Contemporary reports on the poor punching technique of Jim Corbett

There's no getting around Corbett looking like ass (pun intended) on the film we have of him, and much of that comes from criticism of Corbett's punching technique. He barely puts any weight behind his punches at all, and it has brought up criticisms of his era's punching technique as a whole; like claiming that proper jabbing and hooking didn't exist in Corbett's time.
But when we look at contemporaries like Gans, Britt (who Corbett himself uses in his book as visual example of how to box), and even Mike Donovan who predates Corbett, we see that these techniques existed and that Corbett was an anomaly in this regard; a proper *****-hitter.

Most of the following come from In the Ring with Bob Fitzsimmons;

"Corbett did not work well at all....There was not a clean punch in this fight. When Corbett tried a hook, instead of having his arm crooked properly he would have it out at full length and swing in. There was no steam in those blows. Corbett kept away. Many and many a time he would punch straight at Fitzsimmons, but a long way off and with his hand wide open and it would barely reach. Then he would let the tips of his fingers rest on the other's head before drawing back his arm....When he made a lead for Fitzsimmons he would jump back and thus lose most of the force." Rocky Mountain News, March 20, 1897.

"it was observed that his blows had little effect on the tough, obdurate trunk of Fitzsimmons. They lacked steam and force." New York Journal, March 18, 1897.

Sullivan called Corbett's punches 'love taps';

"Today I saw that his blows had less force than ever. They lacked even the steam that they formerly had! What is more, Corbett is not as quick and shifty as he was." San Francisco Examiner, March 19, 1897.

We've all seen Corbett's wild leads in the sixth round of his fight with Fitzsimmons after scoring thew knockdown, however this wild onslaught wasn't regarded as effective technical boxing. It was called out for what it's being called out for today; sloppy boxing.

"Corbett's leads are a bit wild and he misses many well intended blows." New York World

"The sixth round was especially warm, and I found Corbett getting a little wild in his
punches," -Bob Fitzsimmons

 

Add racism and narcissism to that and sounds about right.

 

Bob Fitzsimmons’ manager seemed to believe the same even after the fight; that the only reason Corbett found success was due to the lack of skill his opponents had.

However, I find it difficult to believe. Regardless of what you may think of the development of heavyweights, the lighter divisions developed very quickly and before Corbett even retired there were fighters like Gans, Langford and Britt who I think have skill sets that are still formidable today from most of the film I’ve seen. Gans largely learned his craft from technicians from the 1880s like Jack McAuliffe, Nonpareil Dempsey (who Corbett claimed to have sparred to a draw as a rookie), as well as Fitzsimmons who got largely outboxed by Corbett. McAuliffe said that the only difference between Tunney and Corbett is the superior punching power and punch resilience that Tunney had. Apparently Tunney felt the same way.

It’s hard for me to write Corbett off for these reasons, as well as the fact that he managed to still be valued by boxing societies at a time when Joe Gans and Langford competed. Peter Jackson was reportedly very skilled as was Choynski and McCoy, I saw a 1908 newspaper write a report on a film of the McCoy fight and they were saying it was the cleverest match ever. Again, this is at a time where small divisions were getting significantly packed with talent and fighters like Gans, Willie Ritchie, Langford, Blackburn, Britt out there. That being said, I certainly don’t think he has proven he could be any type of threat to a competent super heavyweight.

 

A Fitzsimmons quote after round 1 of the Jeffries-Corbett fight from In the Ring with James J. Jeffries, page 367;

“This fight demonstrated one thing so far, and that is Corbett’s cleverness. It is surprising how little he knows about actual hitting.

 

“Corbett was the greatest exponent of one style of boxing. He was so skillful in blocking blows and in getting away from an attack that he was seldom hit in any contest. At the same time his quickness in getting away made it impossible for him to strike a hard blow. As his blow was landing, he was already beginning to retreat.” - Bob Edgren, The Modern Gladiator page 741

 

Is trying to get a hold of that thong wearing weirdo really ideal though? I wouldn’t want his baby oil laced paws anywhere near me