Christoper Tobin, the author of "Fitzsimmons: Boxing's First Triple World Champion," lives in Timaru, in the South Island of New Zealand where Bob Fitzsimmons first learned to box and worked as a blacksmith.

Author Chris Tobin (right) and Herald Communications printing works manager Garth Kearns look over the new edition of Tobin's book on world heavyweight boxing champion Bob Fitzsimmons. Photo: RON LINDSAY/Timaru Herald

Tobin has done research for the book in New Zealand and he also gained further material during visits to the United States and to Helston, the small town in Cornwall, England, where Fitzsimmons was born. One of the major surprises Tobin discovered about Fitzsimmons was that in 1957 Nat Fleischer, the renowned boxing expert and founder of "The Ring" magazine, rated Fitzsimmons the best knockout puncher he had seen up to that time-better even than Jack Johnson, Jim Jeffries, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano. In writing his book Tobin has aimed to include a wide range of photographs and illustrations to ensure Fitzsimmons' colorful life story comes alive.

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Tobin has worked as a journalist for several New Zealand daily newpapers and has also enjoyed success as a middle and long distance runner. He represented New Zealand in two world cross-country championships, one in Warsaw, Poland, the other in Auckland, NZ. He was a member of a five-man team that placed third in the 1986 IAAF World Challenge Road Relay in Hiroshima, Japan. He has written one other book-a biography of Jack Lovelock, an Olympic Games 1500m champion, who, like Bob Fitzsimmons, came from Timaru.