Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-04-25
Eitzsimmons
Tops Aussie
Line Of Boxers
Believed Only Fighter
Able TO Beat Louis
BY DAMON RUNYON

I SUPPOSE you could call this
Il chapter two of ramblings on
Australian prize fighters, which
began with my musings yester-
day on Les Darcy, the boy from
down under" who was bounded
to death in 1917 by criticism of
him in this country as a mill
tary Stacker.
/ knew one sports writer who
took an active part in that
witch hunt and was so ashamed
of himself after Darcy's death
that he enlisted in the army,
though he had rea son a b | e
grounds for exemption.
However, Darcy was criticized
In his horne country, so perhaps
the American sports writer's
were not to blame for their
blasting, except that they over
looked many bigger targets
while firing at Les.
The great st prize fighter
that ever came out of Australia
was undoubtedly Bob Fitzsim-
mons, middleweight, .lightheavy
and heavyweight champion Of
the world in his time. Ruby
Robert" was born in Cornwall.
England, but made his first ap-
pearance as a fighter in a tour
nament at Timaru, New Zea-
land, in 1880.
He was a prize fighter for "a
years. his last ring exploit being
the flattening of one *. o.
Sweeney at Williamsport, Pa,
in 1914. Bob was then 50 years
old and had long been out of
action. He died in 1917 of pneu-
monia.
To this day many oldtimers
think Fitzsimmons. knock
kneed, freckled, bald headed guy
with a tremendous punch. was
the one man who might have
had chance TO beat the mighty
Joe Louis.
LNTZ' greatest handicap was
Il bad hands. He always was
bunging them up on the skulls
of his opponents. / have heard
il asserted by competent author
tiles that he weighed under 160
pounds when he knocked out the
great Jim Corbett and ii seems
TO be generally agreed that in
his heyday, Fitz never weighed
much beyond that mark. never
saw him at his best but he must
have been a wonder
Peter Jackson. British West
Indian. who also was developed
in Australia. was another great
heavyweight of the sos and COS.
l have heard graybeards assert
that he was probably the great
est that ever lived. but / am in
clined to hold by the record, and
the record does not sustain the
assertion.
Jackson. called THE Black
Prince" was a beautiful boxer
and gained his greatest fame be-
cause John l.. Sullivan appar-
emily wanted no part of his
game, yet his achievements could
not be compared with those of
FitZsimmons.
Frank Slavin. "the Sydney
Cornstalk." was a heavyweight
contemporaneous with Jackson
and was knocked out by the lat
ter in London in one of the most
spectacular matches of the pugi-
listic period.
Slade, "the Maori" Jim Hall,
Dan Creedon and Australian
Billy" Murphy were other old
time Australian gladiators of
various weights and more or less
ability. Then there was Alfred
GriffithS. called Young Critic, a
featherweight. who was some
thing of a magician with his
gloved hands.
TT used to be said of Critic
Il that he could stand on hand
kerchief and move his hands and
head and body with such facility
that no one could hit him, but /
always suspected that il de-
pended on who was trying to do
the hitting.
Furthermore, I have seen
other boxers who could do the
same thing for a limited period
for instance, Jack Johnson
IL the hitter was not too cute.
However, there is no doubt
Critic was Unfortunately clever.
! The Australian fighter who
made the poorest impression Of
any that ever came TO this coun-
try was Bill Squires, a heavy
weight. "Uncle Bill Naughton,
then the dean of the American
sports writer, was largely in
strumental in importing Squires
to San Francisco to fight Tommy
Burns for the heavyweight title.
Uncle Bill" usually one of
the most astute judges of fight
ers. thought SquireS looked fine
in training and was greatly de-
pressed when Burns belted the
Australian out in one heat.
Tom Heeney, THE Rock of
Down Under" was about the
last Australian heavyweight TO
make a reputation here. He
came via London and won lot
of tough fights. He made val
liant but futile bid against Tun-
ney for the title, battle chiefly