Pioneering film immortalized newly inducted boxers

"Gentleman Jim" Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons were among those who went into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame on Saturday during a gala affair at — where else? — Caesars Palace. The "Home of Champions."

Neither was there to accept the honor, or to say a few words.

Corbett died in 1933; Fitzsimmons in 1917. But thanks to Errol Flynn, who portrayed Corbett in the movies, we have an idea of what Gentleman Jim would have looked like in a tuxedo. He would have looked dashing, suave and debonair.

Corbett and Fitzsimmons were feted in a category called "Pioneer." On St. Patrick's Day in 1897, they fought for the heavyweight title in Carson City.

Corbett, who was heavyweight champion, used fancy footwork, a precursor of the bob-and-weave style that a lot of today's fighters still employ. Fitzsimmons, at just 167 pounds — 83 pounds lighter than George Foreman when Big George knocked out Michael Moorer to win the heavyweight crown for a second time at age 45 — stopped Corbett with one punch in the 14th round. It landed just below the heart.

There was no bigger sporting event than a heavyweight title fight in those days. That was part of the reason Corbett and Fitzsimmons were honored posthumously, some 118 years after they stood toe to toe.

The other reason was "The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight."

A documentary was made of the big bout, directed by a man named Enoch J. Rector. The film ran more than 100 minutes.

This was no ordinary feature film.

This was before pay per view.

This was the world's first feature film.

Unlike that never-ending movie about the Titanic, the boxing film no longer exists in its entirety, though big chunks have survived. In 2012, they were remastered and admitted to the National Film Registry and the Library of Congress.

More important, one now can view them on YouTube.

Enoch J. Rector — one wonders if his friends called him Nucky — must have shot the fight in Super Low-Res. But what would you expect from 1897? This was 11 years before the Cubs won their last World Series, and when was the last time you saw highlights of Three Finger Brown shutting down the Tigers on "SportsCenter?"

The first thing I noticed about "The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight" — apparently the filmmaker of the day didn't go in for colorful titles such as "Gone With the Wind" and "I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meathook and Now I Have a Three-Picture Deal at Disney," which actually was a 1993 movie directed by a young Ben Affleck — was Corbett's trunks.

They would have made Hector "Macho" Camacho blush, and no amount of film degradation could disguise it. From the front, Corbett's trunks look sort of normal; from the rear — and that's putting it literally — they look like like something Miley Cyrus would twerk in.

I have seen pictures of John L. Sullivan himself, as they referred to him in "Gentleman Jim," and the boxers of that era sometimes fought in long pants or tights. But Bob Fitzsimmons' trunks also were cut high on the side, in the manner of boxer-briefs that Jim Palmer or Mark Wahlberg might wear.

Anyway, like some of Woody Allen's early movies, Corbett vs. Fitzsimmons has held up surprisingly well. You see the fighters square off in the middle of the ring; you see Corbett hold his gloves low and show occasional foot movement; you see Fitzsimmons hit him with counterpunches.

You see a lot of clinches, as you do when one of these tomato cans tangles with Wladimir Klitschko.

You do not hear Harold Lederman or see his scorecard on an HBO graphic between rounds.

You do not see Wyatt Earp and other men armed with six-shooters in Corbett's corner, though they supposedly were there to assure a fair fight and that the Marquess of Queensberry Rules be adhered to.

Toward the end of the film, you see a flash of left hand to the body from Fitzsimmons.

You see Corbett crumble, you see him stagger out of frame, you see him get counted out by referee George Siler, a chap with a bushy mustache who appears to be wearing some sort of vest.

And then you see the instant replay. A slow-motion instant replay — a slow-motion instant replay in 1897. Take that, Roone Arledge and Martin Scorsese.

Without "The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight," it's possible there would have been no "Raging Bull," no "Million Dollar Baby," no "Somebody Up There Likes Me," No "Cinderella Man" — no "Three Stooges" short featuring Curly as K.O. Stradivarius and Larry playing "Pop Goes the Weasel."

There might not have been a "Rocky." And no Rocky II, III, IV, V, Balboa, and the new one coming out in 2016, about Apollo Creed's fighting son born out of wedlock.

So when Sylvester Stallone accepted the Oscar for the original "Rocky," he should have said yo, Adrian, he did it. He also should have thanked Enoch J. Rector for making it all possible.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski