I think too many of us are reading into the effectiveness of the punch. I’m just looking at the form. The sharpness of the punch. How he steps forward with it after taking steps back, but also immediately steps back with his back foot after stepping forward with his front foot. Quick and fluid. And how he slips while throwing it in case of a punch coming his way.
Revealing of how little good footage there is of Corbett, and how finding little moments like this of good form is cool? Yeah, agreed.
I don't see how you can tell that it was a particularly sharp punch. Hard to see what kind of leverage he gets on it, and it looks like he's stepping and leaning forward to deliver it while moving most of his weight backwards at the same time.
If you zero in a Fitz he looks so good. Stepping forwards and back and ready to slip or parry and counter with such deadly power. If I could watch any past hwt champion live in action it’s Fitzsimmons I would choose. He was the real deal.
The interesting about Fitz is that even as an old man you see interesting things about him in the Lang loss , better film quality I'm hot and cold on Corbett ... He's clearly very fast but seems to arm punch .. the hook is stiff armed and wide .. the way he turns his head away when being punched at is painful to watch ... I like him but see him as an artery more than any form of finished product master.
Corbett was an ever moving, darting opponent. He would be very difficult to nail for any opponent in any era at his best.
It would depend on the rules , the ring size and the distance .. Corbett excelled against Jackson in an open distance fight where he was allowed to run for as long as he could against a foe with an injured leg and against an ancient Sullivan. These were his big wins .. in a fight against a physically prime, extremely strong and pretty fast Sharkey he had to hang on for his life. He lost to Fitz and Jeffries twice .. the Sharkey fights are pretty telling to me because a prime Sullivan was pretty much better than Sharkey at every level ..
It's very hard to know what to make of the Sharkey fight. Some thought the whole thing was fixed from the start. Some had Corbett winning, and most had him doing better as it went on. If it was legit, I think Corbett would have won without the interference
A left jab was a different type blow in those days. It was not thrown as a flick but as a power punch that if landed full force could lead to a KO.