The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1917-12-24

of a series of articles by Jim Corbett
which deal with the career of Bob F1tz-
SIMMONS. Few men knew Fitz a. COR
bett knew him. and so these stories re-
1 veal some incidents in the life of F1tz-
simmons that never before have been
printed. The next chapter will appear
| tomorrow
The defeat Of Bob Fftzsimmons by
Jim Jeffries caused a tremendous sur
prise in the sporting world. Jeff had
come along so rapidly in the year pre-
vious to his fight with the Australian
that little attention had been paid to him
except by fans along the Pacific slope.
His fame had not penetrated very deep
! ly into the east and when he Fought
Fitz he was something of an unknown.
But the mastery fight which he had put
up, his great punching power and his
ability to stand up under punishment GER
tainly upset all of the experts calcula-
tions concerning the contest.
| But Bob Fitzsmmons was the most sur
prised person of them all. To be knocked
out by the giant Californian was totally
unexpected by him. Bob, of course, had
heard quite a bit about the Californian
and knew that he was a good fighter,
the championship class When Bob went
Into that fight he felt certain that he
could take the measure of Jeffries So it
is easy to appreciate his feelings when
he came back to consciousness and real
lied that the pugilistic crown which he
had taken away from me had been in
turn taken from him in his first fight
in defense of the title.
| Whether Bob figured that Jeff's victory
was something of fuke and couldn't
be duplicated, l don't know; but the fact
remains that almost Immediately after
he had lost the championship Bob start
ed to perform a comeback which was
to entitle him to another chance at Jeff.
Bob was So years old at the time and
many critics declared that his defeat
was due in a certain sense to the raw
ages of age. Bob resented this and de-
clared that it had nothing to do with it,;
that he was as good then as in his
earlier fighting days and in an effort to
prove this he went out in quest of
matches with toughest foes he could
find.
Bob's first battle after being defeated
by Jeffries was against Jim Thorne in
Chicago 1t took place on October 18th,
~
Bob had lost the title Thorne wasn't
much of boxer but had the reputa-
ton for being aggressive and having
wonderful powers to assimilate punish
ment. 1t was figured that Thorne would
make a good test for Bob. Fitz went
into the fight determined to finish Thorne
in hurry-and he did it, flooring Thorne
in the very first round. Six months later
March 27 1900-Bob took on Jim Da-
ly another tough customer, and also
knocked him out in the first round.
few weeks later Bob made match with
Ed Dunkhorst "The Human Freight
Car" who weighed in the neighborhood
of 800 pounds.
Many of Bobs friends figured that he
had made a serious blunder in taking
on the massive Dunkhorst No man had
ever knocked down Ed and the feat was
considered impossible. Dunkhorst out
weighed Bob something like 100 pounds,
lcarried terrific punch and had so much
meat on his frame that many felt it was
impossible to drive blow deep enough
through that flesh to reach a vital spot
in the body. DunShorst's Jaw was sup
posed to be impervious to Knockout wal
lops.
The battle was put on in Brooklyn
on April co. 1900, and developed into one
of the most laughable pugilistic con-
tests in the entire history of the ring
and a half and then-well. here's the
story in natural sequence:
With the tap of the first gong Boz
faxed great fear of Dunkhorst AS
soon as Dunkhorst got within striking
distance, Bob turned his back to BIS
: Ed and started to run. Bob circlet
, the ring, making a track near the vi.
entity of the ropes. Dunkhorst. at frs
surprised by Bob's actions, finally fig
ured that the Australian was really
afraid of him and started in pursuit
Every once in while Dunkhorst seem
ingy would corner Bob and would pull
back his mighty right and let it fly
But always Bob ducked or side-steppe'
and the blow would go Wild. Their
the marathon would begin again witt
Bob always about one jump ahead Q
| / Dunkhorst and with the two men kick
ing up enough rosln TO form clou'
over the ring.
Throughout the entire first round Bo
never made an effort to hit at Dunkhors'
Ed, all this time, was making frantl
but futile swings But outside of a fey
glancing blows he never landed with eff
feet Bob saw to it that he didn't
And the merry little mara thon went OF
Coming out for the second round, Dunk
Il horst feeling certain of victory. mad
another wild rush at Fitz. Bob at one
turned and started to circle the rims
with his huge fight rival chasing afte
him Around and around they wen
with clouds of dust fiuttering in thei
wake and with the crowd convulsed wit
laughter A half dozen times Dunkhors
lunged at Bob and Just as often NJ
swings went wild Dunkhorst tried
corner the Australian but failed. Ono
or twice Bob stopped in his runnin
as though tired and waited for DUNK
horst to catch up to him. Just as f
set himself to swing Bob resumed n
! sprntfng.