Some nicely editted Corbett-Fitzsimmons footage that shows the solar plexus punch

1. I wouldn't say single shots. Fitz throws left-right and right-left combos consistently, one to the body and the followup to the head, both on this tape and the 4.27 minute one on youtube. He does not not flurry on the brief footage we have.

2. I watched the first Roy Jones-Montell Griffin fight and then rewatched this tape, and I have no doubt that Fitz shows a lot more foot speed than Jones. Jones did not throw gobs of punches either, landing ten or less in many rounds. He also got trapped in the corners a lot and hit in the body a lot. I wonder if he could survive doing that with the gloves of Fitz's era.

3. Do you think holding the gloves lower might have had something to do with protecting the body when the small gloves allowed for a much more damaging body attack? Note how the Corbett fight ended. It might have been necessary to block or parry body punches.

4. Much is made of Fitz leaning back, but he only does that at a distance. In close he ducks punches. I noticed on the 4:27 minute tape that moving in he raises his gloves to about chest level. If Corbett goes for the head, he gets the gloves up to parry.

5. Jones was 28 in the fight I watched. Fitz a month or so shy of 34. Fitz shows more foot speed. Hand speed? No. Power? If Jones has freakish speed, which did not show against Griffin, Fitz has freakish power. Note the way he throws Corbett backward out of a clinch.

6. I rewatched Ali-Liston 1 earlier today and I noticed that Steve Ellis mentioned that Ali was carrying his hands low but at a distance, and when asked after a couple of rounds, Joe Louis advised that Liston would do better to go to the body as Ali was leaning too far back for Liston to hit him.

 

They then would still be laughing as there head hit the canvas and they were unconscious,doubt they would find it to funny after

 

Another thing that people need to consider is that there is no single surviving film of this fight.

The film you see today is peiced together from multiple badly degraded films and many of the frames are missing.

 

Thank you.

I do think Fitz, however, would have adapted to other eras. He had ungodly power that can't beat taught.

 

Whatever you think of Fitzsimmons style there is no questioning that his credentials as a finisher are as good as anybody his weight from any era.

That alone should make him a threat to the best 160 pounder today.

 

True. When ranking in a sense of "for their time", his greatness is undisputable.

Responses to the points, respectively:

1. Okay, not literally single-shots only, but it does seem very "one shot and get out" orientated. Of course, Jones fought that way a lot as well, but there are two things to take into account here:

a) Because of his insane speed, he could win fights solely with that strategy. In Fitz/Corbet's case, it seems like everyone did it and film of their contemporaries confirms that
b) You can see Jones throw thunderous, 4+ punch combinations on plenty of occasions. If Fitz did that on footage we don't have, then why did they only include the unimpressive and clumsy parts during the selected highlights?

2. I think Jones is much faster not just of hand but also off foot. You can see him darting in and out of range, something Fitz doesn't do. Jones didn't look that impressive against Griffin I, though he made a lot of good fighters look stupid.. think Toney. And was destroyed in a single round in the rematch. Jones also weighed over 180 pounds for that fight, take that into account when comparing speed. Not to mention glove size.

Could he take those punches to the body with small gloves? Maybe, maybe not, but you can be pretty sure he'll adopt a different style under those rules. Probably one closer to the bare knuckle style, like they had. Different rules produce different styles. Willard is a great example of that: as a champion, he is purely a product of his era, and i find it hard to see him beating other champions over 12 or 15 rounds.

3. That sounds likely, though i still don't really understand it. Maybe it's just me, but when i'm engaging in a fist fight, that stance just feels unnatural because you almost purposely leave yourself open. Not to mention the standard leaning-back style looks awful in terms of getting leverage.

Something like this:

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Here they have their hands in a good position it seems, however in that Fitz-Corbett video, they were much, much lower most of the time. But that leaning back when not in punching range? Suicide to me.


Another observation: in MMA and UFC today, where they use 4 oz gloves, they do utillize a high guard as far as i've seen.


4. Fair enough, i guess there's more to it than it seems, but it does seem awfully dangerous to me. Yes, Ali did it now and then, but that's 1 fighter out of thousands, since gloved boxing.


5. No one ever denied Fitz had freaky power. I didn't, anyway. And i do think Jones has freakish speed.

6. He did make Liston look amateurish and barely got punished for his low hands ... but Ali was a runner, Bob was a puncher. And again, Ali is just one fighter out of many, many that didn't. In Fitzsimmons' case, it was a generally adopted style, not one speed freak who could afford not to.

 

My fight review.

Fitzsimmons vs Corbett. Refree is Hall of fameer George Siler.

