Bob Fitzsimmons Vs Jim Corbett Veriscope Film

Interesting... Is it going to be available for viewing soon?

 

Very interesting stuff...it would be cool to see a better film on Fitz and Corbett to see more of their tendencies and nuances. How they judged range and attempted control, and better views on the punching technique...Fascinating..I'm sure.

 

Nice Analysis of the fight!! Very interesting hope you can upload and post someday. Great work!

 

Corbett was certainly in front after 6 rds, he dropped Fitz in the 6th and by then Fitz was bleeding from the nose, a gashed lip and a cut behind his right ear, but after taking a count Fitz got up and survived a minute of Corbetts onslaught .

In the, 7th Corbett was still picking up points at long range , but Fitz began to get through with his own shots, as slowly he began the process of wearing down the champion.

When Corbett was stopped Jack McVey and Billy Delaney came into the ring to pick him up and get him back to his corner, but once Corbett was upright he broke away form them and went to Fitz's corner , throwing a right hand at Fitz;s face Fitz grabbed him until they were separated.

"You will have to fight me again, if you don't I'll go at you in the street the next time I see you", Corbett said.

Fitz replied ,"If you do ,I'll kill you".
The reason they did not shake hands is because when they met on the road prior to the fight Corbett refused Fitz's proffered hand ,saying "I'l shake hands with you after I've licked you".Fitz replied "Then we'll never shake".

When Corbett offered his hand in the ring Martin Julian Fitz's brother in law and manager refused to let Fitz take it.

The announced weights were Corbett 170lbs. Fitz 157lbs.
Fitz was weighed on a steel yard scale the monrning of the fight.

So we have a small lhvy defending the heavyweight title against a medium sized middle weight.

Fitz refused to fight Corbett again because he said Corbett had made him wait so long for his chance and behaved like a pig when they finally got together.

As you say he had his hands full in their fight and ,after gaining the crown at a comparatively advanced age he may well have been reluctant to risk it against such a dangerous challenger.
Good luck with the restoration, and with the sales of your Harry Greb book

 

Great insight … love it.

 

I own 27 minutes of this film, and broke down the action.


My fight review.

Fitzsimmons vs Corbett. The referee is Hall of fame member George Siler.

Pre-Fight: The story goes….. The two met in a hotel. Fitzsimmons extends his hand. Corbett grabs Fitzsimmons nose and twists it! There is bad blood from the start between these two.

Notes: This fight is on DVD. To best report the action, I will freeze frame the DVD every 20 seconds, then report what has happened. This way the entire rounds worth of action will be fresh in my mind. All major occurrences will be reported, but minor stuff will be left out. I am not sure if the rounds go in sequence or not.

Opening. Arena is shown. Then Fitzsimmons and Corbett smile before the camera. Corbett seems to like the camera more so than Fitzsimmons.

Frame One: ( shown as round one ). The film seems to run a little slow. The fighters move to the center of the ring. Fitzsimmons swings twice! Corbett moves out of the way of the first than blocks the other! Corbett lands a quick 1-2. Great speed and footwork by Corbett. It’s on level with a young Ali. Fitzsimmons hand speed seems faster than Marciano’s and about even with Dempsey’s. Fitzsimmons stance is knees bent, with him leaning backwards a bit. Corbett is very much on his toes. Fitzsimmons is something of a shuffling plodder moving forward, but he has a bounce in his step. Back to the action! After Corbett lands the 1-2 they clinch then push off. Left hook lands by Corbett. Technique is good. Then a jab by Corbett. Corbett circles to his right around Fitzsimmons, firing probing body shots. They clinch then push off. Fitz plods in. Corbett feints high with his right then bends at the waist and sticks in a straight left to the body. Wow, that was great. Perfectly set up and executed with fantastic speed. The bell sounds and the fighters walk back to the corner. Corbett wins the round easy. Fitz only was landing in the clinches.

***I time the seconds in-between rounds to see how slow the film is. I have no idea exactly when the bell sounded due to this being a silent film, but the time in-between round is 1 minute 25 seconds. So, 60 seconds = 85 seconds on this film. This explains why the film looks slow when people are walking around. However when the fighters move or throw punches, they both have good speed, especially Corbett. In between the rounds the fighters are fanned off by towels. The fight is outdoors in the desert sun.

Frame Two: This is round two. Fighters meet in the center of the ring. Corbett lands then clinches. They break. Fitzsimmons gives chase, but Corbett keeps an equal distance moving backwards or laterally. Fitzsimmons footwork is no match for Corbett’s. Fitzsimmons swings. Corbett blocks then counters. Hard body shot by Corbett. A clinch, then break. Corbett lands a sneaky right in the clinch. Fitzsimmons is quick with his punches, but Corbett is getting out of the clinches, or blocking. Lots of clinching. Corbett feints low with his left, and goes high with his right! HaHa, exact opposite of what he did in round one. The right lands hard. Corbett now working Fitz over in the corner off screen. Corbett backs up. Fitz advances. Corbett counters hard. I must say Corbett is a great clincher, much stronger than I pictured, plus he knows how to push off and re-set. Fitzsimmons lands hard on the inside for a change. Fitz lands a right. They clinch. They break. Fitz swings, Corbett ducks a viscous looking right, then counters with a 1-2 to the body and a head shot. I am very impressed with Corbett’s skills and defense. He looks like a highly skilled lightweight at 185 pounds! Bell rings. Corbett’s round though Fitzsimmons landed some good shots.


