As A Middleweight, Bob Fitzsimmons Was Supreme Among Fighters

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 6864, 21 May 1932, Page 11

As A Middleweight, Bob Fitzsimmons Was Supreme Among Fighters

NO LATTER-DAY BOXER OF HIS WEIGHT COULD HAVE STOOD UP TO HIM

■HEN Mickey Walker turned in his middleweight crown recently in order to try his luck with the heavyweights, he was conceded only a small cliahcc of pulling through. As a middleweight, the experts figured, Mickey was the peer of the field, but as a heavyweight lie was too small and too light to cut any figure. Yet Walker surprised even his most ardent supporters by holding the American champion, Jack Sharkey, to a draw. Walker, who has held botli the welter and middleweight titles, thinks lie is good enough to bring home the bacon in the heavier class, and if he succeeds he will take his place at the side of the great Bob Fitzsimmons, the only man to win" three world’s titles. That Walker is a wonder at his weight is admitted, but he will never equal the marvellous record of Fitzsimmons (writes Charles Canole, in “The Ring.”) Ruby Robert, especially as a middleweight, ranked supreme. Possibly because he created so great a sensation as a heavy weightchampion, his remarkable feats as a middleweight are so often overlooked. As a matter of fact, almost all references to the formidblc Cornishman (who was brought up in New Zealand) concern his career as a heavyweight, yet it was as a middleweight that he gained his greatest prestige. Fitzsimmons’s capture of the lightheavyweight championship at a time when he was on the wane physically,

when he landed in San Francisco in 1890, and the record of his defeat at the hands of Jim Hall in four rounds in Australia had a tendency to belittle Ruby Robert in the eyes of the boxing experts. Fitz had but two bouts in America previous to getting the match with Dempsey. The Cornishman had stopped Billy McCarthy in nine rounds in San Francisco, and then was matched with Arthur Upham, for a contest in New Orleans. Fitz stopped Upham in five j bunds. Australian Billy McCarthy was regarded as a trial horse, as he has lasted 20 and 28 rounds in two fights with Nonpareil Dempsey. Therefore, when Fitz stopped McCarthy in nine rounds, Dempsey and his supporters jumped to the conclusion that Fitz would be a good drawing-card with the title-holder and the match was made. It was in this match that Fitz proved conclusively that he was a genuine middleweight. The Cornishman stood sft lljin in height, and his magnificent upper body, great shoulders and long, sinewy arms, surmounted by a notably small head with a sparse thatch of auburn hair, gave him the appearance of anything but one of the greatest fighters in the history of the ring.

His remarkable superstructure was supported by a pair of long, spindling legs that tapered to thin, bony ankles. His eyes were small, blue, and usually twinkled with good humour, for outside of the ring Fitzsimmons was a jovial chap, and fond of practical jokes. He also liked to sing, and had a tenor voice of fair quality. Dempsey was a black-haired little chap who only occasionally weighed more than 147 pounds. Bob was wonderfully speedy, an excellent boxer, and, while scarcely _ a knock-out hitter, was a punishing puncher. Like Jim Corbett, Dempsey depended on wearing his opponents down by jabbing and defensive tactics before putting them to sleep. Dempsey insisted on 154 pounds ringside for Fitzsimmons. Dempsey and his backers were evidently of the opinion that a man standing only a quarter of an inch below six feet could not possibly make 1541 b at ringside and retain his strength. Fitzsimmons accepted the weight condition without a word of protest, and posted a forfeit to make the poundage. When the time came to weigh in, Fitz stepped on the scales and registered 150Jlb, which naturally knocked the Dempseyites off their balance. Dempsey scaled 147J1b. If Dempsey and his backers were astonished at Fitz’s low weight, they received a worse shock when the fight started. Fitz showed the strength of a lion, and the courage of a bulldog. The invader soon battered Dempsey to a helpless condition, and in the early rounds it was apparent that the Nonpareil could not last very much longer. Fitz did not care to pommel a man who could not retaliate, and he begged Dempsey’s seconds to throw in the sponge.

was another remarkable performance by the freckle-fisted gladiator. Yet there is small doubt that Fitzsimmons’s defeat of Nonpareil Jack Dempsey, holder of the middleweight title, was the most disconcerting, startling performance of the man who was destined to win the championships of three classes before his retirement from pugilism. Comparatively little was known about Fitz,

But Dempsey declined to have this done and struggled along until the 13th round, when Fitz landed a knockout blow. After winning the middleweight title, Fitz engaged in battle with any middleweight with whom he could get matches, but for the most part he waged war with heavies. He finally got a match with Jim Hall, who had the credit of a

four-round knockout over the Cornishman before the latter. left Australia. This contest was advertised as for the middleweight title, but neither man scaled near the 154-pound limit. Fitz, having taken on considerable weight during the three years following his defeat of Dempsey, scaled 167 Mb, while Hall weighed 163£1b. Fitz knocked out Hall in the fourth round of a contest that aroused much suspicion. Fitz thereafter directed his activities to the heavyweights. There is little question that, during the early years of his ring career, when he could weigh not more than 1601 b, Fitz was the ablest fighter in the middleweight class. Dempsey unquestionably outclassed all the 154-pounders up to the time that Fitz arrived on the scene, and the Nonpareil would no doubt have held, on to the title for many years had Fitz remained in Australia. Of the men who held the title at 1581 b, Tommy Ryan and Kid McCoy wanted nothing to do with Lanky Bob. Stanislaus Kiecal, known in the ring as Stanley Ketchel, was without doubt the most dangerous hitter of the 158pounders. Many people have reached the opinion that Ketchel would . have out-hit Fitzsimmons. The writer is unable to subscribe to that edict. He is of the opinion that Fitz would have brought Ketchel down. Stress has been laid on the lOth-round knock-out by Ketchel 'of Philadelphia Jack O’Brien, after the latter had cut the Polander to ribbons. The superiority of Fitz’s punching powers over those of O’Brien is apparently not given due importance. Of modern middleweights there does not appear one who could have withstood Fitz’s blows. Billy Papke, Jimmy Clabby, Frank Klaus, Eddie McGoorty, Jack Dillon, Mike O’Dowd, A 1 McCoy, George Chip, Johnny Wilson, Tiger Flowers, and Mickey Walker would all have been easy for Fitz in his best form as a middleweight.