Fitzsimmons, Physical culture and self-defense (1901)
Bob Fitzsimmons (1863–1917) — Helston, Cornwall
Bob Fitzsimmons is not merely the most significant Westcountry boxer of the post-Pugilistica era; he is, by any reasonable measure, one of the most significant British boxers in the entire history of the sport. Robert James Fitzsimmons was born on 26 May 1863 at Helston, Cornwall, England, and was the youngest of twelve children born to James and Jane Fitzsimmons. His Cornish birth is confirmed across all major reference sources. He became the first fighter to hold the world boxing championship in three weight divisions. Wikipedia, Encyclopedia Britannica
The family emigrated to New Zealand when Fitzsimmons was a child. Robert Fitzsimmons was the youngest of twelve children; his parents arrived in New Zealand on the Adamant in 1873 and settled in Timaru, where James Fitzsimmons set up a blacksmith’s forge. After completing his education at the Timaru Main School, Bob joined his father and brother Jarrett to learn the trade, and his work at the forge developed the powerful arms and shoulders which made him such a devastating puncher when he took up boxing. Te Ara
His connection to the Westcountry tradition extended, intriguingly, through his early trainer. In 1880, the famous British pugilist Jem Mace visited New Zealand and organised a boxing tournament in Timaru; Fitzsimmons entered and won, knocking out four opponents in one night. Mace — the last great bare-knuckle champion and a foundational figure in the development of scientific boxing — was thus the conduit through which the technical inheritance of the prize ring passed to Fitzsimmons, and thence into the modern era. Te Ara
Boxing writer and founder of The Ring magazine, Nat Fleischer, ranked Fitzsimmons the third greatest heavyweight of all time and regarded him as the greatest pound-for-pound knockout puncher in boxing history. His championship career spanned three weight divisions: he lost the heavyweight championship to James Jackson Jeffries on an eleventh-round knockout at Coney Island on 9 June 1899; he came back to win the light heavyweight championship on 25 November 1903 in San Francisco, when he defeated George Gardner in twenty rounds, making him boxing’s first three-division world champion. WikipediaEncyclopedia Britannica
Born in Helston, Cornwall, on 26 May 1863, Fitzsimmons was taken to New Zealand as a child and never actually fought in England, moving in 1883 to Australia, where he turned professional and ran up a record mostly in Sydney; in 1890 he crossed to America and never looked back. Boxing News
He died in Chicago on 22 October 1917.
Fitzsimmons, Robert (1901), Physical culture and self-defense. Drexel Biddle Publishing. Available online via Archive.org.