The Fitzsimmons-Maher Prizefight

Bob Fitzsimmons was born in 1863 in Helston, Cornwall, and raised in Timaru, New Zealand, where his father kept a blacksmith's forge. The title he took at Langtry was a disputed version of the heavyweight championship. The undisputed one came on March 17, 1897, at Carson City, Nevada, when he knocked out Jim Corbett, the recognized champion, in the fourteenth round. At 167 pounds he is listed as the lightest heavyweight champion, and he became boxing's first three-division world champion, winning the light-heavyweight title in 1903 at forty.

What the plaque says

The Fitzsimmons-Maher Prizefight In 1896, Judge Roy Bean made national headlines with a unique boxing match held at this site. Robert James Fitzsimmons was to fight James J. Corbett, the heavyweight champion, but the Legislature had outlawed boxing in Texas. While promoters sought a new location for the match, Corbett retired, handing the title to Irishman Peter Maher, who soon agreed to fight Fitzsimmons. Bean arranged for spectators, the press and Texas Rangers to travel by train from El Paso to Langtry, where he held the fight on a sandbar on Mexico's side of the Rio Grande; Texas lawmen had no authority there and Mexico had no law enforcement on hand. Fitzsimmons knocked Maher out in 95 seconds, winning the title. (2006)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Judge Roy Bean Visitor Center — 1.0 mi
  The state travel center at Langtry, built around the saloon where Roy Bean held court as justice of the peace for twenty years, in a town named for a railroad foreman.
• Pecos River Overlook — 14 mi
  A roadside pullout at the east end of the US-90 bridge, looking down into the gorge that made the Pecos a barrier for travelers and a byword for the edge of the law.
• Seminole Canyon State Park and Historic Site — 16 mi
  The state park west of Comstock where rangers lead visitors down to Fate Bell Shelter and its Pecos River-style paintings, some three to four thousand years old.
• Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center — 24 mi
  The Comstock research center that documents the Lower Pecos murals, which it calls the oldest books in North America, and opens its headquarters to visitors four days a week.

More markers nearby

• Langtry School — steps away
• Eagle's Nest — 0.2 mi
• Robert Thomas Hill — 0.2 mi
• The Torres Family — 0.3 mi