BOB FITZSIMMONS … “POUND FOR POUND – THE BEST
EVER”
By Tracy Callis
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| Some critics, but few experts,
argue that Fitz was too light to be a bonafide heavyweight. He may have been
lanky with thin legs but his upper torso was equal to that of a well-developed
two-hundred pound man. He may have looked like a joke but no one who fought him
laughed. |
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Houston (1975, p 13) wrote
that although Fitz was “Something of a physical freak, with wide
shoulders, and spindly legs, he was nevertheless a sound ring craftsman
and a tremendous puncher”. Gilbert Odd (1974, p 17)
also called Fitz a physical freak and fistic phenomenon. He comments that
the magnificent shoulders and deep chest perched on spindly legs looked
grotesque but had astonishing punching power. |
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Usually, Bob was good-natured.
He liked to tease and be playful. But, in the ring, an inner viciousness
surfaced. He played for keeps. As a middleweight, he knocked out the marvelous
and slippery “Nonpareil” Jack Dempsey. As a light-heavyweight, he knocked out
the fast and clever Jim Corbett to win the Heavyweight Championship. As
Heavyweight Champion, he battered the powerful and rugged Jim Jeffries
unmercifully. |
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When Fitz got into the ring with
Jim Jeffries, it was fantastic hitting ability against an iron-jaw defense.
Bob’s fists hit so hard they smashed nearly everything in the ring. Jeff’s face
was a mess. His eyes were swollen almost shut. An ear was ripped loose. His nose
was pulverized and his lips bleeding. Fitz broke his hands on Jeffries’ granite
chin. |
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Edgren (1926, p 55) said
“The punching power of Fitzsimmons was marvelous. Every blow seemed to
dent Jeffries’ face out of shape”. Hype Igoe, famous sportswriter, wrote
that Fitzsimmons gave Jeffries the most awful beating he ever saw a man
take in the ring (see Graffis, 1945, p 119). |
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Jack Johnson rated Fitzsimmons better than Jim Jeffries or Sam Langford as a puncher (see Lardner, 1972, p 100). David Willoughby (1970, p 357) said that “… Fitzsimmons had perhaps the hardest punch ever possessed by a boxer of his size”. Bromberg (1958, p 23) asserted that “Fitz generated fierce fire power from short range”. Gene Tunney (1950, p 218) wrote that “Fitz could unleash terrific blows for his size, and it is conceivable that he could have taken (Joe) Louis …”. |
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The writer, John Masefield, described
Fitz as a man with “a slouch and a crouch … a way of moving … which
deceived you into thinking of a slow moving gorilla; then he would
straighten up into a very tall straight limber man, with magnificent
shoulders, who moved deathly quick … I felt he that he could stand a very
great deal of punching and that his shoulders and long arms gave him a
defence not easy to overcome” (see Carpenter 1964, p 3). Carpenter added
“The truth may be that there were few men good enough to pierce
Fitzsimmons’ defence …”. |
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Lardner (1972, p 100) wrote that Fitz was
sometimes given to wide and ineffective swings but nevertheless was rugged,
determined, and crafty and had enormous shoulder, back, and arm development. He
later added (1972, p 129) that Fitz was most dangerous when hurt.
Durant (1976, p 39) said Fitz
had a superior hook and “… in many ways was the most remarkable fighter who ever
laced on a pair of gloves … a physical freak, a 6-foot tall, knock-kneed,
red-headed middleweight with a wasp waist … yet he was built like a heavyweight
from the waist up – and he certainly hit like one”. |
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Fleischer (1972, Appendix
VII) rated Fitz as the best knockout puncher and body puncher among the
heavyweights. He also asserted that Fitz possessed the best hook. At other
times, he called Bob a person of average intelligence who was a “brilliant
thinker” in the ring. |
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McCallum (1975, p 8) described him, “Fitz might not have looked like your idea of a heavyweight champion. From toenails to torso he would evoke only laughs in a bathing suit – knock-kneed, pipestem legs, hairy barrel chest, topped off by a freckled face, garnished with sparse red hair. His looks were deceiving, of course, for his heavyweight arms could deliver blows as devastating as sticks of dynamite … His timing was perfect. He was a superb judge of distance. His punching, therefore, was deadly accurate." |
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Edgar Lee Masters said “I
could put up a good argument to the effect that Fitzsimmons, all things
considered, was the greatest fighter who ever lived …” (see Graffis, 1945
p 113). It is the opinion of this
writer that Bob Fitzsimmons was the greatest middleweight fighter of
all-time, the second greatest light-heavyweight fighter of all-time, and
the best “pound-for-pound” fighter in the history of the boxing. |
References