Jimmy Britt was a champion amateur. After turning pro he quickly carved a path through the professional ranks, defeating legendary former champions Kid Lavigne and Frank Erne is his 3rd and 4th fights. In 1904 Britt challenged for the lightweight crown against Joe Gans. Britt displayed his superiority battering Gans to the canvas, yet a lack of coolness lead to him losing on disqualifcation. It was a odd time for the division, with the championship split between Gans who won the fight, yet was clearly inferior at the weight and Jimmy Britt on claimed the title with a series of wins. Britt is also notable for his series with Battling Nelson. Britt outpointed Nelson in the first and third fights, but was knocked out in the second. They further fought a 10 round no decision which was about even. The second fight, where Jimmy Britt lost his claim to the Lightweight title is, as far as I know, the only extant footage of him. Britt seems to have lost largely due to poor strategy, in particular taking too many risks and trading with Nelson. This content is protected That ramble done with, I think it'd be interesting to analyse this overlooked old time champion. I'll post my thoughts in a bit
I just completed a restoration of the Nelson-Britt film, adding a missing twenty minutes of the fight back in. The impression at the time was certainly that Britt fought the wrong fight against Nelson but I think it was more of a case of Britt being worn down by Nelson’s pressure. The knockout was brutal but it was supposedly precipitated by Britt’s tiring in the face of Nelson’s continued aggression and stamina.
I think his in fighting looks to be a big weakness from what I've seen. He seems to start trading more with Nelson as his timing starts to go later on from being worn down.
Britt looks pretty good at controlling the rhythm of the fight, as in moving and punching just as Nelson is about to get set. That said, he is against Nelson. He's able to move pretty quick on his feet, but isn't very effecient which probably contibuted to him fading badly. He's very left handed, but throws it with a good bit of variety, and some of his shots look pretty powerfull.
Yes, I think the issue here is Nelson. He was predictable and one dimensional but the guy just kept coming and kept coming. If you werent in tremendous shape he was going to wear you down, wear you out, and get you. Another thing to consider is that despite this fight being listed as a twenty rounder in boxrec (and in some of the promotion) it was announced from ringside that it was for 45 rounds. Britt may have felt that he couldnt run for 45 rounds and elected to be less mobile which played right into Nelson’s hands.
Did you fix the film speed issue and will you put it out into the cyber universe so we can view it? Thanks
