If it wanted a sledge-hammer to hurt Fitzsimmons, the hammer of Thor was needed for Jefferies. There has seldom, if ever, been a man who could take a harder blow, whether on the “mark” or the jaw3, without turning a hair. He was not a scientific boxer4 of the first order, but he was no mere5 windmill, and he knew enough not to fight “raggedly.” He was, however, slow.
In arranging the conditions of the match beforehand, Fitzsimmons was anxious to have all hitting in holds forbidden, as it is by the strict English rules: that is to say, he preferred a clean break from a clinch6. In most boxing contests now, both in England and America, when the referee7 stands in the ring he breaks the men away from each other, often by the use of considerable force, and passes between them. By this means each man has time to get ready again to start fighting in a fair manner. Jefferies objected strongly, for a man of his great weight and power 140 can do a great deal of damage by hitting “on the break-away.” Fitzsimmons was a very fair fighter, and upheld the English tradition in respect of clinches8. Also, he knew, of course, that a clean break was greatly to his advantage. In the end the point was left to the referee, who thrust himself between the men to end a clinch.
The ring used was only 22 feet square; no weights were announced before the fight, but Fitzsimmons was probably between twelve and thirteen stone, whilst Jefferies was evidently a good two stone heavier.
From the very beginning it was seen that the old champion was much the better boxer, Jefferies much the stronger man. Heaven knows that Robert Fitzsimmons in his lean and lanky9 way was strong enough for six, quite apart from his spiritual qualities of will-power and courage. But Jefferies was phenomenal—is, no doubt, still; for though one speaks of him in the past tense, because this fight took place many years ago, he is at the time of writing still a comparatively young man.
At the time of this encounter Fitzsimmons himself was only, and also, a young man in the comparative sense. He was thirty-six, and in despite of his agility10 he was stiffer and less alert than he had been. Only two years had gone by since his great battle with Jem Corbett, but they were two years of great significance in the life of an athlete.
He began with his old brilliance11 of footwork, darting12 in and out, hitting Jefferies almost as he liked: but his blows were not hard, not hard enough, not so hard as they used to be. On points the first round was certainly his, and he wound it up by sending home a splendid right on his man’s ear. The second round was much spoiled by clinching13. Jefferies began to assert himself, landing hard on body and face. He crouched14 low, and with his forearms close to protect his head, “bored in,” as they say, and went for Fitzsimmons’s body with short-arm blows behind which he swung his huge weight. Fitzsimmons tried to put in a right upper-cut, but his adversary15 guarded it and they clinched16, the referee parting them. Immediately afterwards Jefferies shot out 141 a straight left which caught the Cornishman hard in the face when he was standing17 square, so that he was off his balance, and the blow knocked him down flat on his back. Such a knock-down as that does little harm, and Fitzsimmons rose at once, scorning to take advantage, as so many men would have done, of the ten seconds’ count. It should be remembered that the blow on the jaw which ends, or nearly ends, a fight makes a man fall forward. The third round was very even: they had settled down to hard fighting, and there was a good exchange of blows. The same may be said for the next round, except that Jefferies’s punches were much harder, and once Fitzsimmons was visibly shaken. He must have realised about this time that the odds18 were considerably19 against him. He had excellent opportunities for virtually free blows—blows which he could deliver with all his power, perfectly20 timed, and nicely judged. And they seemed not to inconvenience Jefferies at all. He tried his famous “shift” upon him without avail, that trick of his own invention by means of which he beat Jem Corbett—that dancing, glancing change of feet so that the right hand followed the right foot and smashed into the body under the heart and then glanced upwards21 to the jaw. Jefferies stood it all, and crouched and glowered22 and came on, quite impervious23 to anything that he could do. Once again Fitzsimmons decidedly “won” the sixth round. But of what use was that? He showed himself the better boxer, he landed more hits than his antagonist24 landed. That was all. There were to be other rounds beyond the sixth, and Jefferies was unhurt, unweakened, only biding25 his time. The seventh was the same, and this time Jefferies showed a little uncertainty26. Fitzsimmons with his years of experience might be feeling a little desperate: Jefferies was only a lad, and realised the great difficulty of landing a punishing blow. No one knew better than he how much cleverer a boxer was the Cornishman. Jefferies was slow to start work in this round, and even, it seemed, a little reluctant. He kept backing away to avoid Fitzsimmons’s rushes. The old champion never charged blindly at his man; he knew too much for that. But he could get with extraordinary speed across the ring, 142 coming with a sliding, slithering movement which was snake-like in its quickness and certainty. And the expression of his face and especially of his light blue eyes was terribly and coldly fierce. For all the awkward, unsmiling kindness of his nature, Fitzsimmons could look a very devil when he was fighting.
