Nickname Ruby BobPlace Of Birth Helson Cornwall UK
Date Of Birth June 4, 1862
Date Deceased Chicago October 23, 1917 (pneumonia)
Height 5ft 11¾
Weight 11st 6lb
Divisions Heavyweight, Light heavyweight, Middleweight
Titles World Heavyweight, middleweight, light heavyweight
BobFitzsimmons, (1862-1917), British-born prizefighter. He was born Robert Prometheus Fitzsimmons in Cornwall, England, and taken as a child to New Zealand. He first fought in the United States in 1890. In 1891 he won the middleweight boxing championship of the world from the American prizefighter Jack “Nonpareil” Dempsey. In 1897 Fitzsimmons became world heavyweight champion by defeating the American prizefighter James Corbett; he held his title until 1899, when he was himself defeated by another American prizefighter, Jim Jeffries. From 1903 to 1905 he held the world light heavyweight title, and he did not retire from competition until 1914, when he was 52 years old and still capable of a remarkable defensive performance.
His link with Australian boxing is that for the first seven years of his remarkable career he fought here and came back at 46 to fight for the national heavyweight crown.
Fitzsimmons astonished crowds not just by his consummate prowess and fearsome punching power, but his very appearance. He was built along the lines of the modern day Detroit bomber Thomas Hearns. At his peak, Fitzsimmons stood a fraction under 6 feet and weighed just under 12 stone. Yet it was nothing for him to meet and beat men of 15 stone and more.
in 1909 aged 46, he lost in 12 to Bill Lang in Sydney
Copyright Mike Hitchen, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved
