Colourized Footage Of Jeffries Training

[Ivich]

Jim Jeffries Training in Color - YouTube

[Willow The Wisp]

Classic clips. Jeffries was one of the best conditioned athletes of his day and any day.
It's funny when he knocked his sparring partner down with the medicine ball on the Edison 1900 segment.

Good stuff.

[Slugfester]

No bird legs there.

[billeau2]

Jeffries looks much quicker than the Jeffries we saw against Johnson in 1910.

As with so many match-ups e.g. a 1923 Dempsey and a 1927 Tunney, it may have been a better fight if 1904 Jeffries could have tangled with the 1910 Johnson. But what can one do about that, nothing. His foot speed could (maybe) have made the difference.

I also found it interesting that Jeffries actually trained to deal with grappling in the clinches. I never thought about fighters actually preparing themselves in that manner. Depending on a strong referee not allowing these kinds of wrestling matches to occur can be a big mistake, even today. Better to be prepared for being repeatedly grab.

Yup. It takes a real leap of faith to look at the sparring and try to understand what they were actually doing because by present standards it looks awful. I think the clue is the emphasis on footwork, fast foot movements with weights, the grappling, the fighting distances.

[Willow The Wisp]

That was Choynski he was sparring with if I'm not mistaken.

You are correct.

[BattlingNelson]

Good stuff. Thx. for sharing.

Jeffries looks much quicker than the Jeffries we saw against Johnson in 1910.

As with so many match-ups e.g. a 1923 Dempsey and a 1927 Tunney, it may have been a better fight if 1904 Jeffries could have tangled with the 1910 Johnson. But what can one do about that, nothing. His foot speed could (maybe) have made the difference.

I also found it interesting that Jeffries actually trained to deal with grappling in the clinches. I never thought about fighters actually preparing themselves in that manner. Depending on a strong referee not allowing these kinds of wrestling matches to occur can be a big mistake, even today. Better to be prepared for being repeatedly grab.

Yep I found that significant too. Just shows how much wrestling-skills meant and therefore also how the sport has evolved since those pioneering days.

[BattlingNelson]

Lomachenko is just one example of fighters who practice wrestling skills in the current era.

I'm no expert, but I reckon wrestling gives good core strenght as well as sense of balance. Both important attributes in boxing.

[BattlingNelson]

And skills to use in the clinch. Boxing fundamentals haven’t evolved that much from Jeffries’ day.

And skills to use in clinch yes.