Pre Fight: The story goes….. The two met in a hotel. Fitzsimmons extends his hand. Corbett grabs Fitzsimmons nose and twists it! There is bad blood from the start between these two.

Notes: This fight is on DVD. To best report the action, I will freeze frame the DVD ever 20 seconds, then report what has happened. This way the entire rounds worth of action will be fresh in my mind. All major occurrences will be reported, but minor stuff will be left out. I am not sure if the rounds go in sequence or not.

Opening. Arena is shown. Then Fitzsimmons and Corbett smile before the camera. Corbett seems to like the camera more so than Fitzsimmons.

Frame One: ( shown as round one ). The film seems to run a little slow. The fighters move to the center of the ring. Fitzsimmons swings twice! Corbett moves out of the way of the first than blocks the other! Corbett lands a quick 1-2. Great speed and footwork by Corbett. Its on level with a young Ali. Fitzsimmons hand speed seems faster than Marciano’s and about even with Dempsey’s. Fitzsimmons stance is knees bent, with him leaning backwards a bit. Corbett is very much on his toes. Fitzsimmons is something of a shuffling plodder moving forward, but he has a bounce in his step. Back to the action! After Corbett lands the 1-2 they clinch then push off. Left hook lands by Corbett. Technique is good. Then a jab by Corbett. Corbett circles to his right around Fitzsimmons, firing probing body shots. They clinch then push off. Fitz plods in. Corbett feints high with his right then bends at the waist and sticks in a straight left to the body. Wow, that was great. Perfectly set up and executed with fantastic speed. The bell sounds and the fighters walk back to the corner. Corbett wins the round easy. Fitz only was landing in the clinches.

***I time the seconds in-between rounds to see how slow the film is. I have no idea exactly when the bell sounded due to this being a silent film, but the time in-between round is 1 minute 25 seconds. So, 60 seconds = 85 seconds on this film. This explains why the film looks slow when people are walking around. However when the fighters move or throw punches, they both have good speed, especially Corbett. In between the rounds the fighters are fanned off by towels. The fight is outdoors in the desert sun.

Frame Two: This is round two. Fighters meet in the center of the ring. Corbett lands then clinches. They break. Fitzsimmons gives chase, but Corbett keeps an equal distance moving backwards or laterally. Fitzsimmons footwork is no match for Corbett’s. Fitzsimmons swings. Corbett blocks then counters. Hard body shot by Corbett. A clinch, then break. Corbett lands a sneaky right in the clinch. Fitzsimmons is quick with his punches, but Corbett is getting out of the clinches, or blocking. Lots of clinching. Corbett feints low with his left, and goes high with his right! HaHa, exact opposite of what he did in round one. The right lands hard. Corbett now working Fitz over in the corner off screen. Corbett backs up. Fitz advances. Corbett counters hard. I must say Corbett is a great clincher, much stronger than I pictured, plus he knows how to push off and re-set. Fitzsimmons lands hard on the inside for a change. Fitz lands a right. They clinch. They break. Fitz swings, Corbett ducks a viscous looking right, then counters with a 1-2 to the body and a head shot. I am very impressed with Corbett’s skills and defense. He looks like a highly skilled lightweight at 185 pounds! Bell rings. Corbett’s round though Fitzsimmons landed some good shots.


Frame three: They meet in the center of the ring. Corbett gets Fitz in a head lock and grins, and then pushes Fitzsimmons several feet backwards. Gentleman Jim is far strong then given credit for, even if he has Fitz by 18 pounds, that was quite a shove. Fitzsimmons boars in. Corbett clinches and head locks him again! Quick jab by Corbett. Fitzsimmons had no chance at blocking it. Fitzsimmons counters with a hard right as they fight! Right swing lands for Corbett, then an uppercut. Yes it was an uppercut. Corbett in attack. More hard shots by Corbett, then spirited clinching! BAM! Big right hand by Corbett. Another one. A quick left in the blink of an eye, then a right. Fitzsimmons in retreat in his corner. 1-2 by Corbett. A clinch. Then a left and hard right by Corbett. Fitzsimmons' head snaps back and forth. A hard hook to the body by Corbett. Fitz down on one knee clinching for 3-4 seconds timed by me. Referee Siler starts the count. WTF!!! Siler is restringing Corbett and escorting him away from Fitzsimmons. There was no neutral corner rule!! It seems like Siler is being partial to Fitzsimons here. Was this in the rules? More on Siler being partial in the Gans vs McGovern later!!! Fitzsimmons gets up. I believe he could have gotten up sooner if he chose to do so. Corbett moves in for the kill! Fitzsimmons has to fight his way out of a corner. Good action, but the sun come out and blurs the film a bit. It is written that Fitzsimsons could recover quickly from hard shots. Yes, this is the case on film! Big round for Corbett. 10-8

***Referee Siler is talking to the time keeper. Heated discussion. Now he is bending his elbow back and forth and shaking his finger. Siler is pissed at something. He is arguing with one of Corbett’s corner man, perhaps about the alleged slow count, or Siler restraining Corbett after the knockdown. This goes on for the entire time in-between rounds. Outside of this, Siler is a great ref. He stays away from the action, and makes sure the breaks are clean.

