BACK AMONG US.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 732, 3 February 1910, Page 6

BACK AMONG US.

"BOB" FITZSIMMONS, PUGILIST,

INTERESTING INTERVIEW. Among the passengers who arrived from Sydney by the Uliinaroa last night was" "Bob"- Fitzsimmonsf' the ex-cham-pion of the world and a native of New Zealand. Mr. Fitzsimmons and his wife are at present touring with the Rickards Vaudeville Company, , which is to' open at'Dunedin at the end of the week. : . ,

Fitzsimmons, who is. now 48 years of age, is a fine specimen of manhood, and, with his hat on, does .not look his age.. He is tall (6ft. 2in.), and fair, without an ounce of superfluous flesh on his big. square frame,- and when he talks his face' lights up ."with quite a' boyish look. He has had one. of. the greatest boxing careers of any boxer, present or past, and he is all modesty about it. - '■'•■"How long have you been away fromNew Zealand?"' asked our representative. "Twenty-eight years—a- pretty long slice out of a man's life, isn't itP Yes, it's twenty-eight years. almost to a hair that I quitted Timaru, and it feels good to be back." ' . Ton :w«re a boxer, even then? ; "Why, - sure—l', fought three bareknuckle contests when. I was about sixteen down Timaru, way. And. then' I was an. amateur—won the amateur championship -twice at "Jem" Mace's ■ tournaments in Timaru.- Knocked five men out in the , first tournament,' and : four '.in the second, Herbert-Slade, one of them— him in - three rounds." v '

Much has happened since! "Lor, yes. I-liave 1 fought 370 battles, and been defeated only twice, fairly— Jeffries and, Lang, the'other day.' But I suppose I did what no other man in the world ever did or cculd have done when' I beat heavy-weight 'Jem'. Corbett (the cleverest 'boxer, that"ever stepped - into a ring) in 14 rounds^-nie' a middle-weight, only scaling 1541b (11 stone). Just before, that :.Corbett. had boxed 60 rounds .with. Peter Jackson, who could not touch Sim right along.' -My.- affair with Corbett lasted four rounds—then-he quit." "I gave up boxing a good bit ago, and took to the stage.-, I have had-my- own show going:for sixteen years—melodrama -with-me as the hero. For:the last two, years I have been' on the vaudeville stage,: playing..a. dramatio. sbeteh ' entitled,'A Man's a.Main for a'. That.' Mrs! Fitzsimmons, who ;'is, a very'- good singer, appears in, the sketch. My wife- is one of the best operatic artists inAm erica— has a repertoire of sixteen good as:any of them, though I say .it. ~ In England I met Mr. Hugh M'lntosh, and: he offered me a -fight—well,, all; about that."

: :Mr;- Fitzsimmbns.-is' at present suffering from an affected throat, the result, of a blow iii ■ the neclc sustained when sparring: .'with "Soldier".',Thompsoh..in Sydney. It was a chance clip, but his'medical. adviser said . that it had paralysed some' of . the; membranes. of his .throat, but it is hoped' ' that it will : gradually recover." He and his wife will appear-with the. Rickards Company, in Wellington;-

J. Griffon, the. well-known. New '. Zealand arrived' from . Sydney by the. tJlimaroa last'night. ' "I