| |
| |
FROM THE BOOKS
|
|
| |
He was a perfect judge of distance and a master of
timing. Any fighter who would mix it with Fitz did so at
his own peril. The closer one got to Fitz, the harder he
was hit. He won at least twenty fights at such close
range that the impact of the wallop was heard before the
spectator saw the blow start.
When Bob was in jeopardy he covered up instinctively and
remained so until his head cleared, emerging from a
dazed condition to acute consciousness. He was swift to
take advantage of the slightest opening and could hit
from any position with either hand. He fought over three
hundred and sixty fights, and when he died there was not
a single professional scar upon his head and shoulders,
such was the magnificence of his defense.
All the knuckles of his right hand, including the thumb, were
smashed, and they, curiously enough, in his second fight
with Jeffries at San Francisco in 1902. He had cut the
California boy to ribbons, but he could not administer
the knockout. He broke his four finger knuckles on
Jeffries' jaw, one at a time, and the thumb for a
finish.
"I felt them bust in my glove like pieces of chalk," he told
me afterward. "No use. I then let go with my thumb at
his temple. When it 'it 'im, the thumb went too. It
busted like a chocolate cream. I never struck another
blow. I was through." |
|
| |
Robert H. Davis-"Ruby Robert" alias Bob Fitzsimmons
|
|
|
|
|
|
.JPG)
