The Washington herald., 1910-03-07
BATS" GAMENESS
RECALLS HISTORY
Fight Fans Remember Fa-
nous New Orleans Mill.
WHEN FTTz BEAT DEMPSEY
This Ring Battle Will Always Stand
Out as One of the Greatest Ever
FOught-On january Ia. 1891, Lanky
Bob knocks Out His Man In Thir-
teen liounds-Dempsey Not Fit.

Battling Nelson's remarkable exhibition
of gameness in his fight with Wolgast on
washington's Birthday recalls many such
in ring history. January Il. 1891, was a
day long to be remembered by sporting
men all over America, especially TO be re-
membered by certain sporting gentlemen
of the North. who, on the following
morning. began weary beat" back
from New Orleans via the railroads.&c.
route.
On January Il Bob Fltzsimmons, lit
tle-known Australian, knocked out Jack
Dempsey. the Nonpariel. in thirteen
rounds, depriving him of the middle
weight championship OF the world.
OF all famous battles in the ring. this
was most dramatic. Dempsey was the
absolute idol of his time For years he
had been a king among the middle
weights. He had fought under London
prize-ring rules, then with the gloves, and
had been inyincible. And he had a GER
tain class" that distinguished him from
the ordinary slugger.
Fitzsimmons had won couple Of fights
in America in such clean-cut style that
he was already looked upon as a coming
man. He was a tall fellow for middle
weight, d scrupulously fair fighter, and
a wonderfully hard hitter. Men who had
seen him fight were willing TO bet upon
him even against the great Dempsey.
Others who knew Dempsey and hadn' I
seen Fitzsimmons eagerly put their money
on the Nonpariel. It was the North and
the East against the South and the West.
A flood of money poured into New Or
leans from around New York. But so
much gold was shipped on from Cali
fornia and so much local money appeared
IN New Orleans that Fitzsimmons men
were lucky TO get slight odds against
their champion
The fight was held in the historic
Olympic Club, the scene OF many a
famous championship battle. A special
ring was built for it. The ropes were
stretched on heavy padded posts. The
floor of the ring, Instead Of being Of
boards. covered with a felt mat, as in
modern contests. was of black sand.
packed down until It was nearly as hard
as asphalt II was said TO have little
spring under foot and to he "as good as
any turf" In the old days battles were
usually fought on turf.
Big Crowd Assemblies.
A vast crowd assembled in New Or
leans. The club seated only about 4.5oN
people. and tickets could not be bought at
any price after they had been gobbled
up in the hEst rush. Il seemed that all
the famous sporting men in the world
were present when the gates were opened.
At the ringside sat Jim Corbett, Harry
Bethune. the great Splinter; Jimmy
Wakely. Ed Kearney. Phil Lynch. Steve
Brode, Jake Kilrain, Bob Chambers.
Billy Muldoon. Ernest Roeber. Dan
DAILY, Frank Moran, John A. Payne. Bud
Doble. Mike Lesry. Denny Costigan, and
scores of others.
An interesting little episode OF the aft
ernoon was unknown 10 that waiting
crowd The fighters were to have weighed
in at l5i pounds. then the recognized
middle-weight limit. At o'clock Bob
Fftzsimmons appeared at the clubhouse
with his manager, Jimmy Carroll, to
/ try the scales. To CAROLS dismay. Fitz
weighed just 155 pounds stripped. a pound
overweight.
Never mind" said Fitz, I'll fix that
all right"
Mufiing up again in heavy sweaters, he
rushed out of doors. and started off for
long run, all alone.
/ At nearly o'clock the men came into
/ the ring almost together and took thelI
I seats in opposite corners. They smiled
across at each other IN friendly way
/ two good foemen. who respected each
other, and who were to fight hard with
out malice. The chief of police weighed
| the gloves. and then the fighters stripped
down to the fighting costume and went
over to the scales. Dempsey stood aside
and watched closely while "Lanky Bob
was weighed. He scaled exactly $50 /.
pounds The run had taken off A.:
pounds. Dempsey weighed 147 II pounds
! The Weighing over, both returned Il
/ their corners and put on the gloves
Dempsey offered to wager Sl.O0O witt
Fitzsimmons. Fitz accepted the bet. but
the chief Of police refused to allow money
up or any bet to be made in the ring OF
at the ringside. And then. without fur
Their delay. the bell rang and the fgh
for the worlds championship began,
Fitz Rushes His Man.
That was a chivslrous fight if ever
there was one, q magnificent contest be
tween two courageous men. Fitzsimmon.
sprang at Dempsey and almost immedi
ately landed a heavy blow on his jaw
with his left The champion rushed bacl
savagely and they fought all over tn,
ring. both landing crushing blows unit
the bell rang with honors even.
But after that round the fight turned
against Dempsey. In a few short min
utes any onlooker could see that he wa
entirely outclassed, and that the onl.
question was how long he could endur'
the terrific battering given out by tn
lean Australian. Fitzsimmons opened tn,
second round with another rush, driving
Dempsey back into corners and out again
landing heavily and taking blow ate
blow. Dempsey hit Fitzsimmons har,
enough and often enough to have stoppet
any ordinary man But this fellow il
front of him was. the wonder of the cen
fury. He could take with smile and re
turn harder after each blow delivered
IN the third round Fitzsimmons weak
ened Dempsey with a fierce left hook t
the body, and moment later knocke,
him fiat with catapultio right to tn
jaw. When the Nonpareil rose he ran a
he had never run before.
All through the fourth and fifth Fitz
simmons plunged after the light and MIN
Bile champion doggedly. matching superio