Frame four: Fitzsimmons shuffling back and forth. It looks like he wants to catch Corbett coming in. Shots exchanged. Hard hook by Fitzsimmons in a clinch. Corbett switches up a bit. He jabs then clinches. Looked like John Ruiz there. Hard right to the head by Corbett. Corbett still very quick on his feet. Fitzsimmons can not catch up to Corbett. Another clinch. Ref Siler breaks them up. Rough clinch as they fight. Looks like an accidental head butt there! The bell sounds. The fighters get in each others faces! Corbett’s round.

Frame five: Corbett back in the middle of the ring. Clinching is now rough. Corbett is sneaky in the clinch. Fitzsimmons uses his elbow on Corbett’s neck to break the clinch. This has turned into a rough fight! Jabs’s by Corbett. Wilds swings by Fitzsimmons!!!!!!... Corbett ducks then lands a throws a 1-2 missing the first but landing flush on the second. Very impressive. The Sun comes out again. Screen blurred a bit. Some more good shots by Corbett. Round ends. Corbett’s round.

Frame six: We warp forward to some unknown round. The film is much better now. Different camera angle as well. A closer up view. Back to the action. Fitzsimmons is landing hard. Fitzsimmons is winging shots like Marciano on Corbett. When Fitzsimmons punches he gets leverage on his shots, and has very little recovery time in-between punches. A clinch. Fitzsimmons pushes Corbett several feet back. Freeze frame. Now the fighters are in the center of the ring…..Fitzsimmons feints high, then lands a hard hook in a downward motion to Corbett’s floating rib / liver area. Bam! Corbett goes down on one leg. He’s trying to keep himself up with his glove on the mat. Referee Siler starts the count. Corbett falls to the mat. Now he tries to move towards the ropes to get up. Corbett’s seems paralyzed from the shot but desperately tires to get up. Corbett is still very game unlike Oscar De LaHoya. Corbett is counted out! KO win for Fitzsimmons as he raises his hand in victory. IMO, this was not a lucky KO punch, it was cleverly set up by Fitzsimmons. I would pick Corbett in a re-match.

Notes: I was impressed with both fighters for different reasons. Corbett looked very good on a grainy and slow film. IMO, he was moved around like Ali, could clinch almost as well as Jack Johnson, and was near impossible to hit from a distance. Power wise, Corbett surprised me a bit. He was accurate, could lands all types of punches, and counter. No doubt, Gentleman Jim could really fight. Even in defeat this film shows me he could decision lots of champions, making them look like uncoordinated geeks in the process. Corbett took some hard shots to the head, but Fitz was a deadly puncher with speed.

As far as Fitzsimmons goes, his footwork was very average. However, he was mentally and physically tough. His hand speed was very good, and his power had great effect when he landed. Vs a longer stick and move type of fighter, I think Fitzsimmons has would struggle ( as he did here ) , but when he closed the distance Fitz was deadly. Fitz would do much better vs the punchers or swarmers then fleet footed boxers.

 

Like i said, if it was his own style, i would have no problem with it, but my impression based on other film is that the way he fought is how most of the people fought back then.

I.e. it was their general style, not a freaky anomaly like Ali and Jones are.






And answer this honestly: Can you seriously see him leaning back, almost falling backward, and not think "he'd be punished for doing that in a developed, gloved boxing environment" ?

 

on the subject of the knockout punch i always thought that fitz moved to his own right to land it,however the film shows him moving inside corbett's left hook to his own left to the land the shot.you learn something everday!

 

I see a lot of reasons.

Well, he could have success because of his obviously gigantic punching power, but his primitive style would put him back. A bit like driving a McLaren F1 with a speed limiter at 120 mp/h, while your opponent drives a Porsche 911 and beats you with it because he's not limited.

Well if you could send me all of the fourteen rounds between them i'd be greatful. :think

This is exactly my point.

Well i disagree there. I still see them leaning back and having their hands extremely low. I think Johnson has a hybrid style of bare knuckle and gloved boxing; Fitzsimmons' seemed to be more bare knuckle-oriented.

 

Sounds ridiculous to me as well.

However, i think he'd have more than a lot of trouble with Pavlik or Abraham, the latter who has almost the opposite style of him in terms of glove blocking.