Three weeks in which Fitzsimmons and Corbett pushed back the younger generation

After Jim Jeffries won the heavyweight title, interest started to shift away from the two previous champions towards a younger generation of contenders represented by Tom Sharkey, Gus Ruhlin and Kid McCoy.

In 1900 the ageing Fitzsimmons and Corbett took on the new generation of talent and completely destroyed them. What made the sequence of events that took place even more remarkable was the fact that it took place over a three week period.

On August the 10th Fitzsimmons takes on Gus Ruhlin who is riding high after an impresive win over Tom Sahrkey and anihilates him. Just two weeks later he takes on Tom Sharkey who is still highly regarded due to his recent loosing effort against Jim Jeffries and destroys him. Six days later Jim Corbett takes on Kid McCoy and destroys him.

In a period of just three weeks, the contemporary fight fans had seen three sizzling heavyweight fights, in which the two former champions had destroyed the three most touted contenders of the curent crop.

 

The Corbett McCoy fight is widely beleived to have been a fake.
Two months earlier McCoy had been inside the 158lbs limit to fight Jack Bonner for the middleweight title, he was hardly a real heavyweight.

 

Two observations:

A. McCoy was heavily touted at heavyweight and was absolutely regarded as a top player.

B. The fight probably was on the level.

Either way, we saw the three best of the new guard eliminated in a three week period.

That is quite a three week period, however you slice it.

 

Why was the fight probably on the level, exactly?

 

Cross referencing multiple eye witness opinions, the fight comes across as being on the level, and not particularly suspicious.

 

The amazing thing about Fitz and Corbett was that they got by on skill, concentration and ability. I think the closest thing we have seen to what they did on this occasion was what Larry Holmes and George Foreman and even then, they were well over three weeks apart, and to be honest, there main victories were against guys who probably werent rated as highly as the guys Foreman and Holmes beat (likely exception of Moorer).

It would be pretty awesome we were to see a modern equivalent, it would have to be something like Tua taking out a Povetkin and Klitchsko, and Holyfield finishing off chagaev.

 

Gotcha.

 

Impressive stuff. Just wondering though,

Why didn't Fitz and Corbett push back the younger generation of top black heavyweights? Why didn't they get their chance. Imagine in the later eras if top black heavyweights never got their chance. That would wipe out a majority of the heavyweight champions

 

I think it helps that most "heavyweights" were relatively unskilled middleweights.

 

or what about the fact they drew the color line and refused to give top black fighters shots against them?

 

It looks like President Teddy Roosevelt agreed with you, also believing that the Corbett-McCoy fight was on the level. I looked around online and came up with this:

"In 1900 McCoy sought the heavyweight title and knocked out and Jack Bonner among others. When he took on James Corbett at heavyweight it was a step up in boxing size and skill he was not ready for. Corbett knocked McCoy out in 5 very dull, very one sided rounds and rumors of a fix abounded.... was it "the real McCoy" who fought? The rumors were finally brought to an end when famous sportsman and president Theodore Roosevelt declared that the fight was not fixed."

http://bxhof.tripod.com/mccoy.html

http://books.google.com/books?id=aA...&ots=4vs_FCl_Hl&sig=37cBRe1S9_G5oSF9irkFPjRR5

 

Because they didn't have to.

 

Don't let an Internet rumor formulate an opinion. I read some of the fight reviews on Corbett vs. McCoy, and it featured spirited fighting. It was an action oriented type of fight.

 

You say this often but always conveniently forget to name who you are talking about. Let me guess Denver Ed Martin, who was knocked out in 2 rounds by Tom Sharkey just before the 1900 fight we are talking about?atsch

I am interested, if a new fighter comes along and beats Valuev, Arreola, Dimitrenko, Povetkin, Adamek and the two Klitchskos, should we knock down his legacy for refusing to fight the best Black fighters around? And what about Mike Tyson, can he really be a world champion when he refused to fight white fighters during his title reign?

 

Corbett did meet Peter Jackson. As Boilmaker already said, Sharkey Ko'd Martin. And of course Choynski has his Ko over Jack Johnson. There really were not many top black heavies during the timeliness when Corbett and Fitz were champions.