JIM CORBETT … "HE ALWAYS COLLECTED FIRST
BLOOD MONEY"
By Tracy Callis
Corbett was the second champion under the Marquis of Queensberry rules. Some historians write that during his entire career (18 years) he never got a black eye or bloody nose. He was “heady” and an exceptional innovator. If a fight did not go according to plan (most did), he could adjust and change tactics in a flash. |
But, he did err and get too
close to Jim Jeffries – more out of disregard than error. Corbett boxed 23
rounds with Jeffries in their first bout and cut the big man’s face to shreds.
Corbett later joked that he was ahead 22-0 going into the fatal 23rd
round. |
|
Houston (1975 p 9) said “He
believed in hitting without being hit and moved gracefully about the ring,
relying on the speed and accuracy of his hits to wear down opponents …”. Litsky (1975 p 76) said “James
J. Corbett was one of the great heavyweight boxing champions and one of the
great innovators … He originated the counter punch, the feint, and fast
footwork.”
|
Durant and Rice (1946)
called Corbett a skilled boxer who was lightning fast and one of the most
scientific fighters of all time. They added, “In the ring he was ice cold.
No man before him had ever applied himself to his trade as did Corbett to
the study of boxing”. |
Burrill (1974 pp 50 51) said
“Corbett marked [the] turning point in ring history, replacing mauling sluggers
with [the] new school of faster, scientific boxers”. Jem Mace, Britain’s great
bare-knuckle champion called Corbett “… the most scientific boxer …” he had ever
seen (see Durant 1976 pp 38 39).
Grombach (1977 p 48) wrote that
Corbett was the first man to introduce defensive tactics into championship
competition and the principle that a man cannot be beaten if he cannot be hit.
Willoughby (1970 p 358) wrote of Corbett “… without doubt the greatest of all
defensive boxers among the heavyweights …”. |
Fleischer and Andre (1975
p 71) stated that at the peak of his career no one could compare with him
in quick thinking and cleverness. McCallum (1974 p 22) said “James John
Corbett is down in history as the most intelligent prize fighter the ring
has ever known – the supreme master of defensive boxing”. Keith (1969 p
114) wrote “Jim Corbett … probably had the fastest and cleverest footwork
of any man ever to fight for the world’s heavyweight championship”. |
Durant (1976 p 33) said he “…
developed the beautifully proportioned body of a Greek athlete” and that he was
an accomplished counter puncher. Odd (1976 p 141) wrote that
Corbett appeared to be the perfect athlete with his beautiful muscularity. He
earlier wrote (1974 p 16) he [Corbett] placed the science of boxing before brawn
and added “Corbett specialized in a straight left lead and a right cross and he
cultivated footwork to a fine degree”. Jim Jeffries said Corbett was “…
the cleverest man I ever fought. There isn’t a fighter of any weight, living or
dead, who could measure up to him as a boxer” (see Litsky 1975 p 76). Grantland Rice (1954 pp 142 143) called Corbett “the world’s greatest boxer” and wrote that in 1925, Corbett (at the age of 59) sparred three rounds with Gene Tunney. Rice stated that “Tunney was on the defensive. Corbett was brilliant . He still had bewildering speed! He mixed up his punches better than practically any fighter I’ve ever seen …”. Tunney commented “It was the greatest thing I’ve ever seen in the ring. I learned plenty” (also see McCallum 1974 p 6)
|
Lardner (1972 p 69)
asserted “James J. Corbett was the greatest boxer of all time among the
heavyweights and one of the greatest ring generals of any weight. No
heavyweight ever approached him in the ability to ride with a punch (and
so remove part of its sting); slip a punch; make his opponent lead before
he was ready and then counter with a series of pistonlike jabs; feint an
opponent into committing a defensive maneuver and then attack the newly
vulnerable area; or drift just out of reach of a punch a split second
before it reached its intended target”. In the opinion of this
writer, Corbett was the fastest heavyweight boxer ever over the entire
course of a fight (not just the early rounds) and the #7 All-Time
Heavyweight in boxing history. |
References
Burrill, B. 1974. Who’s Who
in Boxing. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House
Durant, J. 1976. The
Heavyweight Champions. New York: Hastings House Publishers
Durant, J. and Bettmann, O.
1952. Pictorial History of American Sports. Cranbury, New Jersey: A.S.
Barnes and Co.
Durant, J. and Rice, E. 1946.
Come Out Fighting. Cincinnati: Zebra Picture Books
Edgren, R. 1926. The Big
Fellow (Jim Jeffries – contained in Liberty magazine for seven weekly
issues from July 31 to September 11, 1926
Fleischer, N. and Andre, S.
1959. A Pictorial History of Boxing. New York: Bonanza Books
Grombach, J. 1977. The Saga
of Sock. London : Thomas Yoseloff Ltd.; Cranbury, New Jersey: A.S. Barnes
and Company, Inc.
Houston, G. 1975.
SuperFists. New York: Bounty Books
Keith, H. 1969. Sports and
Games. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company
Lardner, R. 1972. The
Legendary Champions. New York: American Heritage Press
Litsky, F. 1975.
Superstars. Secaucus, New Jersey: Derbibooks, Inc.
McCallum, J. 1974. The World
Heavyweight Boxing Championship. Radnor, Pa.: Chilton Book Company
Odd, G. 1974. Boxing: The
Great Champions. London: The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited
Odd, G. 1976. The Fighting Blacksmith.
London: Pelham Books Ltd.
Rice, G. 1954. The Tumult and
the Shouting. New York: A.S. Barnes and Company
Willoughby, D. 1970. The
Super Athletes. Cranbury, New Jersey: A.S. Barnes and Co., Inc.
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