Jeffries Admits Munroe Did Not Merit Title Chance

It is an interesting thought though. McCoy was clearly the leading contender around the time of McCoy - Corbett, it seems. Quite clearly, imo.

This win, pretty much does legitimise the Corbett Jeffries II fight if it is on the level, especially after Corbett Jeffries I. In fact, it may even be one of Corbett's best wins, quality of opponent wise. Though i suppose that Others might point to the delay between this fight and the Jeffries corbett, but i must admit, i am not that big on fighters losing their status due to inactivity, like others are. I think status needs to be earned by beating others with status.

Of course, if it is a fake, what does this mean? Should McCoy really keep the no 1 status in light of a fake loss. Is there enough evidence to call it a fake. How bad would a Jeffries McCoy fight look if it had been taken after a corbett loss?

 

My book, In the Ring With James J. Jeffries, devotes a chapter to the Corbett-McCoy fight. The Horton law was not repealed as a result of this fight. It was already repealed, with such law set to go into effect Sept. 1. Hence lots of fights were happening before the repeal went into effect, because they knew that New York money was about to be gone. Corbett and McCoy had been previously scheduled to fight before Jim's father went insane and killed his wife and himself. Whether the fight was fixed or not remains unclear. I do not think there is any definitive evidence. Corbett denied it in his autobiography. The sportswriters who saw the fight believed it was legitimate. One said if it was fixed then it was the acme of acting. Keep in mind also that Corbett was bigger than McCoy, and was very sharp at that time - only some months after he gave Jeffries hell. Their wives accused them of fixing it, but they were estranged at the time. Plus, there were aspects to the wives' stories that didn't make sense or were contradictory. Still, many back then, including today, want to believe the worst. Many prefer the sensational. Sells more newspapers. Sometimes it is true, though. I lean towards thinking it was on the up and up, but maybe I'm naive.

 

Never could figure the truth of Corbett-McCoy myself, if for real its probably Corbett's best win as McCoy was as Boilermaker stated just about the number one contender. I suppose as such it's hard to see why he'd throw the fight. As to the substance of the thread nobody knew better than Jeff that Munroe wasn't up to much, and he wasn't. He was however well ballyhooed and this fooled a lot of the public and indeed some sportswriters.