Bob Fitzsimmons Appreciation Thread

http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper ...=C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Fulton_New_form.html&.pdf

here is an excellent preview of Fitzsimmons maher which has some great info on fitz early fights and shows that some we dont remember are better than we thought. Like arthur Upham who was good enough to go to england for a shot at the English title.

 

Robert Edgren: "Fitzsimmons was the craftiest of all fighters. I asked Kid McCoy — crafty as a fox himself — why he never fought Fitzsimmons. "Because that old guy knows too much." said McCoy. "I can measure any other man's mind and tell what he's likely to do next, but when you think you know every move old Fitz can make he pulls out something new that you never thought of."

 

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/61955468?searchTerm=bill slavin&searchLimits=

Well here is one of Bob's unrecorded fights.

It seems that he fought Jim (Jack) Burke was in fact a good experienced heavyweight fighter. He actually fought Paddy Slavin twice according to the above report and went into the first fight as favourite and while losing this one due to a hand injury he appeared to possibly get the nod. Slavin was a genuine top 5 fighter in the World, although i am guessing that he was a little green when the fight took place. Burke also has recorded wins or draws over Charley Mitchell, Alf Greenfield and Captain James Dalton, who are all World Title Challengers as well as draws with World Champions Jim Corbett, the Non Pareil Jack Dempsey, Peter Jackson and Larry Foley. Notice that there are no claims of a win or draw against fitzsimmons and, given that it would ahve been huge news, we can only assume that Fitzsimmons was the victor. Burke did get KO d though, by John L Sullivan. Let us not forget that when this fight took place (and it is not clear exactly when it happened) Fitzsimmons would have been anywhere from a lightweight to a Welterweight(or perhaps slightly over the limit), given that he was campaining as a middleweight at a time when the division was only 150 lbs and not the 160 lbs it had become by the time Greb had his big run as a middleweight/Light Heavy/Heavy.

As usual, Fitzsimmons continues to astound me.

 

B, the most convincing article I have read on Fitz's greatness was by the famous American poet and boxing fan Edgar Lee Masters. His article is in "the Book Of Boxing",by Heinz and Ward. Masters saw every HW champion from Fitz to Louis ringside,and called Fitz the best HW champ ever...
For what it's worth...

 

Cab driver

 

Jack Johnson rated Fitz the best up to, and including Tunney, pretty good reference.

Here is the link page 27?

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=SCE0ypLQHGcC&dat=19290427&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

 

Here is a good read of Bob Fitzsimmons taking out three fighters at the same time! One of them was a former Jem Mace opponent.

http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cdnc/cgi-bin/cd...------en--20--1--txt-IN-fitzsimmons+mace----#

 

Yeah, the only footage of him is when he's balding and looks a bit soft around the edges lol.

Was very crafty and gets overlooked by many(VERY early times and pretty sure most casual fans never heard of him) but he probably was the first PFP fighter, definitely top 5-10 all time. I think he has a book but I would get it if so, guy was a genius in the ring. More you learn of him the higher your appreciation of him is.

 

I still stand by what I said when I first posted in this thread. No boxer achieved as much as he did imo.

Greb has the greatest resume imo and robinson is the most skilled but fitz achieved the most.

These 3 are my choices for goat.

 

What exactly was Fitz secret to punching as hard as he did?

Smaller gloves?

Pin point accuracy?

 

Excellent book B.B.:good

 

Here is another quick one, which i am sure that many will not know.

As the world middleweight champion, Fitzsimmons fought the World Coloured middlweight champion a four rounder. Technically a unification bout i suppose. Although Fitzsimmons didnt get the KO, it seems that he was the comfortable winner of the bout. Certainly a better win than the Black Pearl ND4 on the record indicates.
http://udn.lib.utah.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/slherald19/id/220309/show/220209/rec/4

 

In Pollack's 'In the ring ... Fitzsimmons', there are a couple references to the power Fitzsimmons could get into a blow without outwardly seeming to exert himself. Probably analogous to the great pitcher Walter Johnson, who'd throw the ball past people while looking like he was just playing catch.