Did Any One Emulate This Feat?

On August the 10th 1900 Bob Fitzsimmons took on top contender Gus Ruhlin over 25 rds.
Two months earlier Ruhlin had beaten the **** out of Tom Sharkey,stopping him in 15rds.
Ruhlin had been trained for the Sharkey fight by Jim Corbett.
Billy Madden , Ruhlin's manager reasoned that by eliminating Fitz the way would be clear for Gus to challenge Jeffries for the title.
Corbett who had not forgiven Fitz for not only dethroning him but not giving him a rematch , thought it a splendid idea.

Ruhlin was nine years younger than the 37 years old Fitz, over two inches the taller, and coming in at 195lbs for this fight he was significantly the heavier man. So all the physical advantages were with Ruhlin.

Fitz turned up for the fight with a pair of his own gloves that had been specially made for him, he explained to Madden that he had broken a bone in his left hand putting away the huge Ed Dunkhorst and needed the extra padding these gloves afforded him.

Madden had no objection to Fitz having MORE padding and, after looking them over agreed.

Corbett stood over Fitz as he had his gloves fitted,then the fight began.

Corbett, remembering how successful he had been with his straight left against Fitz ,had schooled Ruhlin to use it against Fitz.

Ruhlin took the first round with the left, getting it home into Fitz's face several times, at the end of the round Fitz had a cut over his left eye and was bleeding from the mouth.
Fitz also went to the canvas in the opening round but whether it was as a result of a punch or a push is uncertain.
Never the less it was a big round for Ruhlin.

In the second Ruhlin , his confidence high began ,to throw more punches, but by opening up he was playing into the old sharp-shooters hands.

Ruhlin re-opened the cut over Fitz's eye that his corner had closed, but took a stiff shot to the mouth that made it bleed,a follow up right to the chin had Ruhlin wobbly,and Fitz's patented left to the body made him back-pedal hastily.
Fitz was always a great finisher and now he smelt blood, he landed a couple of good shots from both hands putting Ruhlin down, but Gus was game and arose to be rescued by the bell.

The third round saw a more measured Fitz,and Ruhlin ,the much younger man seemed to have recovered remarkably well.
Ruhlin forced the pace and got the better of the exchanges, but both men were feeling the effects of the big shots landed and they clinched , both bloody faced and tired from the pace.

Fitz got his second wind in the fourth round, and increased his efforts his more accurate and harder punches soon had Ruhlin in trouble ,a right hand dropped Ruhlin,and Ruhlin took a nine count, when he arose he was bleeding badly from a gash on his left eye.

Ruhlin was severely shaken by the knockdown and looked at the end of his thether, but the bell rang and he gladly returned to his corner for much needed repair work.

The fifth round saw Fitz hitting Gus where and when he liked ,the big man staggered as he shipped awful punishment, but gamely stayed in there.
Fitz was concetrating on the body , saving his knuckes and he landed thumping blows from both hands into Ruhlin's ribs.
Some how Ruhlin survived the round.
Fitz came out for the sixth determined to end affairs.

Ruhlin was a walking punch-bag by this time, bleeding from several places and almost cut in half from Fitz's body smashes.

Fitz hacked away at the big man with impunity,, driving him into a corner.
A salvo of punches had Ruhlin reeling, a right to the jaw and Ruhlin began to topple, another right to the same spot followed by akiller left hook to the ribs and Ruhlin fell.

Incredibly he was up before ten,and Fitz threw his whole arsenal at the defenceless hulk tottering and swaying before him.

Fitz put an end to the massacre with a terrific left uppercut that lifted Ruhlin off his feet, ala Foreman,Frazier.
Ruhlin went down flat on his back , out to the world ,the referee not bothering to count over the unconscious Gus , signalled his seconds to come and retrieve his inert body.

Fitz smiled at the crowd and did a lap of honour around the ring then went over to check on his victim who was still insensible in his corner.

Then Fitz left for the post fight interview in which he told reporters he had already signed for a rematch with Sharkey against whom,in their first fight, he had been robbed of a clean cut ko victory by the referee Wyatt Earp.

Ruhlin remained in the ring for a further ten minutes. Gus was too badly beaten to leave the arena ,[Madison Sq Garden,]and slept the night there, with a doctor visiting him.
The next day he was removed to his manager's home and stayed a week there recuperating.


Incredibly, exactly two weeks later Fitzsimmons was back in action,and his opponent was no patsy , it was Tom Sharkey.