After a little Jefferies halted and tried to force his man up against the ropes, but Fitzsimmons nipped easily away and held his own comfortably. But he was not happy. He could not hurt his opponent, and before this he had been used to make himself felt in seven rounds. In the next round Jefferies was again slow and reluctant at the outset, but after a little sparring he put in a couple of lefts without serious return, and later finished the round with a spanking27 straight left which sent Fitzsimmons staggering half across the ring.
The ninth round settled the matter. Fitzsimmons led off and attacked ferociously28, but was sent back again with just such a left as had troubled him in the previous set-to. He left his body open, and Jefferies swung all his great strength and all his mighty29 weight into a body-blow which caught the veteran over the heart. He gasped31 audibly and time was called. But that was the winning blow. The fight was knocked out of Fitzsimmons. He was still almost dazed when he came up for the tenth round. Again Jefferies used that best and safest of all blows, the straight left, and Fitzsimmons was shaken to his heels. He could not defend himself: he could only stand and take what he was given. The next blow sent him to the ground, and he only rose, very groggy32, at the seventh second. And now, though it made no ultimate difference, Jefferies lost his head. Fitzsimmons had been beaten by the blow over his heart, the effect of which would last much longer and take far more out of him than three or four on the jaw which failed to knock him out. But Jefferies could not have known that for certain at this moment: and seeing his man weak and tottering33 he swung wildly at him. If he himself had not been so extraordinarily34 strong, or if the elder man had not been already broken, he might well have lost the fight by that wildness. It has happened scores of times. As 143 it was, an inferior blow from Jefferies knocked Fitzsimmons down again, but only for five seconds. Done as the old champion was, the blow must have been a comparatively poor one, or he could not have risen in the time, though, as had happened earlier in the fight, his pride would not allow him to take full advantage of the “count.” Even then, in his excitement, Jefferies failed to finish his man, and the round ended.
Then the eleventh round began, and Fitzsimmons showed the stuff that he was made of. He always had the reputation of being strong, and hard, and phenomenally plucky35: but he had been badly hurt by that blow in the ninth round and the cumulative36 effect of several others. Yet he did not mean to be beaten without a great struggle. Immediately time was called he dashed across the ring and attacked Jefferies with all his might. It was not of the slightest use, for Jefferies was quite ready for him and the veteran was too weak now to do any damage, but it was a good effort. Jefferies waited for him to expose his body and then sent two more hard right-handers to his heart; then several blows at the head, ending with a left half-arm blow which dazed Fitzsimmons, so that he stood, or rather tottered37, helpless, with his arms down, in the middle of the ring. Jefferies looked at him for a moment to make quite sure that he was as bad as he seemed, then swung left, followed by right, to the point of the jaw. Fitzsimmons fell forward, down and out.
