood pictures, that the action sequences were speeded up to give an element of realism to actors who were merely throwing baby punches and slaps in fights. Jeffries looks fast, because the film is speeded up. Didn't you notice how in the clinches one guy threw like 5 punches in the space of a second?

[Caractacus]

well maybe I didnt notice so much because I had 8 cups of coffee this morning when I watched it.
However even so,Jeffries was no plodder,
he had even at that advanced age a lot of spring in his step,
sort of like a fencing master.

[Caractacus]

You know back when he was still heavyweight champion,
Jeffries use to walk(or climb)
15 miles a day.

[Caractacus]

BTW You know what inspired me to post this?
Those rivisionist dolts like Ken Burns.
I watched the dvd of Unforgivable Blackness last weekend,
and (IMOP) Ken Burns intenionally portrayed Jim J Jeffries
as somekind of dull backwoods hick.
(When in fact Jeffries grew up in Los Angeles and even had a year of buisness school
before he became a professional fighter).

So to Mr. Ken Burns if you are reading this.This is my link to a video response to you concerning this matter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqMmoiwjQmc

[pbchron]

A recent book just came out - "The Baron of Leiperville, the life and times of James F. Dougherty" by Richard Pagano. One chapter is devoted to the friendship of Dougherty and Jack Johnson. One of the last surviving daughters of The Baron reveals that when Johnson and his wife visited their home, her father would give the Johnson's the master bedroom and their bed to sleep in (which didn't please Mrs Dougherty too well), as a sign of the utmost respect for a close friend.
I believe that if Burns was aware of this incident he would have ignored reporting it because it wouldn't have fit the agenda he wanted to present about Johnson's life.

[Caractacus]

and why is it that in every single photograph that I have ever seen of Jack Johnson
either were he is seen standing alongside a White person or group of White people.
They are all either smiling,laughing or just having a good ole time with Mr. Johnson.
Ken Burns never did bother explain that in his documentery.
Probably because it would seem to contradict his narrative.

[Caractacus]

Check out former World Heavyweight Champion Jim J. Jeffries in this movie released in 1932.
THEY NEVER COME BACK.
He is the referee.
At age 57 years and what looks to be about around 260 ibs,watch him move around the ring.
So big and yet so quick and light on his feet
He even reminds me of a California Grizzly Bear!
check it out beginning about 4:20 of this clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRHiltEX5O4

looks to me more like it was downloaded on youtube time compressed.
BTW those boxing scenes were filmed in Jim Jeffries famous red barn
when it was still located on Victory Avenue in Burbank California.

I still cant get over how light on his feet he was at age 57.
I bet Big Jeff was also a terrific dancer too!

[Caractacus]

Here some Jim Jeffries trivia for you all.
Along with doing 15 miles of roadwork a day,
Big Jeff could run the 100 yard dash in just 11 seconds.
(as a matter of fact it has been reported the when Jeffries was still a sparring partner to then champ Jim J. Corbett,
Jeffries had beatin Corbett 20 times in a row in the hundred yard dash!)
man,that is fast.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2 ... 5158214&dq

[HomicideHenry]

Here some Jim Jeffries trivia for you all.
Along with doing 15 miles of roadwork a day,
Big Jeff could run the 100 yard dash in just 11 seconds.
(as a matter of fact it has been reported the when Jeffries was still a sparring partner to then champ Jim J. Corbett,
Jeffries had beatin Corbett 20 times in a row in the hundred yard dash!)
man,that is fast.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2 ... 5158214&dq

I'll agree Jeffries was a hell of a hoss. I've said it on many occasions that if all fights were 20-45 rounds, with three ounce gloves, under the blazing sun in an outdoor arena, and referees didn't mind a bloodbath--- I cant see that many heavyweights being able to stop Jeffries, including Muhammad Ali. In those times, contests could of went day and night, so one had to be so conditioned to punishment that its almost impossible for people to imagine the sort of monumental effort it took in those times to become a world champion.

Jeffries, though, I do think took it a bit farther than most in his era. His training regimen was as fanatical as Marciano's.* And I think if the truth is told, he had to be that well conditioned, because skill wise he wasn't the most defensive fighter. He had a very unusual style, even for the early 20th century--- which didn't make much sense considering he was practically a giant in his time, fighting out of a crouch and giving away his size and reach. However, he wasnt above chasing someone down for however long it took--- a fact that he proved time and again, from the beginning when he fought a black veteran of over 100 fights in his pro debut. Jeffries chased him down for 14 rounds before knocking the man out. He chased down Corbett, and eventually got him in the 21st. It didn't matter what kind of shape you was in, or how fast, and how experienced--- Jeffries was more conditioned, more tougher and more stronger.

