Well poor old Gentleman Jim lost..boo hoo..but did he suffer the ultimate indignity of actually winning the fight in acordance to the rules but denighed victory due to the reffs long count?
Corbett had every right to stand over Fitzsimmons(As was the custom of the day) And that crooked Ref did not give Corbett the chance. He allow Fitz to stand over Corbett, but not the other way around.
Corbett is the most underrated fighter of the era. He beat the 3 best white heavyweights of the 1880s Jake Kilrain, Charley Mitchell, and John L Sullivan. Drew with the best heavyweight of the late 1880s-early 1890s ATG Peter Jackson. Knocked out hall of fame contender Joe Choynski Arguably Robbed against the best heavyweight of the late 1890s, ATG Bob Fitzsimmons. Was well in command until the 14th. Past his own prime, he nearly defeated the best heavyweight of the early 1900s, ATG James Jeffries. Knocked out hall of famer contender Kid McCoy So Corbett fought the VERY best heavyweights in a span of TWO decades...and was either beating the **** out of them, or was well in command on the scorecards when he got caught. The only man able to box with him, was Peter Jackson. Not to shabby.
And in even fifteen round title bouts instead of the 25 round goes of those days he wins handily over Jeffries.
What about Tom Sharkey? Corrbett was likely on his way out before his corner jumped into the ring to force the DQ? Corbett at age 33, who badly wanted the title back was not in command of the score cards prior to being stopped by Jeffries. The tide had turned, and the rounds judging by detailed reports were about even, perhaps with Jeffries having a slight edge. Corbett did land a sharp combination that made Fitz drop, but if you watch the tape closely, Fitz who clutched a bit to delay the count could have been up on the count of six. Once Siler began the count, Fitz got up with no ill effects.
I agree Fitz could have gotten up, but had Corbett been allow to stand over Fitz(Like Dempsey Willard) I dont think Fitz is going to leave that round with out getting hurt. Today we might be well thats fair and all, but it was the rules of the day, and the bias ref that give Fitz the edge to win. IE watch Fitz stalk over Corbett, but the ref pushs Corbett back and giving Fitz room to get up.
I don't know I'd say Corbett was in command against Fitzsimmons at the time of the KO. Yes he'd won most, maybe all, the rounds -- but it was a finish fight, so rounds were irrelevant. Corbett was refered to as starting to look tired and showing a grey pallor around, I think, the eleventh round. Generally people thought that Fitzsimmons had made a good fight, taking numerous lighter blows and superficial injury inorder to land more telling punches and give Corbett no time to rest. However, it would have been interesting to see the go at it in a fifteen round points fight.
The Corbett Fitzsimmons fight can be read in more than one way. Either Fitz was verry clever or verry lucky.
once again a thread is broken with SOMETHING not pertaining to the title...what has Corbett v Fitzsimmons..long count....got to with where Peter Jackson stands in line with heavyweight boxers?
I am of the opinion Corbett got robbed. Fitz grabbed on to corbett on the way down...saved himself a good 3-5 seconds. Imo, without it, he would have been counted out.
Yeah man i know this happened a few years ago but it was filmed..and the film clearly has Fitz down for a count of more than ten..what a shame..
I agree. People do not give Corbett enough credit for this performance. He literally dominated Fitzsimmons. Fitz did land a great equalizer, but I personally thought the fight should have been over by that point. Fitz never had the best of chins.
