, d. 1993) was the world Welterweight

Welterweight

Welterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...

 boxing champion. He was born Raffaele Capabianca Giordano and began boxing in 1919 as Young Corbett III while still a 14-year-old "newsboy."

Pro career

A tough southpaw, Corbett fought many great fighters of his era. For example, he engaged in a four-fight series with future welterweight champion Young Jack Thompson

Jack Thompson (boxer)

Cecil Lewis "Jack" Thompson was an American boxer who twice held the welterweight championship of the world. Born Cecil Thompson, his name was changed when he decided to become a professional fighter...

, winning three and drawing once. He also scored wins over Jack Zivic, Sgt. Sammy Baker, and welterweight champion Jackie Fields

Jackie Fields

Jackie Fields was an American professional boxer who won two world championship titles.-Personal life:...

 and future middleweight king Ceferino Garcia

Ceferino Garcia

Ceferino Garcia was a champion boxer born in Naval, Biliran, Philippines. His number of victories are the most ever achieved by a Filipino boxer. He's also the only boxer from the Philippines ever to become world champion at middleweight. He was managed, during the final years of his career by...

.

On February 22, 1933, Corbett captured the welterweight championship of the world by decisioning Jackie Fields over 10 rounds. Three months later, he was dethroned by Hall of Famer Jimmy McLarnin

Jimmy McLarnin

James McLarnin, known as Jimmy McLarnin , was an Irish Canadian professional boxer who became two-time welterweight world champion and an International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee.-Background:McLarnin was born in Hillsborough, County Down, Ireland, into a large Methodist family who emigrated...

 via a one round knockout.

Corbett then moved up to the middleweight division. He scored wins over future light heavy champ Gus Lesnevich

Gus Lesnevich

Gustav George Lesnevich was an American boxer. Lesnevich was born and raised in Cliffside Park, New Jersey....

 (TKO 5), as well as Hall of Famers Mickey Walker, Billy Conn

Billy Conn

William David Conn , better known as Billy Conn, was an American Light-Heavyweight boxing champion famed for his fights with Joe Louis. He had a professional boxing record of 63 wins, 11 losses and 1 draw, with 14 wins by knockout...

  and Fred Apostoli

Fred Apostoli

Alfredo "Fred" Apostoli was a rugged, accomplished body punching middleweight, who was recognized as the world champion when he defeated Marcel Thil on September 23, 1937. He was elected to The Ring's Boxing Hall of Fame...

. On November 18, 1938, he challenged Apostoli for the middleweight crown, but was stopped in 8 rounds. Corbett boxed until 1940, when he retired with a 123-11-17 (33KOs) record. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall Of Fame

International Boxing Hall of Fame

The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame is located in Canastota, New York, United States, within driving distance from the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown and the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta...

 in 2004.

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