Fitz had sealed the match by going into Sharkey's saloon and reminding Sharkey what a purse they could share for a rematch .

They signed for a $25,000 purse ,winner take all but this was later amended to a split purse.

It was late in the evening,[11.15 ,]when the two men came forward for the referee's instructions in the Coney Island A.C Brooklyn.

Fitz indicating Sharkey's famous chest tatoo of a ship ,said," I'm going to sink that ship tonight", "you ain't got guns enough", Sharkey replied"
At the initial bell Sharkey came out swinging but missed wildly as Fitz dodged the blow.
Sharkey again tried a big swing to the body , but Fitz was too agile for him, the hot headed Sharkey redoubled his efforts with an even bigger swing , and again missed badly , but this time Fitz countered with a hard right hand to the heart.
The Sailor now shifted his direction to the head , but he was out of distance once more as Fitz glided away from the crude swing, Fitz contenting himself with counters to the midriff.
Sharkey rushed and forced a clinch,the referee Charley White called break, Sharkey, who was always a bit deaf to ref's instructions let go a tremendous swing to Fitz's chin that badly shook the Ruby One, he staggered backwards and slumped to the canvas.

Fitz was getting back on his feet when the bell rang , rescuing him from Sharkey's follow up onslaught. Fitz's seconds anxiously asked him, how he felt.
"I'm okay I was only kidding him," he replied,now I'm going to sink his ship".
The impetuous Sharkey his tail up came out to finish the Freckled Cornishman in the second round.
Fitz backed to the ropes, seemingly ready to accept the inevitable defeat. Sharkey charged only to find himself held in a vice, his arms pinned to his sides.
Fitz pushed Sharkey away, then landed a big right hand to the heart,and Sharkey's face went ashen,stumbling forward he clutched at Fitz for all he was worth.

White broke them up.
Sharkey, realizing he had a Fitz fully charged and ready to go, redoubled his efforts to pound him down, but in a sharp shooting bang -out Fitz had few masters
.A right hand to the jaw had Sharkey's knees imitating hinges and a follow up combo had the Sailor wobbling into the ropes. Blindly Sharkey hit out at his tormentor , but the cold executioner Fitz was quicker and much more accurate another right hand to the head had Sharkey down, the Sailor rose ,reeling like a wounded bull, he fired a desperate blow for Fitz's body which missed and took a quick series of short shots in reply.

Sharkey's arms and jaw now dropped, he was defenceless. Fitz moved in, a left hook to the point of the jaw sent a spray of blood into the air,and Sharkey to the floor, on his hands and knees, blood dripping out of his mouth onto the canvas. The referee counted to ten as Sharkey made feeble attempts to crawl forward.
It was all over at 2 minutes and six seconds of the second round.

I hope this has not been too long-winded and boring,but now I finally come to the point of the thread. Has any man ,[ let alone one of thirty seven,] ever met two such dangerous opponents , [both top contenders for the title,] and kod both so convincingly, in the space of two weeks?

 

In answer to the other post The Ruhlin Fitsimmons fight was NOT filmed, it was intended to have been but it never materialised.Fitz and Ruhlin made a re-enactment of it some time later , later than was originally planned as Ruhlin's marks of battle,and weak condition could not be disguised.
The re-enactment did good business until someone spotted that Corbett was not in Ruhlin's corner in the spoof film ,having returned to San Francisco.
Corbett, who was very active as a corner man in the fight, had no wish to be associated with a dodgy simulation passing itself off as the original. He therefore refused to return to NY,and hence gave the game away.

Fitz had been active prior to the Ruhlin contest, having fought Ed
Dunkhorst just four months previously, unlike when he defended his title against Jeffries, for which battle he had prepared by going out and getting pissed on whiskey the night before, being half carried home by William Muldoon .
I find it absolutely hilarious that this agenda driven poster derogates Sam McVey as a title challenger for Jeffries because he took a year off, yet he finds no problem with Fitzsimmons coming out of two years inactivity to defend his title against Jeffries.
Anyone else operating under the aegis of these transparently double standards would be ridiculed, but that has happened so often that the author of this rubbish is obviously immune to such scorn .

 

This story has been proved to be exaggerated.
The premise that Fitz had loads of unrecorded contests is total bull**** .After winning the title from Corbett he went on the road in a melodrama with his then wife Rose, the play was called The Honest Blacksmith. This continued until their third child was born in 1899. After this Fitz gave sparring displays for a time, but engaged in NO CONTESTS.

Against the wishes of his wife Fitz decided to return to the ring again.

William Brady was instrumental in pushing Jeffries on Fitz,Jeffries less than scintillating appearance with Armstrong ,[against whom he injured his hand and was unable to fulfill his other engagement of the night against Steve O Donnell], encouraged Fitz to believe he would be defending against a strong but limited challenger.

After his desultory showing against the spoiling Armstrong in NY ,Jeffries extracted a promise from Fitz just before going back to San Francisco,," Jeffries asked Fitz for a title chance. Fitz replied,"so help me Jim ,if I ever fight anyone again it will be you". Jeffries was 12 years younger than Fitz, and 39lbs heavier . Fitz at 167lbs was a big middleweight.

In answer to the last post here. The observation that Fitzsimmons was the obvious candidate for a title shot following his demolition of Ruhlin is true.Strange therefore that he did not get one:huh

Instead Jeffries elected to fight the man Fitzsimmons had half killed ,Ruhlin, who was, I suggest damaged goods.

They fought on Nov the 15th 1901.
Predictably Jeffries won when Ruhlin's corner retired him between the 5th and 6th rounds. Jeffries did not defend against Fitzsimmons until the 25th of July 1902,a full 2 years after Fitz had thrashed Ruhlin.
By this time Fitz was pushing 40 years old. Timing is everything in boxing.

Box rec is a valuable asset for any one interested in old fights but posters need to do their own research, then perhaps they would not make crass remarks like "the Ruhlin/ Fitz fight was filmed" .And Fitz claimed he enaged in over 300 fights.
I have given the details of both the Ruhlin and second Sharkey fights that Fitz engaged in and added to the knowledge of a fool. Such is life.

A question for any objective observer.

Who was more deserving of a title shot in 1904? Jack Munroe who received one or, Jack Johnson and Sam McVey who did not?

 

Fitz had NO fights in 1898, and his May 1897 "fight" with Lew Joslin was an exhibition. From March 1897 until July 1899 he engaged in NO contests.That is a gap of nearly two and a half years, for most of that time Fitz was appearing in a play with his wife . Fitz claimed 328 fights this is a wild exaggeration.
I don't call him a liar , but I happily call the poster who believes it one, because it has been proved beyond all doubt that he is.

Bob Fitzsimmons absolutely wrecked Gus Ruhlin on August the 10th 1900 .A doctor was called to MSG where Ruhlin stayed the night unable to travel. He bled from his mouth , nose and ears ,and had taken severe punishment to the body
The day after Ruhlin was removed to his manager's cottage where he remained for a week recuperating.

"Fitz was at the top of the list for a title fight"

TRUE, WHY THEN DID HE NOT GET ONE FOR TWO YEARS?

Jeffries ,who had defended the title against Corbett on May 11th 1900, did not defend again until Nov 15th 1901. His opponent was Bob Fitzsimmons right?

WRONG, it was Gus Ruhlin who had been destroyed by Fitz 15 months earlier. Jeffries did not defend against Fitzsimmons until July 25th 1902 , by which time Fitz was all but 40 years old.




Jeffries fought Jack Munroe on the 24th of August 1904, at that time Johnson and McVey were the leading contenders.



In 1904 Johnson beat the following
Black Bill
Sam McVey
Frank Childs
Denver Ed Martin

McVey had only lost to Johnson and Martin whom he had previously kod in 1 rd.
Jeffries ignored their pleas for a title shot.

Ruhlin's first fight with Maher was NOT a ko win for him it was a nws dec. The re-enactment of the Ruhlin v Fitzsimmons fight was shown all over the US , and did good business until it was discovered it was not the real fight.Newspapers of the day wrote indignant pieces about the hoax,it is easily verifiable.Well it is to anyone who is interested in the truth.so I suppose the cretin who asserts it was filmed is excluded here.

 

One of us is a mendacious moron ,and it isn' t me.:good

 

I agree, the orIginal thread was about the remarkable feat Fitz achieved in beating the two top contenders by ko inside the timescale of 2 weeks .Made the ,.more remarkable because of his advanced age ,and light weight
Unfortunately the usual idiot thought he might make some capital out of it,but as he always does ,he has just emphasized what an agenda driven twat he is.
If he had any sense of shame he would be embarrassed for himself.