BoxRec

what nationality is Bob Fitzsimmons, he's always talked about in the UK as being British, But i know he left at a very young age.

Whilst i was in New Zealand, i visited the town he lived in for many years, i have a photo of the statue that has been erected in honour of him there.

Once he started winning titles he based himself in America.

so what i want to know is. Bob Fitzsimmons British, Kiwi or American?

Whatever his nationality was he sure as hell was a murderous puncher for a guy his size,and he had that freakishly huge upper body and those long gangly arms but he sure could bang with the best of em.

It a similar case to lennox and it's hard to come up with a definative answer. In the autobiography I've read of him it said that he identified mainly with his British decent and more specifically his Cornish decent. However this book was written by an Englishman.

It's said that after he beat Jack Dempsey for the middle weight crown Dempsey said something along the lines of, "To lose to and American or an Irishman might have softened the blow, but to lose to an English man has f*cking killed me!" so Fitz must have been veiwed as a Brit by at least some of his contempories. However as at the time New Zeland and Australia were British colonies and the inhabitants therefore technically could be said to be British anyway further complicates the issue.

As I'm English I've always liked to think of Fitz as English, but I can see how the Kiwis might feel they have a better claim, as he grew up there and only returned to England a handful of times after he left.

I think when he challenged Corbett for the Heavyweight title, Fitz was by then a naturalised US citizen. I'm pretty sure he wore the stars and stripes on his sash in the Corbett fight.

thanks for the replys, i think looking at his past history, New Zealand has the strongest claim to him, as he grew up there from a baby to a man.

but i guess seeing as us Brits don't get many world heavy champs we should keep on claiming him as ours.

Fitzsimmons' final resting place is in Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, not more than a hundred yards from the last repose of fellow heavyweight champ Jack Johnson, so I claim Fitz as a Yank.

crooked nose wrote:Fitzsimmons' final resting place is in Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, not more than a hundred yards from the last repose of fellow heavyweight champ Jack Johnson, so I claim Fitz as a Yank.

Nice one, but shouldn't we let the Brits have at least one all-time great? Just to be nice?