Frame three: They meet in the center of the ring. Corbett gets Fitz in a head lock and grins, and then pushes Fitzsimmons several feet backwards. Gentleman Jim is far strong then given credit for, even if he has Fitz by 18 pounds that was quite a shove. Fitzsimmons boars in. Corbett clinches and head locks him again! Quick jab by Corbett. Fitzsimmons had no chance at blocking it. Fitzsimmons counters with a hard right as they fight! Right swing lands for Corbett, then an uppercut. Yes it was an uppercut. Corbett in attack. More hard shots by Corbett, then spirited clinching! BAM! Big right hand by Corbett. Another one. A quick left in the blink of an eye, then a right. Fitzsimmons in retreat in his corner. 1-2 by Corbett. A clinch. Then a left and hard right by Corbett. Fitzsimmons' head snaps back and forth. A hard hook to the body by Corbett. Fitz down on one knee clinching for 3-4 seconds timed by me. Referee Siler starts the count. WTF!!! Siler is restringing Corbett and escorting him away from Fitzsimmons. There was no neutral corner rule!! It seems like Siler is being partial to Fitzsimons here. Was this in the rules? More on Siler being partial in the Gans vs McGovern later!!! Fitzsimmons gets up. I believe he could have gotten up sooner if he chose to do so. Corbett moves in for the kill! Fitzsimmons has to fight his way out of a corner. Good action, but the sun come out and blurs the film a bit. It is written that Fitzsimsons could recover quickly from hard shots. Yes, this is the case on film! Big round for Corbett. 10-8

***Referee Siler is talking to the time keeper. Heated discussion. Now he is bending his elbow back and forth and shaking his finger. Siler is pissed at something. He is arguing with one of Corbett’s corner man, perhaps about the alleged slow count, or Siler restraining Corbett after the knockdown. This goes on for the entire time in-between rounds. Outside of this, Siler is a great ref. He stays away from the action, and makes sure the breaks are clean.

Frame four: Fitzsimmons shuffling back and forth. It looks like he wants to catch Corbett coming in. Shots exchanged. Hard hook by Fitzsimmons in a clinch. Corbett switches up a bit. He jabs then clinches. Looked like John Ruiz there. Hard right to the head by Corbett. Corbett still very quick on his feet. Fitzsimmons cannot catch up to Corbett. Another clinch. Ref Siler breaks them up. Rough clinch as they fight. Looks like an accidental head butt there! The bell sounds. The fighters get in each other’s faces! Corbett’s round.

Frame five: Corbett back in the middle of the ring. Clinching is now rough. Corbett is sneaky in the clinch. Fitzsimmons uses his elbow on Corbett’s neck to break the clinch. This has turned into a rough fight! Jabs’ by Corbett. Wilds swings by Fitzsimmons!!!!!!... Corbett ducks then lands a throws a 1-2 missing the first but landing flush on the second. Very impressive. The Sun comes out again. Screen blurred a bit. Some more good shots by Corbett. Round ends. Corbett’s round.

Frame six: We warp forward to some unknown round. The film is much better now. Different camera angle as well. A closer up view. Back to the action. Fitzsimmons is landing hard. Fitzsimmons is winging shots like Marciano on Corbett. When Fitzsimmons punches he gets leverage on his shots, and has very little recovery time in-between punches. A clinch. Fitzsimmons pushes Corbett several feet back. Freeze frame. Now the fighters are in the center of the ring…..Fitzsimmons feints high, and then lands a hard hook in a downward motion to Corbett’s floating rib / liver area. Bam! Corbett goes down on one leg. He’s trying to keep himself up with his glove on the mat. Referee Siler starts the count. Corbett falls to the mat. Now he tries to move towards the ropes to get up. Corbett’s seems paralyzed from the shot but desperately tries to get up. Corbett is still very game unlike Oscar De LaHoya. Corbett is counted out! KO win for Fitzsimmons as he raises his hand in victory. IMO, this was not a lucky KO punch, it was cleverly set up by Fitzsimmons. I would pick Corbett in a re-match.

Notes: I was impressed with both fighters for different reasons. Corbett looked very good on a grainy and slow film. IMO, he was moved around like Ali, could clinch almost as well as Jack Johnson, and was near impossible to hit from a distance. Power wise, Corbett surprised me a bit. He was accurate, could lands all types of punches, and counter. No doubt, Gentleman Jim could really fight. Even in defeat this film shows me he could decision lots of champions, making them look like uncoordinated geeks in the process. Corbett took some hard shots to the head, but Fitz was a deadly puncher with speed.

As far as Fitzsimmons goes, his footwork was very average. However, he was mentally and physically tough. His hand speed was very good, and his power had great effect when he landed. Vs a longer stick and move type of fighter, I think Fitzsimmons has would struggle ( as he did here ) , but when he closed the distance Fitz was deadly. Fitz would do much better vs. the punchers or swarmers then fleet footed boxers.

 

I have a pretty detailed account of this fight in my book, In the Ring With Bob Fitzsimmons. I'd be interested in seeing your footage if it is more than what is typically seen out there. I do already have a couple solid versions of the fight from collecting over the years, but haven't timed them.

 

News reads are great, but to best judge the fighters styles and tendencies, the films rule. How many minutes of the film do you have?

 

There were three timekeepers, one for each boxer ,and William Muldoon for the promoter.

 

Whatever you do with it ,it's a worthy project ,preserving ,and restoring a piece of boxing history.:good

 

Thanks for the good work klompton, as someone who has poured over his own version of this footage frame-by-frame I appreciate your detailed analysis.

Now go dig up some Greb footage dagnabbit.