Gans did seem to pick up a lot from Fitzsimmons stance-wise in his fight with Nelson: This content is protected I do know that Gans was in Fitz’s corner in the early stages of his career, but what else do we know about their relationship? How much of an impact did Fitzsimmons have on Gans?
i don’t see anything … to me Fitz w his leaning backwards style looks absurd from what I can make out of the Corbett fight … he actally looks a lot better in the Bill Lang footage eleven years older but that may be because of better caliber of surviving footage. Regardless , Gans seems like one of those fighters that transcend time.
I see some similarities in their stances, especially with the way they often arch their back. Gans is what I imagine Fitzsimmons looked like if he was, well, good on film.
Gans waxed lyrical about Bobs straight punching ability, and him shifting his weight to put whole body behind those punches. I just think Gans was a student of the game, learned from a wide range of fighters, always learning, and built on what he learned, Fitzsimmons was just another who he learned from, though not a bad fellow to learn from, learning from the man who learned from Jem Mace.
It interesting but I was rewatching a Bob Foster title defense and I believe the announcer was Don Dunphy said oldtimers said to him that Foster reminded them of Old Bob Fitzsimmons ... I found that interesting and believable
Excerpt from Colleen Aycock’s book on Gans “To Herford’s credit, he supported Gans and encouraged him to attend Fitzsimmons’ exhibitions to study his boxing style. This early experience was perhaps the most formative in Gans’ professional career. From these ring bouts, Gans studied, analyzed, adopted and modified the moves and techniques of this early master of boxing. Fitzsimmons can be credited for giving Gans his short straight-arm jolts. Years later Gans remarked, “I regard Bob Fitzsimmons as one of the greatest exponents of straight hitting that the prize ring has ever known. Fitz was a wonderful fighter and all of his straight punches were very effective. Until age set in, and his hands went back on him, there were few fighters able to withstand that famous shift of his. When Fitz delivered this blow he carried the whole weight of his body with it.”
I highly doubt it, and thus, the whole version doesn't seem plausible to me, but I don't care to go back and look through Baltimore Sun advertisements for Fitzsimmons' visits to Baltimore, I recall looking through them and the chronology of events didn't support that claim. 1898-11-07 The Sun (Baltimore, MD) (page 8) "I never had an instructor in boxing, but learned the game from observation. Of course, I learned considerable in my many fights. When I was almost seventeen years of age I took much interest in the game and used to study the movements of such great boxers as Jack Dempsey and Jack McAuliffe. I was then working for Mr. Caleb Bond in the fish business. Mr. Bond liked boxing, and the first time I ever put on gloves was with him, so you see I began out of school one might say. "The first time I fought it was with David Armstrong. The fight took place on Bond street and the purse was $2.80. I won and got $1.40. My next fight was near the Lexington market with D. Coates. I put him out and got $8. Then I fought David Horn at the Crib Club, which was being run by the Neptune Boat Club. There was about $1,200 in the house. The police interfered, but I got $15. The rest of my fights, which number over 150, have been recorded. 1910-05-23 Arizona Democrat (Phoenix, AZ) My first real fight took place during a visit to Baltimore by Bob Fitzsimmons. Fitz was traveling around the country at that time offering $100 to any man that could stay four rounds with him. In every city in which he appeared the management of the house had been in the habit of staging a three or four round preliminary bout between the local boys. When Fitz arrived in Baltimore it was decided to do the same, and here was the chance. I begged and pleaded with the manager of the house where Fitz was to box to give me a chance, and after several turn-downs he said he would let me go on with a big fellow by the name of Arthur Coats, but if I didn’t make a good showing the manager said I needn’t bother to come back looking for another chance. We were to fight for a prize of $5. Of this sum $3 went to the winner and $2 to the loser. Well, the night of Fitz’s appearance finally came around, and Coats and I went on for the preliminary. Coats was a big fellow and was the local champion of Baltimore. Although he weighed 30 or 40 pounds more than I did, I knew it was up to me to whip him or there would be no further chance for me in that house. As I said before, Coats was big and strong, but he was slow, and I hammered his head off during the three rounds of the fight. I didn’t put him out, but I whipped him so badly that the manager gave me the whole $5, which looked like a small fortune. I took the money home to my mother, but didn’t want her to know that I had been fighting for it. She accused me of stealing it and I lied and told her I had made a lucky bet with one of the boys. She disliked the idea of betting, but felt that that was better than stealing, so didn’t say much to me about it. My fight with Coats took place on a Friday night, and before the week had passed I had arranged to fight Dave Armstrong, another local boy, for a bet of $5 a side. We posted a forfeit of $2 each, with the understanding that we would put up the other $3 the night of the fight. However, when the time came to put up the balance, Armstrong didn’t have the money, so we each drew down our $2 forfeit. The crowd wanted a fight though, and a collection was taken, netting $5, which was offered as a purse. This looked good to us both, and the fight started. Armstrong, like Coats, was a big man, but I was faster than he was and could hit just as hard, so didn’t have much trouble in holding my own with him. The fight was pretty even along for nine or ten rounds, when I decided to put a stop to it if I possibly could, so I sailed in and by hammering Armstrong with both hands just as fast as I could get set for a blow, I succeeded in putting him out in the eleventh round. For winning I got $5 of the collection and Armstrong’s $3.
A few more excerpts from Aycock’s book: “Gans was at ringside when Fitzsimmons first came to Baltimore in 1895. He spent several weeks following the famous future heavyweight champion, studying his moves. The Fitzsimmons uppercut, a brutal blow indeed, was raised to an art form as sophisticated as ballet by Gans. Fitz, standing straight with his head exposed, would trade punches and bull his way until he maneuvered his opponent’s elbow high enough so he could dig a shot under the ribs. Gans, with feet always at perfect 45-degree angles, would time his opponent’s rushes, slip neatly to his right, then drive theuppercut through his opponent’s guard.”
