A deeper dive on Young Corbett III's greatness.

Young Corbet III is one of the most underrated fighters ever, and somehow he is not discussed almost at all on this forum. So aside from those who do know his great career in detail, you should all study up and read carefully.

He turned professional just aged 14, and would learn his trade against guys making their debut and journeymen all the way to adulthood. After almost 70 fights against mediocre opposition, the now almost 21 year old Corbett, who had a record of 45-7-14, would beat the future Welterweight champion of the world, Young Jack Thompson. He would then win by DQ against the #14 rated Lightweight, Young Harry Willis, prior to boxing a draw with Thompson in 1927. This is where he would hit his stride.

He would preceed to soundly defeat Thompson in their third contest at the beggining of 1928, and stop the former top Welterweight contender Eddie Roberts in 9, who had managed to defeat Joe Dundee, who would go on to be the Welterweight Champ a few months after that loss. Corbett would also gain a win over former top 3 Welterweight contender, Jack Zivic, as well fringe contender Nick Testo, who would even manage to defeat Gorilla Jones. Corbett would then win a disputed decision against the #2 rated Welterweight, Sergeant Sammy Baker, whom he would drop in the 7th round, prior to losing to him in the rematch a mere 13 days later.

He would then box a draw with Pete Meyers, who would manage to defeat Baker right after that contest. Corbett faced Meyers again after that and managed to soundly defeat him, he also beat Clyde Chastain, who would even manage to outclass Rosenbloom at one point. He would then face Thomas ''Bucky'' Lawless, this guy was called the ''uncrowned champion'' of the welterweight division due to his victories over 4 other champions, those being Gorilla Jones, Joe Dundee, Young Jack Thompson and Tommy Freeman. Corbett knocked him out in a single round.

Corbett would then manage to soundly outclass the Welterweight Champion, Jackie Fields, in a 10 round non-title match. Andy DiVodi, who was always one big away from being a contender, would fall in 6 at the hands of Corbett. Young Jack Thompson had just defeated Fields himself for the championship, and would go on to lose yet again against Corbett in their 4th match, which unfortunately for him, was another non title match.

Corbett would then proceed to defeat the #10 rated Welterweight, Sammy Jackson, and the former Welterweight contender, ''Farmer'' Joe Cooper. He would get a draw against the #9 rated Paulie Walker, whom he would defeat in the rematch a month later. He would also win against the underrated #10 rated Middleweight Paul Pirrone, who in a few years time would skyrocket in the top 3 of the division, and would manage to gain wins over names such as Ken Overlin and Mickey Walker.

He would then twice defeat the future NYSAC Middleweight champion, Caferino Garcia, the second time by a 9th round stoppage. About 2 months later he would defeat the former top 3 Lightweight contender, Joe Glick. And another 2 months after that, he would finally become king by defeating the fantastic Jackie Fields, who had managed to reclaim his title, only for him to lose it in his first defense against Corbett.

And then, in a shocking turn of events, the same ironic fate would befall Corbett, in his first defense of the title. His opponent ? The #1 Welterweight contender, the legendary P4P all time great, Jimmy McLarnin, who would become the owner of arguably the single most impressive first round knock out in history, that being against Corbett right here, who would visit the canvas three times.

He would come back a year later with wins over fringe Middleweight contenders Babe Marino and Terry Young. He would then win almost every round against the declining former Welterweight and Middleweight champion, the all time great Mickey Walker. Corbett would visit the canvas in the 9th, but would get up immediately to even out the round. Corbett would then twice defeat the #2 rated Welterweight, Bep Van Klaveren. He would then lose against the #5 Light Heavyweight and former Middleweight champion, Lou Broulliard, in a fight where he couldn't do much against his younger and heavier foe.

But Corbett kept moving forward. He would stop the #4 rated Light heavyweight, and future champion of the division, Gus Lesnevitch, in the 5th round. He would then manage to defeat another future Light Heavyweight Champion, the #7 rated Light Heavyweight, and top Middleweight contender, the great Billy Conn. While not quite in his prime, Conn had already defeated the likes of Zivic, Dundee, Risko, Rankins and Yarosz, so he was far from a green novice. But Corbett would indeed lose to Conn in the rematch, but he was very competitive and put up a good fight.

Then, Corbett would have one last great hurrah against the #1 rated Middleweight and former Middleweight champion, the fantastic Fred Apostoli, whom he would outpoint in a 10 rounder. The California State Atlhetic Commision would recognize Corbett as the Middleweight champion after the contest. But unfortunately, he would visit the canvas 3 times against Apostoli in the rematch, prior to getting up each time, before finally succumping to a 4th one during the 5th round. This would be the last great fight Corbett would have. But he would manage to defeat a future Welterweight contender in Shiek Rangel in his last fight, leaving the sport on a good last note.

He might just be the single most underrated great ever. How many people can claim they have beaten Billy Conn, Mickey Walker, Jackie Fields, Fred Apostoli and Gus Lesnevich ?

 

Just because you fight in your own home turf, doesn't necessarily mean you're going to get the benefit of the doubt. Being a road warrior is nice, but it's by no means what some are making it out to be. If you legitimately beat someone in your own backyard, it's the same as defeating them in their own. It by no means makes any legitimate win more or less significant, if the result is the same.

As for those 3 losses, one was against Baker, whom most agreed he didn't actually beat in their first fight. Apostoli stopped him, the judges didn't have anything to do with it. And Conn beat him in Pittsburgh, if that means anything. But by all accounts, he did legitimately beat Conn and Apostoli in their first bouts.