Apparently one of the first uses of Thomas Edison's new invention was to record sports history. So it was in 1897 in Carson City, Nevada where the heavyweight title defense by reigning champion James J. Corbett was captured on film. It became the first feature film.
The film does verify the written accounts of the match. Corbett who was a scientific boxer and fast on his feet starts out pretty good in the footage I saw. Corbett is bigger and broader than the lanky Fitzsimmons but Bob was a tough man. Corbett who hung out in society when not boxing or in training gave a certain elegance to a sport reserved at one time for the bottom of society.
You couldn't get more bottom than Bob Fitzsimmons. Born in Cornwall in the United Kingdom he emigrated from the to New Zealand and worked at the blacksmith's trade. He may look skinny next to Corbett, but Fitzsimmons gained a lot of strength at his job and developed one powerful punch.
In the abbreviated footage I saw, Corbett began tiring both of hitting the strong man from Cornwall and all that dancing around. At one point I saw him leaning heavily on Fitzsimmons. Corbett attempted a jab, but Fitzsimmons got under and just leveled Corbett with one punch to the solar plexus, those nerves right above the heart. There was no getting up from it. It was as the sportswriters of the day wrote it.
For boxing historians this film is a must.
The film does verify the written accounts of the match. Corbett who was a scientific boxer and fast on his feet starts out pretty good in the footage I saw. Corbett is bigger and broader than the lanky Fitzsimmons but Bob was a tough man. Corbett who hung out in society when not boxing or in training gave a certain elegance to a sport reserved at one time for the bottom of society.
You couldn't get more bottom than Bob Fitzsimmons. Born in Cornwall in the United Kingdom he emigrated from the to New Zealand and worked at the blacksmith's trade. He may look skinny next to Corbett, but Fitzsimmons gained a lot of strength at his job and developed one powerful punch.
In the abbreviated footage I saw, Corbett began tiring both of hitting the strong man from Cornwall and all that dancing around. At one point I saw him leaning heavily on Fitzsimmons. Corbett attempted a jab, but Fitzsimmons got under and just leveled Corbett with one punch to the solar plexus, those nerves right above the heart. There was no getting up from it. It was as the sportswriters of the day wrote it.
For boxing historians this film is a must.