By David Martinez / Boxing Historian / dmboxing.com
The rich history in boxing has always intrigued me. The old boxers have fascinated me since my childhood. I would pick the minds of people that lived before I was born to educate myself about how they lived.
Even though I have never spoken to anyone that actually saw him fight, James J. Corbett was certainly a great boxer in his own right prior to the turn of the 20th century. His fame came when he knocked out undefeated champion John L. Sullivan to win the heavyweight title in 1892. With this victory, Corbett became the first heavyweight to win a championship under the Marquess of Queensberry Rules.
Corbett was born on September 1, 1866 in San Francisco, California.
As a young teenager he took a job as a bank clerk, and outside of his life at the bank, he began training under the watchful eye of Englishman boxing instructor Walter Watson at the local Olympic Athletic Club.
In July 1886, at the age of eighteen, Corbett had his first professional fight which was a knockout victory over Frank Smith. After a few fights and exhibitions in between, Corbett’s career took off when he faced Joe Choynski in a three fight series that began on May 30, 1889. The first fight of the trilogy was ruled a no-contest after four rounds when it was stopped by the local Fairfax, California, Sheriff due to jurisdiction restrictions. The second fight was just six days later in nearby Benecia, where the fight was held on a barge. It was a terrific, action packed bout and in round three the seams in Choynski’s gloves cut Corbett’s face. Later in the fight, Corbett broke his left hand, yet he came through to knockout Choynski in the 27th round with a left hook to the head. The two fought again on July 15, 1889 with Corbett winning a four round decision. The amazing thing was that all three fights were completed, in succession, in a forty-six day time frame.
On February 18, 1890, Corbett won by decision over Jake Kilrain who had earlier fought an epic battle in a loss to John L. Sullivan. In a fight for the ages, on May 21, 1891, at the Athletic Club in San Francisco, Corbett faced an outstanding boxer, Peter Jackson, a black fighter known as the “Black Prince”, who Sullivan had refused to fight. The Jackson bout ended with both men completely exhausted. The decision was ruled a no-contest after 61 grueling rounds.
In an interesting occurrence, a month after the Jackson fight, Corbett boxed a four round exhibition match with Sullivan on June 26, giving everybody a preview of bigger things to come. On September 7, 1892 in New Orleans, the much anticipated Sullivan vs. Corbett bout took place with the heavyweight title at stake and with Sullivan the betting favorite at 4 to 1.
Using 5-ounce gloves, Corbett boxed brilliantly and countered effectively to avoid Sullivan’s rough-house charging tactics. In round three, Corbett landed a hard straight left that broke Sullivan’s nose. As the fight continued, Corbett was like a matador to Sullivan’s bullish style as he side-stepped and countered to perfection. In round twenty-one, Corbett feinted Sullivan out of position and landed a left hook which was to be the beginning of the end for the champion Sullivan. In that round Corbett pounded Sullivan to his knees. A second knock down was the clincher that put Sullivan down for good, making Corbett the first to defeat, knockout, and retire the great John L. Sullivan.
The new champion Corbett went on to successfully defend his title twice, against Charley Mitchell and Tom Sharkey, before losing to Bob Fitzsimmons on March 17, 1897, by fourteenth round knockout. On May 11, 1898, Corbett lost by disqualification in a match with Tom Sharkey.
In 1900, Corbett challenged heavyweight champion Jim Jeffries and after winning the majority of rounds in the scheduled twenty-five round bout, he was knocked out in the twenty third round. They fought again in a rematch in 1903 and Jeffries prevailed with a knockout in the tenth round. In between the two Jeffries fights, Corbett knocked out middleweight champion Charles “Kid” McCoy in the fifth round. Corbett retired after the second Jeffries fight and continued with his stage career performances.
Corbett’s scientific style of boxing was a recognized feat and he certainly faced the best competition of his era. His complete ring record was 19 bouts, 11 wins, 4 losses, 2 draws, 2 no-contests, with 7 knockouts. He was inducted into the Ring Boxing Hall of Fame in 1954, the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1980, and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.
In an interesting conversation that I had with the late Boxing Historian, Bert Sugar, I remember how he ranked, in their prime regardless of who beats whom, these five great heavyweights; in order, they were Bob Fitzsimmons, James J. Corbett, John L. Sullivan, Jim Jeffries, and Peter Jackson. In my research on the same topic, the late Boxing Historian Nat Fleischer ranked the five differently; in order, they were Jim Jeffries, Bob Fitzsimmons, James J. Corbett, Peter Jackson, and John L. Sullivan. By contrast, I rank them in this order: Fitzsimmons, Jeffries, Jackson, Corbett, and Sullivan.
A historical event involving Corbett was the second boxing match ever filmed, featuring six rounds of one minute each with Peter Courtney on September 7, 1894. It was filmed at the Thomas Edison Black Maria Studio, West Orange, New Jersey. A few months earlier, on June 14, 1884, the first Edison (Kinetoscope) footage of boxers Mike Leonard and Jack Cushing was filmed in a four round match, also one minute per round.
“Gentleman” James J. Corbett passed away on February 18, 1933. He is buried at Calvary Cemetery, Long Island, New York.
NOTE: Pictured here, from my personal boxing collection, are two unique replica cigar boxes of Sullivan and Corbett.