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Robert James "Bob" Fitzsimmons (May 26, 1863 -
October 22, 1917) was a United Kingdom|British
native who made Boxing|fistic history by being
boxing's first three division world champion ever.
Had it not been because he jumped from
Middleweight to Heavyweight before reigning at
Light-Heavyweight, he might have also been
considered the first Light Heavyweight world
champion to win the Heavyweight crown.


Fitzsimmons was born in Helston, Cornwall, in the
United Kingdom and came to New Zealand at the age
of nine along with his parents, brothers and
sisters.  His family settled in Timaru, New
Zealand|Timaru and Bob became a blacksmith in his
brother Jarrett's blacksmith shop.

Between 1880 and 1881, Fitzsimmons was the
champion of the Jem Mace tournament in New
Zealand. It is in New Zealand that some say he
officially began his career as a professional
boxer later in 1881. In a bout that is not clear
whether he was paid for or not, he knocked out
Herbert Slade in two rounds.

He had six fights there, two of them bare-knuckles
events. He won five and lost 1 but it's unclear
whether any of those bouts were for money or not.

Boxing record books show that he officially began
boxing professionally in 1883, in Australia. He
beat Jim Crawford by a knockout in three there.
Fitzsimmons had his first 28 fights in Australia,
where he lost for the Australian Middleweight
title in a bout that was rumored to have been
fixed, and where he also won a fight by knockout
while on the floor: When Edward Starlight Robins
dropped Fitzsimmons to the canvas in round nine of
their fight, he also broke his hand and could not
continue, therefore, Fitzsimmons was declared
winner by knockout.

By this stage Fitzsimmons had established his own
style. He developed a certain movement & cageyness
from the old prize-fighter Jem Mace, but was never
a stylish boxer. Mace had, however, encouraged Bob
to develop his punching technique & he
revoloutionised this, drawing on the enormous
power he had gained from black-smithing. Where
other boxers of the time threw wide "round-house"
punches, Fitzsimmons' punches were short, accurate
& usually conclusive. He soon built up a
reputation as by far the hardest puncher in
boxing.
 
Moving on to the United States, he fought four
more times in 1890, winning three and drawing one.

Then, on January 14 of 1891, in New Orleans, he
received his first world title try, against Jack
(Nonpareil) Dempsey. He knocked out Dempsey (from
whom the latter Jack Dempsey would take his name)
in the 13th round to become the world's
Middleweight champion. Dempsey was knocked down at
least 13 times & by the finish was in such a
pitiable condition that Fitzsimmons begged him to
quit. He would not do so, so Fitzsimmons knocked
him out & then carried him to his corner. On July
22, his fight with Jim Hall (boxer)|Jim Hall was
broken off by police, after Hall had been knocked
down several times.

Fitzsimmons spent the next two years fighting
non-title bouts and exhibitions until giving Hall
a chance at the title in 1893. He retained the
crown by a knockout in round four. He spent the
rest of that year doing exhibitions, and on June
2, he was supposed to have a two way exhibition
where he would demonstrate in public how to hit
the boxing bag and then how to box against a real
opponent. Reportedly, two freak accidents happened
that day, when Fitzsimmons hit the bag so hard it
broke, and then his opponent of that day allegedly
slipped, getting hit in the head and the boxing
exhibition cancelled.

After vacating the Middleweight crown, Fitzsimmons
began campaigning among Heavyweights, who usually
outweighhed him by large amounts. One of his
fights, against Tom Sharkey, was refereed by none
other than Wyatt Earp, the famous cowboy.
Fitzsimmons battered Sharkey & had him on the
verge of a knock-out but when he hit him with a
body & head punch combination he was declared
loser on a disqualification because he hit Sharkey
while Sharkey was down. Earp was widely believed
to have been involved with gamblers that had bet
on Sharkey.

