Young Corbett III

[BoztheMadman]

Young Corbett III was a world champion at welterweight and was also recognized by the California State Athletic Commission as the world middleweight champion. He stood only 5'7 but was a very dynamic fighter who had power at 147 and could tangle with bigger men than himself. He had one of the longest careers in prizefighting, spanning 21 years, and retired with a record of 121 wins (32 by ko), 12 losses and 22 draws.

 

Born Raffaele Cappabianca Giordano in Potenza, Basillicata region in southern Italy on 27 May 1905, he moved to the States as a child and settled in Fresno, California with his family. He was known as "Ralph" to his friends. He began working as a paper boy and then learned to box. He turned a professional prizefighter at the age of 14, in 1919. After suffering two losses early on, he went on an undefeated streak of 18 wins and 3 draws before losing again to Trench King at the end of 1923, by a 4-round decision. It took him some time before he became successful and started getting bigger fights. He remained undefeated over the course of next 49 fights, scoring decisions over Young Jack Thompson, knocking out Gilbert Attell, the nephw of Abe and also the brother of Fritzie Zivic, Jack. On 13 September 1928, he had his first significant fight against the experienced Seargent Sammy Baker. Corbett slipped down in the fifth, but knocked Baker down for a nine count in the seventh and in the end took an unpopular decision victory home. He was now in line for a fight against the welterweight world champion Joe Dundee, but for some reason he gave Baker a rematch only 2 weeks later and he dropped a 12-round decision to him this time. Therefore, the world title match had to wait. He knocked out Bucky Lawless in one round with a left to the "pit of the stomach" and decisioned the highly-rated Jackie Fields in 10. He again decisioned Young Jack Thompson and then, 12 April 1932 he fought against future world middleweight champ Ceferino Garcia of the Phillippines. It was a slow bout and Corbett fought cautiously but it paid off and he took home a 10-round verdict against the hard puncher. The two met again on 25 October and again Corbett was victorious after 10 rounds by way of decision.

 

On 22 February 1933, he finally received his world title shot against Jackie Fields, whom he had already defeated. It was only a 10-round fight, curiously and was fought at the Seals Stadium in San Francisco. Corbett was the better man in the end and the scoring referee Jack Kennedy scored it 6-3-1 for him. However, after this long-awaited triumph, he would experience a devastating defeat already in his first defense against one of the greatest welterweights ever: Jimmy "Belfast Spider" McLarnin. The fight happened on 29 May, only three months after Corbett took his title, at Wrigley Field in LA. McLarnin floored Corbett twice in the first round. As he rose for the second time, McLarnin rushed over and hit him on the jaw and the referee stopped the fight at 2 minutes 37 seconds. Corbett became a part of the "welterweight champion hex" as he became the seventh consecutive welterweight champion to lose his title in his first defense. McLarnin would follow the same suit as he lost his title to Barney Ross in his next fight. Corbett then decided to enter the middleweight division and first outpointed Babe Marino in 10 before he scored his first knockout victory as a middleweight against Young Terry, knocking him out with a left to the solar plexus. On 14 August 1934, he had a fight against the legendary brawler "Toy Bulldog" Mickey Walker: both guys were about 5'7 and had started out as welterweights, but Walker was almost 4 years older. Corbett managed to best him in a 10-round war by way of decision. He then decisioned the skilled Dutchman Bep van Klaveren twice in a row: in the first fight, Corbett was down once and the decision was unpopular with the crowd, while the boxing writer from San Francisco Chronicle saw it a draw. But in the second fight, Corbett completely outclassed the younger Dutchman, according to Associated Press.

 

Corbett then suffered one of his worst beatings against the former world middleweight champion and one of the best Canadian fighters ever, Lou Brouillard. Corbett managed to last the 10 round distance however, losing on points. He then took a year off from the ring before returning strong in July '36 and knocking out Frankie Britt in 7. On 12 March '37, he faced the future world light heavyweight champion Gus Lesnevich and won by TKO 5 after inflicting a bad cut over the left eye of Lesnevich. On 13 August that year, he scored his perhaps greatest victory and a big upset against Billy "The Pittsburgh Kid" Conn, who at almost 6'2 was 6 inches taller and 12 years younger. Corbett even knocked down Conn in the second round, even though he had headbutted him right before that. He nailed him with a left to the jaw for the knockdown. Conn came back and began scoring repeatedly in the middle rounds before Corbett rallied back in the 9th and took the last round as well to win by UD10. Oakland Tribune had Corbett winning by 5-4-1 but the San Francisco Chronicle had Conn ahead with the same score. They felt the bout could have been scored a draw without hurting anyone's feelings. Conn avenged the loss 3 months later when he won clearly on points at home in Pittsburgh. On 22 February '38, Corbett faced Fred Apostoli. Apostoli was a very good pressure fighter who could hit. He was also taller by almost 3 inches, but Corbett surprisingly won the bout on points. On 5 March, California State Athletic Commission recognized Corbett as its' world middleweight champion. After beating Glen Lee, Corbett got a chance to become the New York State world champion in a rematch with Apostoli on 18 November, at Madison Square Garden. However, it wasn't to be as the younger, bigger and harder-hitting Apostoli wore him down and dropped him twice in the 7th and twice in the 8th before the fight was over. And with it, the chance for Corbett to become a universally recognized two-weight world champion.

 

Corbett again took a year off from the ring before returning in late 1939, but he was now no longer in his prime, having fought for 20 years and retired in 1940, after winning 4 fights. He got his name when the announcer at his first fight didn't like the sound of his real name, Ralph Giordano. He was a raisin-grower during his boxing career and presumably after it as well. In 1933 he became the physical instructor for the California highway patrol. His great-grandson Matt Giordano was an NFL player and his cousin was Al Manfredo, a fellow welterweight boxer who fought Henry Armstrong and Barney Ross. Giordano aka Corbett died 15 July 1993, aged 88. He was posthumously inducted into IBHOF in 2004.

Edited March 22, 2017 by BoztheMadman