The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1919-04-14

the saneAway. But Mccoy told me that
he studied out the blow himself. his
original intention being to cut his OPP
ponent's face by twisting his list as
his lab landed. Later he developed so
much power with the twist Of the wrist
that he turned It into knockout blow
instead of one merely designed to mutt
late and d1shearten a rival. When Nc
Coy fought Tom sharkey. who out
weighed him twenty pounds and was
one Of the toughest and strongest men
I've ever seen. he knocked ToGn fiat on
his back twice with this punch. After
the fight I asked Sharkcy ifithe cork.
screw blows hurt.
NAV" growaed Tom. unwilling to
admit that such slight feaiow,as Nc
Coy could knock him down. He eau ght
me off me balance snd me- foot!shpped."
A great left-hapded boxer-aithongn
never a great fighter in tthe sense that
Sharhey. Jeffrtes. Rubin. Sullivan anc
the rest Of the big men were great
was Jim Corbett- Jim was beautiful
boxers. fast as a streak tand asSQuick of
mind as he was Of foot. Hoy was tall
and slightly buflt. and:of the hit and
get away school He ttabbcd old John
L. Sullivan until john collapsed in the
twenty-first round. He ta6bed Jerfries
! for tweuty-three rounds before JEFF
knocked him out. He jaGS,ed through
si1ty-one rounds with tteHblack marvel
! Peter Jackson, and. while; he couldn't
! do much to Peter, Peter couldn't do any
! thing at all to him CoTbctt's tabbing
victory over Sullivan, In (which he dane
ed away from SurNan'ssbuN-like rushes
| and tap-tap-tapped' hisSway to victory.
| changed the style Cd. fAmerican boxing
for several years. until Fitzsimmons.
Jeftries and the heavy hitters demon
trated that tho weight behind blow
wins hghA.
xtt1str,.nonsrc2reate Loft Hand litter.
Bob F1tzstmrnons WAS the most re-
rarkable left handed hitter Of them all.
FYtz knocked-c~V hundreds Of men with
ms'lett hand. He could hit equally hard
with either hand but usually hit first
with the left-ondi that was enough to
win He made thu solar p2exus ,unch'
famous when hejknocked out Corbett in
fourteen rounds lat Carson.
When Fftzsiun1ons first toured Amer
lea as q hghter,'he knocked out most Of
his victims by hitting them on the Jaw
with either night o. left Mike DonovaIt
told Fttz that he'd surely kill some Of
the big fellows who fought him on the
stage when he was meeting all Corners
II he continued knocking them out with
blows on the chin. Many of them were
blacksrnfths 4and Hmbermen and strong
fellows who DIDN'T know how to protect
thetr chtns. but thought they could fight.
He begged Fftz to hit them in the body
with the left SO Fitz worked out the
solar ple1us punch. and Nike once told
me Bob WAS as pleased as a child with
a new toy as he went on night after
night knocking out his men with a
single hook neatly placed On the soft
spot Just below the edge Of the ribs,
usually called the pit of the stomach.
Fitzsimmons had trick Of shifting
his right foot forward and then hook
ing the left hand just as he would natu-
rally hook a right in the normal left
foot forward boxing position. This was
his famous SHIFT" and it gave MIN
tremendous leverage for knockout
blow. He knocked out both SharkeS
and Rubin with this punch. Both OF
them told me after the fights thai
they'd never fight ''old Bob again, for
fear of being killed. He hit TOO hard
Fitzsimons was the craftiest OF oil
fighters. asked Kid McCoy-crafty as
q fox hinself-why he never fought
FitZstmmons.
because Inat Ola guy kHp"S wv
much" said Mccoy. II can measure
any other mans mind and tell what he's
likely to do next. but when you think
you know every move old Fitz can make
he pulls out something now that you
never thought Of I boxed in his train
ing camp once when | was u youngstcr
T studied Fitz until l thought knew
all about him. Then I thought Id
nut something over on the old man.
sent my grip down to the station 10 he
ready to beat il away from there. and
had NV clothes outside whore ] could
slip into them in moment and get
away was going to catch Fizt on
guard-Id never let him see how much
knew about boXjng--and then | was
going to knock him out and run for IT.
"I thought I'd have the laugh on him.
I got my opening all right and hit Fltz
ON the chtn-bQt didn't pul him out.
He was just playing with me. and after
I'd slipped my punch oyer he gave mr. II
beautiful trimming. The old fox pulled
stun that day that I'd never dreamed
Of. Mrs. F1tz thought ] was nice
hoy and she gave Bob an awful laying
ont FOR giving me black eye and boat
iaa me up. But deserved IT, left
earnp anyway. I'd learned lot Of box
ing from Fitz. and I'd learned that he
was the one man whose mind / couldn t
measure and the one man I'd never
want to fight"