Fitzsimmons, Robert Prometheus (1863-1917)

English-born boxer who was world champion at three different weight. Born in Cornwall, but raised in New Zealand, he won the world middleweight title in New Orleans in 1891. Although he weighed only 75 kg/165 lb, he also competed as a heavyweight and in 1897 won the title from James J (‘Gentleman Jim’) Corbett in Carson City, Nevada to become the first British-born world heavyweight champion. He lost that title to James J Jeffries in New York in 1899. In 1903, a year after losing a re-match with Jeffries, Fitzsimmons., now a naturalized US citizen, captured the world light-heavyweight crown from George Gardner.

He lost the light-heavweight title in 1905 to Jack O'Brien, but continued to fight professionally until 1914.