Jim Corbett fought Tom Sharkey on the 22nd of November 1898 Sharkey had the better of the encounter until in the 9th rd, with Corbett under fire ,Corbett's second jumped into the ring prompting an immediate DSQ for Corbett. Sharkey was managed by Tom O Rourke whose reputation as both a manager and a promoter was less than stellar. In Graeme Kent's book,"The Great White Hopes", he mentions The Milwaukee Evening Wisconsin accusing O Rourke of choreographing many of the bouts in which his fighters were involved. I quote from the paper: "The following is a list of some of the battles that have taken place with a year over which there have been charges of crookedness,wrong decisions ,or some kind of foul play. In all of them Tom O Rourke has been a prominent factor either as manager of one of the principals or manager of the club. In several cases it has been clearly shown that the battles were "fakes" expressly made for betting purposes." Walcott v Lavigne Sharkey v Corbett West v Bonner Walcott v Creedon Anyone have any information on the Corbett v Sharkey fight? Was it genuine?
Harry Beecher, sporting editor of New York Evening Journal, claimed he had heard prior to the fight that it was pre-arranged that it'd be stopped in the 9th round with Sharkey winning on a foul, but the problem is he didn't write about it in his newspaper in advance. On the other hand, Jim McVey was a very experienced second and to believe that he had lost his head in entering the ring, something that never happened to him before... He claimed that he slipped and entered the ring by accident, while trying to get the referee's attention that Sharkey was fouling, but it didn't look that way to reporters, they wrote that he climbed through the ropes into the ring, consciously, not by accident.
I discuss this fight in In the Ring With James J. Jeffries. See pages 160-184. The debate about the disqualification and what McVey did is all there.
In his autobiography The Roar of the Crowd Corbett talks of this fight. He says that he was going to try a different strategy for this fight. Rather than rely on his well-renowned footwork, he was going to rely more on blocking and parrying in an effort to conserve energy. He tells of Sharkey throwing a wild haymaker and he planned to move just barely out of range. But he misjudged the distance and the punch landed flush on his jaw and floored him. From that point on, Sharkey landed often and was grinding him down. Corbett later arrived at the conclusion that his eyesight was beginning to fail and that he needed glasses. Reading his account, I had the impression that there was more to it than poor eyesight and his corner got him disqualified in order to save him from an impending stoppage.
Corbett was not one to take a loss well. Sharkey had the right style to catch up to quick footed fighters like Choynski, McCoy and Corbett. Sharkey was going in got the finish. Corbett's corner stepped in. By the rules, Sharkey wins. It's not like this was a sudden DQ via one punch. That would be suspicious. A grinding down like this one unfolded is not.
Sporting writers disagreed as to who would have won the fight had it continued. It wasn't like Corbett was taking a beating where his corner would interfere to save him, the fight was even.
McCoy weighed 158lbs for the Sharkey fight and had him on the floor twice. After the Sharkey v Corbett fight,while both were still in the ring, the referee ,Honest John Kelly announced all bets were off,because he was convinced McVey was in the pay of gamblers It's in Pollack's book ,but I had forgotten he gives such a good account of it!
I lean towards the idea that it was on the level, and Corbett’s corner did something stupid. Some accounts have him nearly assaulting some of them. When it got to court, Corbett’s manager kept quiet, and let the silver tongued Corbett do the talking. It proved to be a wise decision!
I would have been hard to choreograph, as the sequence of events stand! A fix at this level, usually involves a knockout in the first minute, of the first round!
