Corbett - Fitzsimmons Fight /Veriscope(1897)

[Caractacus]

Yeah the book FIGHT PICTURES by Dan Strible is pretty good a bit academic though and
the appendix with the list of all the known motion pictures filmed of actual fights back then and which ones are lost
was a little weak)

[Corbett-Fitz writer]

Hi all. My name is Samuel Hawley. I'm an author up in Canada. Just thought I'd mention that I'm working on a book, due out in 2016, about the Corbett-Fitz fight. It's entitled "The Fight That Started the Movies: The World Heavyweight Championship, the Birth of Cinema and the First Feature Film." I've of course seen the footage on Youtube, but it's all pretty unclear. Does anyone have any other leads on clear, viewable portions of this film? Also, has anyone viewed the footage that's held at MOMA?

[pound per pound]

Hi all. My name is Samuel Hawley. I'm an author up in Canada. Just thought I'd mention that I'm working on a book, due out in 2016, about the Corbett-Fitz fight. It's entitled "The Fight That Started the Movies: The World Heavyweight Championship, the Birth of Cinema and the First Feature Film." I've of course seen the footage on Youtube, but it's all pretty unclear. Does anyone have any other leads on clear, viewable portions of this film? Also, has anyone viewed the footage that's held at MOMA?

I will send you a PM.

[Caractacus]

You know its really too bad that Bob Fitzsimmons didnt tan better(if at all) because
he may just have had a physique that was more ripped and sinewy then someone like
Thomas"Hit-Man" hearns or somebody.
That and a full head of hair may have made him just as popular (if not more)as Jim J. Corbett perhaps.

[Caractacus]

You know what would have been a good nick name for Bob Fitszimmons back then?
The "Cobra"
check out his boxing moves and manuevers at 0:27 of the clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVwNVzqQeeg

[APBOX]

Fitzsimmons was the last middleweight to win a world title at the HW division until Jones did it approximately a century later. There was no cruiserweight division so he won the three highest divisional titles (MW, LHW, and HW).

One thing i always wondered was if Fitzsimmons really started his career in Australia or New Zealand? Some historians feel his career really started in New Zealand.

The fourteenth round KO Fitzsimmons win did change the boxing landscape forever.

[Caractacus]

Here is a link to youtube that shows whats apparently what is left of the original 100 minute feature film of their fight,
that was filmed on 63 mm film gauge.
Part One

[Caractacus]

Part Two

[keithmoonhangover]

Bob hitting him in the slats.

[klompton]

Caractus/Brutu back to rebumping his old threads under a different name This isnt all that exists however Ben Geoghan stated earlier in the thread that two complete versions exist. He is incorrect.

[Caractacus]

this re-bumped thread ( from 2009)is relatively recent compared to when the fight took place (1897)
and if my math is correct,that would be 122 years ago.

[Ambling Alp II]

It is pretty cool that we can see anything at all from a fight this far back. Being greedy, it would have been nice to see even more of it.

[Caractacus]

I have longer footage than this in my possession but without the KO. Now I know why, interesting story. There are two known original prints still in existence, in full. One in a collection in europe. The other was at the MOMA a few years ago.

so why haven't they been down-loaded anywhere then ?

[Caractacus]

You know what would have been a good nick name for Bob Fitszimmons back then?
The "Cobra"
check out his boxing moves and manuevers at 0:27 of the clip

Bob Fitzsimmons aka "The Helston Cobra" (?)

[keithmoonhangover]

It is pretty cool that we can see anything at all from a fight this far back. Being greedy, it would have been nice to see even more of it.

Well said Alp.

[BitPlayer]

I have longer footage than this in my possession but without the KO. Now I know why, interesting story. There are two known original prints still in existence, in full. One in a collection in europe. The other was at the MOMA a few years ago.

so why haven't they been down-loaded anywhere then ?

There's loads more footage of old boxing than is free online

[Caractacus]

Does it look to Y'all like this photograph was taken before the ring introductions ?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1933-Boxer-Gen ... 3695580540

[Caractacus]

[Caractacus]

Anyone know were in or near Carson City Nevada,the exact spot where the actual ring was?
Is there a historical marker there?

At SW corner of E. Musser and N. Harbin Streets in Carson City. There was once a historical marker at the site, but it was removed during construction of a new building at the site in 2008 and has not been returned.

Here are photos (circa 2008) of the marker



and in front of the Sheriff's Office building at which it once sat:

maybe they put it back there ?
(At the Southwestern corner of East Musser and North Harbin streets)

[Caractacus]

It was reported that from the day that Bob Fitzsimmons won the Heavyweight Championship from Jim J. Corbett up until the day he died (1917), Fitzsimmons would like to ask in general braggadocio

"WHO WAS THE BEST BLANKETY-BLANK FIGHTER EVER BORN OF WOMAN ?
BOB FITZSIMMONS !"

[Caractacus]

I've never been too interested in boxing way back then, but have a question not meant to be smart-assed or rude.

Why did Corbett fight in that getup with part of his butt exposed for all to see? Was that the style back then?

Sorry, but I'd be damned if I would fight in a getup like that.

He may have been wearing tights as well ?
as newspaper accounts mention Fitzsimmons wearing green tights with dark blue swimming type shorts
and a stars and stripes belt (he became a Naturalized American citizen by then)