Fitz talks about the most exciting boxing match he ever saw

'One of the hardest hitters I ever knew was the Australian kangaroo Ajax. He was one of the chief attractions of a show on Coney Island when I was living there several years ago. Ajax stood five feet four in his bare feet and weighed 140 pounds. In addition to his hitting powers Ajax had a remarkable reach of nearly six feet, especially when he struck with his hind feet. He fought the longest battle in the history of the prize ring.

Now don't begin to object until I am through with my story. While on exhibition Ajax always boxed his trainer with his front paws, upon which he wore gloves. But when Ajax became angry he used his hind feet, which were bare, and when he hit his trainer with both feet square in the chest the trainer always went through the ropes. I have seen the trainer turn two somersaults when Ajax hit him.

I don't know how many of you fellows ever heard of a 'shifting den', - It is a box made to transport animals from place to place. It is made of boards strongly bolted together and contains holes for ventilation. The animal is put into the shifting den by means of a sliding door.

In 1894 the show with which Ajax was connected had exhibited at New Orleans. When the engagement was over Ajax was put into the shifting den and placed on a freight train ready to pull out for Atlanta, a run of about 40 hours for a slow freight train that had to sidetrack very often to keep the track clear for the expresses.

With the show was a man named Fred Robinson, who acted as a spieler, or barker. Robinson was a fine looking well-dressed fellow, a skillful boxer, and he could put up a line of talk that was gilt-edged. In New Orleans he ran across a southerner named Jones, who had some money and was crazy to get into the show business. Robinson gave him so smooth a line of talk about the chance of success for a show in Atlanta that Jones handed over $1,500 for Robinson to invest on shares. But it wasn't two hours before Jones repented and appealed to the police. The detectives hunted Robinson so close that he broke for the freight yards and boarded the show train. The pursuit got so hot that Robinson sneaked from one car to another, but found no secure hiding place until he reached the shifting den in which Ajax was confined.

The detectives held the train for half an hour looking for Robinson, but were forced to give up the search by the impatient showmen. The rain was falling in floods and the box was as dark as the inside of a coconut. Robinson could hear Ajax chewing a carrot and shuffling around as if he were annoyed at being disturbed, but he paid no attention to these sounds so glad was he at having escaped arrest. He sat on the floor, leaned his head against the side of the den and fell asleep, thoroughly exhausted by the exertion and excitement of his pursuit. He was awakened by a blow that knocked his hat off.

Robinson straightened up and peered into the darkness, but he might as well have been buried alive for all that he could see. Shut up in that narrow box in the dark with that ugly and powerful beast, Robinson was frightened out of all control for himself and he screamed like a madman for help.

One scream was all he could utter, for he got a jolt on the mouth that loosened his teeth and sent him back against the side of the box so hard that his head rang like a liberty bell on the Fourth of July. What made it harder for Robinson to bear was the fact that Ajax made no noise. Every blow was delivered like lighting out of a clear sky. Robinson had no means of judging time, so he stood there waiting for another blow to come out of the darkness.

During the first part of the fight Robinson stood with his left arm protecting his face and breast, his hearing strained like a fiddle string, staring into the darkness trying to get a line on the kangaroo so that he couldn't stand in position long. Hold your arm up before your face for fives minutes and it will feel like a pighead. And when he lowered his guard bang came those hooked feet against his face or chest and sent him to the floor panting and bIeeding.

By this time Robinson was desperate. He had been hammered so crueIIy that he began to feel faint. To add to his torment he began to suffer from thirst. His tongue felt like a cinder and his throat like the inside of a stovepipe. The excitement and heat in the box had dried up all the moisture in his body. When Robinson crawled around on his hands and knees trying to reach the kangaroo Ajax jumped over him, and every time he crossed Robinson's body his sharp nails tore the clothes off his back. He broke the knuckles off his right hand against the box striking out in the dark.

When the train reached Atlanta, Robinson was pulled out of the shifting den unconscious with two broken ribs, a broken nose and two black eyes. He was in the hospital for three weeks and when he recovered he was nabbed by the detectives. But he escaped prison by giving up the money. And I say that the 40-hour fight in the dark between Ajax and Robinson was the toughest and most exciting that took place in the history of pugilism.'

- Bob Fitzsimmons

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