How do you think he would of faired today at these two different weights? Often credited with being the innovator of many of the more modern techniques we see today. It think it's pretty interesting therefore to put a fighter like him in a modern game. Given that most of the fighters from his late 19 century/early 20th century period were less technical from a modern stand-point & would rely on beating today's fighters more with power, grit and durability, Corbett is somewhat different, being he would rely on his intelligence in the ring, agility and skills. So how would he fair in today's light-heavyweight division against the likes of Hopkins, Dawson & Roy Jones Jr, and in the CW division against Adamek, Cunningham & co. And how would he match up amongst the greats at each weight, such as: Ezzard Charles Michael Spinks Gene Tunney Evander Holyfield Dwight Qawi Bob Foster Archie Moore Is his ring generalmanship, speed, agility, movement, footwork and modern fundamentals allow him to be competitive with some of the greats & among today's best? Or would 'Gentleman Jim' struggle to transfer to the modern era?
I was thinking a similar thing yesterday (well I was wondering how people think Greb would've fared against Corbett, so, kinda' similar by the way I think Greb 'does a Greb on him') but to be honest from the footage I've seen I'm genuinely not that high on Corbett. Mainly because from the footage I've seen of Fitzsimmons I'm not that high on him. The famed 'solar plexus shot' is a pretty nice body shot. That's about it.
Fitz was a sort of "counter-slugger" at HW, waiting for his opponent to come on to him so he could land his heaviest punches. He was never going to look great against a box-mover with generalship, which Corebtt was.
I think it's a pretty tough subject, I find it tough to compare era's so far apart like this which is why I made the thread to try and get the opinion of some of the more knowledgeable & more frequent posters around these parts. Do you think given what Corbett sort of implemented into his style, and some of the techniques that he perhaps helped innovate & invent, that he would be able to pick up today's fundamentals & style's and use them effectively?
Some folks, including mad old Bert Sugar are going to tell you that the techniques Corbett gets credit for innovating go all the way back to Broughton...and that Corbett just polished them a little bit. Then again, i've read reasonable opinion that Corbett's KO of Sullivan was the most important in the history of the sport, elivating science above slugging. I lean more towards the former opinion, becuase it appears to me that Corbett was no more "advanced" than Jackson who preceeded him (barely).
