The Washington herald., 1918-03-10
FULTON LACKS
FIGHTINGHEART
Big Contender for Willard's
Crown Is Large Edition
of Fitzsimmons.

Way back in the nineties there
arrived in America from Australia
a fighter whose peculiar build ex-
cited the ridicHle of the fight fans
of that day until they had seen him
tight.
Bob Fitzsimmons, the Human
Gorilla, as he was sometimes call
ed. presented to the fighting public
Of his day a new type of fighting
machine. Other heavy-weights OF
his days. and all former champions
in the memory OF the fans of that
day had been huge muscled men of
great weight. bulky from head to
foot, with the exception OF Jim Cor
bett, who was graceful in spite Of
his size.
Fitz was a middle weight with
the shoulders and torso of a heavy
weight. From his huge shoulders
hung long flail-lfke arms. His
reach was tremendous for q man
of his height. he being a trifie under
six feet His waist was slim, his
upon a pair of long, thin hamingo-
shaped legs, which looked more
like the legs of Q sprinter than
There are two logical contenders
for Jess willard's crown today, Jack
Dempsey and Fred Fulton.
Physically Fulton is a huge Fitz-
simmons. His shoulders are broad
and powerful. His reach of S41-2
inches is the longest in the history
of the ring. His waist and hips
are slender. His legs are long and
thin.
In one way Fulton resembles Fftz-
simmons. He uses the peculiar Tight
ing crouch which Fitz first made
popular in America, and from this
crouching position he manipulates the
greatest left hand in the ring today.
There the resemblance stops. Fitz-
simmons was q great fighter be-
cause he had the physical quali-
fications and because he loved to
fight He did not know what fear
was. The other fellow never had
enough to daunt Fitz; remember
his famous saying. The bigger they
are the harder they fall"
Fulton has yet to prove that he
has a fighting heart. 1t is perhaps
unfair to call Fulton yellow. He
has never been put to a severe
enough test to determine his cour-
age. But I have this from a IA
nous referee who has worked with
Fulton in the ring:
He is hard to handle in the ring.
He acts like a big baby. He Nis
constantly kicking about what the
other fellow is doing. He is always
looking for a loop-hole. II 1t wasn't
for that Fulton would be the great
eat haaVv-Wafrhf In, he
Mind you, this referee didn't say
Fred Is yellow. He intimated that
he hasn't a fighting heart. The man
with a real fighting heart will refuse
to accept a verdict on a foul unless he
is badly hurt, he will not bubble
about the size and weight Of his op-
ponent. That was Fitz-that is not
Fulton.
Regardless of this, however, Full
toms recent record has been mighty
impressive. He has knocked out
Frank Moran in three rounds, the
first time the blonde Irishman- ever
took the count. although he had
fought both Willard. and Jack John
SON In this fight Fulton declares
he deliberately permitted Moran to
swing his MARY Ann" twenty-six
times to his head and face to show
he was not yellow and that he could
assimilate punishment.
He knocked out in one round Tom
Mcmahon. who holds a decision over
Willard. The only man who has bro
ken even with Fulton in the last year
is Billy Miske, who fought the plas-
terer q ten-round draw.
Fulton Is not to be despised by any
means. He ts q big strong fighter
with tremendous hitting power, a
super-reach and q pair Of educated
hands.