*Marciano's roadwork consisted of 10 mile runs, in combination with 20 mile walks across the hills and valleys near training camp. So focused was he, and paranoid about getting out of condition, Marciano is said to do his 10 mile runs even on Christmas day.

[Caractacus]

Jeffries was in his early 20's and 210 ibs when he raced Corbett at the training camp.
Compare that to WBA Heavyweight champion Corrie Sanders
who earlier at the age of 20 y was a reserve center on the North Transvaal Rugby team.
Sanders could run the 100 meters in just under 11 seconds,
and we know how fast Sanders was in the ring.

also as far as Jeffries athletic ability when he was still a young man.
He could high jump over six feet
and once when he had a bad cold,he drank a gallon of whiskey to treat it.

[Caractacus]

here some intersting info on the history of the modern 100 yard dash.
but all these guys were more slender then Jim J. jeffries of course.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100-yard_dash

[Caractacus]

Sports writer Grantland Rice had written back in 1941,
that he remembers that the prime Jim Jeffries 6 ft 2" and 215 lbs in 1903

'could run the 100 close to 10 flat".

[Caractacus]

Check Big Jeff out here in this rare film clip from 1907.
He was at age 32 years and retired and now the referee for the Tommy Burns vs Bill Squires title fight.
He must have weight at least 240 lbs here I reckon,but yet look how he moves around the ring.
(and such a nice dresser too I may add.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR7MCHfcdcQ

[HomicideHenry]

Its his all around size that impresses me more in that clip than anything.... when the crowd stormed the ring at its conclusion, Jeffries appears to be the biggest and tallest man in the ring.

[Caractacus]

Its his all around size that impresses me more in that clip than anything.... when the crowd stormed the ring at its conclusion, Jeffries appears to be the biggest and tallest man in the ring.

Thats probably because he was'A Man Among Men'.

[Caractacus]

You can see Jeffries again as the referee in this brief clip of rounds 10 & 20 of,
Tommy Burns vs 'Philadelphia'Jack O'Brien
November 1906.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQFoxxAeywg

[pound per pound]

These old films are wonderful. I used to think Jeffries was more of a Rocky Marciano type. Then I saw his sparring clips in his prime. He had quick feet, and good defensive reflexes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CauVMvNspIY

[Caractacus]

Dont you think that Jeffries more then resembles future heavyweight champ Ingemar Johansson in that clip?
(both were of Norse extraction).
Johansson had some pretty good footwork,especially in the first fight with Floyd Patterson.

[HomicideHenry]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZh--rmNfxk

Sometimes its hard to take alot of the older people seriously at times... when you see opening rounds, or performances such as this, where its mostly feinting and both seemingly afraid to take chances... and they look amateurish while doing so... but then I must remember, that this is just a small snippet of what was actually a very bloody contest where Jeffries received a broken nose, cut eyes and cut cheek bones, etc.

[Caractacus]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZh--rmNfxk

Sometimes its hard to take alot of the older people seriously at times... when you see opening rounds, or performances such as this, where its mostly feinting and both seemingly afraid to take chances... and they look amateurish while doing so... but then I must remember, that this is just a small snippet of what was actually a very bloody contest where Jeffries received a broken nose, cut eyes and cut cheek bones, etc.

That clip was of course a re-enactment with two actors who were not
Jim Jeffries and Bob Fitzsimmons
(Just wanted some people to know that since you didnt point it out)
I think the man who played Jeffries there was one of the fightin Cutler brothers.

[HomicideHenry]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZh--rmNfxk

Sometimes its hard to take alot of the older people seriously at times... when you see opening rounds, or performances such as this, where its mostly feinting and both seemingly afraid to take chances... and they look amateurish while doing so... but then I must remember, that this is just a small snippet of what was actually a very bloody contest where Jeffries received a broken nose, cut eyes and cut cheek bones, etc.

That clip was of course a re-enactment with two actors who were not
Jim Jeffries and Bob Fitzsimmons
(Just wanted some people to know that since you didnt point it out)
I think the man who played Jeffries there was one of the fightin Cutler brothers.

Hell, didn't realize that. My bad lol.

I wonder why there never was a film of either of the two bouts?

[Caractacus]

I think one of the Jeffries vs Fitzsimmons fights was filmed but the film didnt turn out due to some snafu.
There was a very good book written a few years ago titled FIGHT PICTURES by Dan Streible.
It has a whole chapter on re-enactments.
Its a bit dry and technical to read in parts,but very informative.

http://www.amazon.com/Fight-Pictures-Hi ... B0071UO36O

[Caractacus]

Check Big Jeff out here in this rare film clip from 1907.
He was at age 32 years and retired and now the referee for the Tommy Burns vs Bill Squires title fight.
He must have weight at least 240 lbs here I reckon,but yet look how he moves around the ring.
(and such a nice dresser too I may add.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR7MCHfcdcQ