Jerome "Jeff Smith" Jefferds (April 23, 1891 – February 3, 1962) was an American professional boxer who held the Australian version of the World Middleweight Title during his career. Despite his relative anonymity, Smith faced off against some the best fighters of his era, including

Harry Greb Edward Henry Greb (June 6, 1894 – October 22, 1926) was an American professional boxer. Nicknamed "The Pittsburgh Windmill", he is widely regarded by many boxing historians as one of the best pound for pound boxers of all time. He was the Ame ...

Gene Tunney James Joseph Tunney (May 25, 1897 – November 7, 1978) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1915 to 1928. He held the world heavyweight title from 1926 to 1928, and the American light heavyweight title twice between 1922 and 1 ...

, Mike Gibbons,

Georges Carpentier Georges Carpentier (; 12 January 1894 – 28 October 1975) was a French boxer, actor and World War I pilot. He fought mainly as a light heavyweight and heavyweight in a career lasting from 1908 to 1926. Nicknamed the "Orchid Man", he stood and ...

Les Darcy James Leslie Darcy (28 October 189524 May 1917) was an Australian boxer. He was a middleweight, but held the Australian Heavyweight Championship title at the same time. Les Darcy was the 2003 Inductee for the Australian National Boxing Hall ...

and

Tommy Loughran Thomas Patrick Loughran (November 29, 1902 – July 7, 1982) was an American professional boxer and the former World Light Heavyweight Champion. Statistical boxing website BoxRec lists Loughran as the #7 ranked light heavyweight of all time ...

.Jeff Smith's Professional Boxing Record
BoxRec.com. Retrieved on April 5, 2014. Statistical boxing website BoxRec lists Smith as the 17th greatest middleweight ever, while Ring Magazine founder

Nat Fleischer Nathaniel Stanley Fleischer (November 3, 1887 – June 25, 1972) was a noted American boxing writer and collector. Career Fleischer was born in New York City. After he graduated from City College of New York in 1908, Fleischer worked for the ' ...

ranked Smith as the No. 10 Middleweight of all-time.All-Time Middleweight Rankings
. BoxRec.com. Retrieved on April 26, 2014.
CyberBoxingZone.com Retrieved on April 5, 2014 He was inducted into the Ring Magazine hall of fame in 1969 and the

International Boxing Hall of Fame The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected by members of the Boxing Writers Association of America. The I ...

in 2013.International Boxing Hall of Fame Jeff Smith
IBHOF.com Retrieved on April 5, 2014

Early career

Smith made his pro debut in 1910 (the same year of the death of famed Middleweight Champion

Stanley Ketchel Stanisław Kiecal (September 14, 1886 – October 15, 1910), better known in the boxing world as Stanley Ketchel, was an American professional boxer who became one of the greatest World Middleweight Champions in history. He was nicknamed "The Mic ...

), beating Ray Hatfield by newspaper decision over four rounds. On February 20, 1912, Smith beat future World Middleweight Title holder

George Chip George Chip (Lithuanian language, Lit. ''Jurgis Čepulionis'', August 25, 1888 – November 6, 1960) was a Lithuanian-American boxer who was the World Middleweight Champion from 1913 to 1914 in an era of great middleweights. Chip came to be known ...

on points over fifteen rounds in what turned out to be a heated battle. His next notable challenge was against another future Middleweight titleholder in Mike Gibbons, with whom he drew over 10 rounds as decided by newspaper reporters. On October 11, 1913, Smith faced yet another future champion in French fighter and future Light Heavyweight champ

. Despite a late rally by Smith, Carpentier used his vaunted technique beat him decisively in a twenty round decision.

Australian World Middleweight Champion

Earning his nickname as the "Bayonne Globetrotter", Smith faced Eddie McGoorty in Australia, losing an extremely unpopular decision over twenty rounds. The decision was so despised that it was later rescinded, and Smith was awarded the Australian version of the World Middleweight Title. Smith would lose the title to Australian pugilist Mick King on November 28, 1914 but regained it just one month later on December 26 of the same year. On January 23, 1915 Smith faced famed Australian fighter

, beating him by disqualification after Darcy's handlers threw in a towel in protest to what they claimed was a low blow by Smith. Smith thus maintained his status as Australian champion, but Darcy would later exact his revenge, beating Smith via disqualification for repeated low blows.

Later career

During his career, Smith had a tremendous rivalry with the legendary

; with the two squaring of a total of seven times. Although he lost six times and drew once against the "Pittsburgh Windmill", Greb had great respect for Smith; stating "My toughest fight was with Jeff Smith. (Tommy) Gibbons gave me a hard battle, but nothing like the Smith beating." Also notable was his tetra-logy of fights with Mike Gibbons, resulting in one win and three losses.Mike Gibbons and Jeff Smith
PapersPast.com. Retrieved on April 5, 2014. Near the end of his career, Smith faced the fabled

; losing a clear decision to the much larger "Fighting Marine" after being knocked down twice. Smith retired after being knocked out for the third time by Cuban Bobby Brown on November 18, 1927.

Professional boxing record

All information in this section is derived from BoxRec, unless otherwise stated.

Official Record

All

newspaper decision A newspaper decision was a type of decision in professional boxing. It was rendered by a consensus of sportswriters attending a bout after it had ended inconclusively with a "no decision", as many regions had not adopted the National Sporting Club ...

s are officially regarded as "no decision" bouts and are not counted in the win/loss/draw column.

Unofficial record

Record with the inclusion of

s in the win/loss/draw column.

Life after boxing

After retiring, he became a physical education instructor with the Bayonne Board of Education and the Fort Dix New Jersey Army Base, he also taught boxing lessons at the local YMCA.

References

External links

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''Only Recognized in Australia'' , -
''Only Recognized in Australia'' , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Jeff 1891 births 1962 deaths Boxers from New York (state) Middleweight boxers International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees American male boxers