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SHOWMAN
familiar, doesn't it? Liar or not, I'd succeeded in raising an issue in the public mind which only a return match could really settle.
The public wanted to believe that Corbett hadn't been licked. The first thing that struck me on coming east was that the old rule of the defeated champion's being more popular than ever and the new champion's nose being out of joint was working better than ever. It took Fitz years to work up anything like popularity —no reproach to him, but he just wasn't colorful, except in the ring. That's been a handicap for a lot of champions, such as Jim Braddock. It looked like a set-up for a return match. I jumped back to California and cajoled Corbett out of his retirement, bringing him back to give boxing exhibitions in competition with Fitz in Denver and Kansas City. The results proved my point all over again. Playing day and date with Fitz, Corbett won in a walk, drawing twice as much money every crack.
There was every reason to believe that all this would work on Fitz's nerves till he'd fight Corbett again to get the public off his neck. But it didn't turn out according to logic. Nobody was going to get Bob Fitzsimmons back into the ring with Jim Corbett. I don't mean he was afraid— Fitz had plenty of courage —but he'd been pursuing Corbett for years, ever since the Sullivan fight, and, now he'd finally got the title away from him, he was going to keep it safely wrapped in cotton wool on the top shelf of the closet, so far as
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