In spite of his age and his defeat at Jefferies’s hands, Fitzsimmons challenged the champion to a second battle three years later; and on July 25th, 1902, they met again at San Francisco. It was not much of a fight, and the whole business was viewed with great disfavour in England. It was regarded as an outrageous38 commercial transaction: and indeed it was little more. Fitzsimmons, in fact, consented to be thrashed for so much down—consented, rather, to risk the very strong probability; for no one suggested that the fight was not a perfectly square one. Fitzsimmons was now only 11 stone 6 lb., whilst Jefferies weighed 15 stone 5 lb., quite an absurd difference when we remember also the disparity of their ages. Once more there was 144 no sort of doubt but that the Cornishman was the better boxer. He had forgotten nothing: Jefferies had learned very little. The first two rounds were slightly in Fitzsimmons’s favour, but after that the big man’s huge natural advantages made the end inevitable39. At the end of the second round Fitzsimmons was bleeding severely40 from the nose, and it usually takes a very heavy blow indeed to draw much blood from the nose of an old hand. But Jefferies’s cheek and eye were also cut and bleeding, for Fitzsimmons had not treated him gently. In the fourth round Jefferies crouched low and glowered at his man, bent41 on hurting him. He guarded the beautiful long straight lefts that Fitzsimmons sent whizzing in and attacked the slighter man’s body. The next round was very fast, whilst the men were fighting; but there was a good deal of clinching too, in which Fitzsimmons, however much he tried to save himself, got the worst of it, because the overwhelming weight of his adversary was thrown forward on to him. Superficially Jefferies looked much the worst of the two, for Fitzsimmons’s sharp blows had cut his face in several places and he was bleeding profusely42. This was due not so much to the hardness of the older man’s hitting as to the softness of Jefferies’s skin: for the champion could generally beat his opponents so easily that severe training seemed to him not worth the candle. Fitzsimmons was unmarked, but the damage was partly to his body and visible only in vague red blotches43 such as gloved fists make, and partly in store for him. And yet by boxing he had the better of the sixth round, and his hope rose. He was not a man of vivid imagination, just a healthily hopeful fellow, with plenty of self-confidence. Jefferies had beaten him once, and only a round or two before he had been winning—winning on points, at any rate. He had forgotten that fight now. He only knew that he was his adversary’s master in the art of boxing, and surely good boxing, skill, ringcraft, experience would win now? Did he think about it like that? Not at all. There was no time for thinking, only for an instinctive44 effort to do his best, to put in one of his very best and hardest blows on the point of the jaw—not the exact point, 145 but an inch or so on either side of the exact point. That was where the impact of his glove must come, that part of his glove behind which lay the protruding45 knuckle46 of his second finger—the striking point of the anatomical piston47. He must land that blow with terrific force, and the sharp upper end of the jaw would be levered up to the bundle of nerves at the place where the skull48 is thinnest, the semi-circular canals behind the ear would be temporarily deranged49, the sense of equilibrium50 would go, there would be, speaking roughly and somewhat incorrectly, a slight and quickly passing concussion51 of the brain. The victim would fall, the old champion would be a champion once again.... Desperately52 Fitzsimmons tried to land that blow. But the sixth round ended and nothing happened. In the next round Jefferies came crouching53, but rushing, across the ring, and Fitzsimmons caught him with a hard left on the mouth; and a little later, Jefferies, with blood to get rid of, stopped to spit (or to “expectorate,” as the sporting papers, with their inimitable refinement54, put it). It was, I suppose, a legitimate55 opportunity, though a fastidiously chivalrous56 boxer would not have used it: in any case, Fitzsimmons did, and attacked his man with all his might. He sent in three hard blows, meant for the jaw, which again got Jefferies on the mouth, doing no decisive damage, and before time was called again Jefferies had got home upon the heart with one of his devastating57 rights, just as he had done in the previous encounter. They began the eighth round with fairly equal exchanges, and then fell into a clinch. They broke away, and as he stepped back Fitzsimmons began to talk. Now, there is no doubt that he had hurt Jefferies; certainly he had hurt him more than in the match at Coney Island. It is not to be said that he would have won if he had been more careful—who can say? The probabilities are against it. But he began to talk to Jefferies, and he paused to do so. It is most surely true that you cannot do two things at once when one of them is fighting. I don’t know what Fitzsimmons said, but we may be pretty sure that his words were words of scorn. “Mouth-fighting,” as it is called, is a more foolish than reprehensible58 practice. To 146 stand and invent rude epithets59 for your antagonist, to shower invective60 upon him, to deride61 his method of boxing, or to impugn62 his sportsmanship is so very far beside the point—especially the point of the jaw, which is the real bone of contention63. And in order to talk Fitzsimmons necessarily laid aside his strict vigilance. And Jefferies, who wasn’t always slow, took a most legitimate advantage and swung his left at long range at his opponent’s stomach. It was, on the whole, a lucky blow, for it caught Fitzsimmons just beneath the breast-bone at that point which we call the “mark.” And the Cornishman, for once, was taken unawares: the blow made him gasp30, and it made him tuck in his stomach instinctively64, with the result of bringing his head forward and down. Jefferies’s huge left swung back and forward, again, catching65 him full on the jaw. And once again Fitzsimmons knees gave, his face went ashen66 gray, his body sank forward ... seven, eight, nine—Out!
Bob Fitzsimmons and James J. Corbett.
(A Caricature.)
After this defeat Fitzsimmons fought about ten other battles, though four of them hardly count, as they took place in those states of the American union where only short contests are allowed, and failing a knock-out no decision must be given by the referee. Such contests seem to us quite pointless. If men are giving an exhibition of scientific boxing, as for charity or as on one occasion or another they often do in this and other countries, why should it not be called an exhibition, even if the sparring partners are heavily paid for that purpose? For, of course, the tendency in No-Decision contests is for the men to “go easy” and not to try to knock each other out. And if men are boxing their best so far as science goes and yet not giving their physical best to the affair, the whole event is apt to be meaningless. Besides, science and physique are intermingled. A man is not boxing his best who doesn’t try to finish his opponent as speedily as possible, who doesn’t try, that is, to assert his superiority of combined force and skill.
Fitzsimmons won battles again, and lost them again. And he went on fighting till 1914—not very long before his death, at the age of fifty-four or so.
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1
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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athletic
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| adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的 | |
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jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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boxer
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| n.制箱者，拳击手 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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clinch
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| v.敲弯，钉牢；确定；扭住对方 [参]clench | |
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referee
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| n.裁判员．仲裁人，代表人，鉴定人 | |
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clinches
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| n.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的名词复数 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议）v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的第三人称单数 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议） | |
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lanky
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| adj.瘦长的 | |
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agility
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| n.敏捷，活泼 | |
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brilliance
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| n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智 | |
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12
darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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13
clinching
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| v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的现在分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议） | |
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14
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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adversary
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| adj.敌手，对手 | |
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clinched
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| v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的过去式和过去分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议） | |
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17
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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glowered
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| v.怒视( glower的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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impervious
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| adj.不能渗透的，不能穿过的，不易伤害的 | |
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antagonist
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| n.敌人，对抗者，对手 | |
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25
biding
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| v.等待，停留( bide的现在分词 )；居住；（过去式用bided）等待；面临 | |
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26
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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spanking
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| adj.强烈的，疾行的；n.打屁股 | |
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ferociously
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| 野蛮地，残忍地 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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groggy
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| adj.体弱的；不稳的 | |
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33
tottering
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| adj.蹒跚的，动摇的v.走得或动得不稳( totter的现在分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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extraordinarily
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| adv.格外地；极端地 | |
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plucky
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| adj.勇敢的 | |
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cumulative
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| adj.累积的，渐增的 | |
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tottered
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| v.走得或动得不稳( totter的过去式和过去分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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38
outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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39
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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40
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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41
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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42
profusely
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| ad.abundantly | |
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43
blotches
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| n.（皮肤上的）红斑，疹块( blotch的名词复数 )；大滴 [大片]（墨水或颜色的）污渍 | |
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44
instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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45
protruding
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸 | |
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46
knuckle
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| n.指节；vi.开始努力工作；屈服，认输 | |
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47
piston
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| n.活塞 | |
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48
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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49
deranged
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| adj.疯狂的 | |
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50
equilibrium
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| n.平衡，均衡，相称，均势，平静 | |
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51
concussion
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| n.脑震荡；震动 | |
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52
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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53
crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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54
refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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55
legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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56
chivalrous
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| adj.武士精神的；对女人彬彬有礼的 | |
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57
devastating
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| adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的 | |
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58
reprehensible
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| adj.该受责备的 | |
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59
epithets
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| n.（表示性质、特征等的）词语( epithet的名词复数 ) | |
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60
invective
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| n.痛骂，恶意抨击 | |
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61
deride
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| v.嘲弄，愚弄 | |
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62
impugn
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| v.指责，对…表示怀疑 | |
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63
contention
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| n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张 | |
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64
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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65
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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66
ashen
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| adj.灰的 | |
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