Nevertheless, Fitzsimmons was able to challenge
for the world's Heavyweight title in 1897. On
March 17 of that year, he became List of
Heavyweight Champions|World Heavyweight champion,
knocking out James J. Corbett|Jim Corbett in round
14. This was a remarkable achievement as Corbett
was a stone (14 lb) heavier than Fitzsimmons & a
skilled boxer. He out-boxed Fitzsimmons for
several rounds & badly damaged his face with his
jab but Fitzsimmons kept coming & Corbett began to
tire. After not enjoying the 12th & 13th rounds
Corbett reached out with a right to Fitzsimmons'
head in the 14th, he immediately pivoted on his
heel & hit Corbett as hard as he could in the
middle of his stomach, between the rib-cage.
Corbett collapsed in agony. Fitzsimmons' "Solar
Plexus" punch became legendary, although it is
doubtful he ever used the phrase.

He spent the rest of the year doing exhibitions,
and in 1898, his only activity of note was a bout
that was supposed to happen against former world
champion John L. Sullivan. That fight never
happened, however, because boxing was outlawed in
New York at the time, and that would have been the
fight's host city, but the police prevented it
from happening.

In 1899, Fitzsimmons and James J. Jeffries were
able to box in New York without the police
intervening, probably at an under-ground club.
Most people thought Jeffries had no chance, even
though at 15 st (95 kg) he was massively the
bigger man, but he lifted the world Heavyweight
crown from Fitzsimmons with an 11 round knockout. 

In June of 1901 he was involved in a
Wrestling|wrestling match with Gus Ruhlin. He lost
and went back to boxing. He then enjoyed
legitimate (boxing) knock-outs of both Ruhlin &
Sharkey. 

In 1902, he and Jeffries had a rematch, once again
with the world Heavyweight crown at stage.
Attempting to become the first boxer ever to
regain the world's Heavyweight crown, Fitzsimmons
battered Jefferies who suffered horrible
punishment. With his nose & cheek-bones broken,
most would have sympathised with Jeffries had he
quit, but he kept going until his enormous weight
advantage told & Bob suffered a knockout in round
eight.

September of 1903 was a tragic month for
Fitzsimmons as his rival, Con Coughlin, died the
day after suffering a one round knockout at the
hands of Fitzsimmons. But less than two months
later, Fitzsimmons made history by defeating world
Light-Heavyweight champion George Gardner by a
decision in 20 rounds to become the first member
of the exclusive club of boxing world champions in
three or more divisions.

Soon after, he went back to the Heavyweights,
where he kept fighting until 1914, with mixed
results. He boxed Jack Johnson (boxer)|Jack
Johnson, and his fight with Bob KO Sweeney is
believed to be the first boxing fight in history
to be captured on film.

It should be clarified that, despite the fact that
Fitzsimmons was a world champion in the
Middleweight, Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight
divisions, he is not considered by historians to
be the first world Light Heavyweight champion to
become world Heavyweight champion. This, because
of the fact that he won the Heavyweight title
before winning the Light Heavyweight belt. Michael
Spinks is considered to be the first Light
Heavyweight world champion to win the Heavyweight
belt as well. Roy Jones Jr. recently joined
Fitzsimmons, Michael Moorer and Spinks in being
the only men to have won world championships at
both Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight.

His exact record is unknown, as boxing records
were poorly kept during his era, but Fitzsimmons
was quoted as saying he had more than 350 fights,
which could have been an exaggeration from his
part.

He died in Chicago of pneumonia in 1917 and was
buried there in the Graceland Cemetery.

He is a member of the International Boxing Hall of
Fame.

In 2003, Fitzsimmons was named number eight of all
time among boxing's best punchers by Ring
Magazine.

==External link==
http://www.fitzsimmons.co.nz/main.html

start box
succession box |
  before= James J. Corbett |
  title= List of heavyweight boxing
champions|Heavyweight boxing champion |
  years= 1897–1899 |
  after= James J. Jeffries

end box