- Born
- Died
- Birth nameJames John Corbett
- Nickname
- Gentleman Jim
- Height6′ 1″ (1.85 m)
- Considered the originator of modern boxing, Corbett became world heavyweight champ in one of the biggest upsets ever when he embarrassed the 30 pound heavier legend John L. Sullivan (1892). The handsome San Francisco bank clerk immediately had a play written for him ("Gentleman Jack"), and crossed the U.S. performing it. "Gentleman Jim" was also outstanding at baseball, playing exhibitions as he toured, and he attempted to join the 1894 Baltimore Orioles, partly to supply a season-ending attendance boost. Corbett's brother Joe pitched for the Orioles. The attempt was blocked by other teams, including the New York Giants, who beat the Orioles in the 1894 version of the World Series. His long-time pal John Montgomery Ward, was then Giants manager/player. Ward (Baseball's Radical for All Seasons), a lawyer, was a pioneer of scientific baseball, and was the other preeminent gentleman athlete of the 19th CEntury.
Ward and Corbett both dated the gorgeous actress Maxine Elliott. Corbett dumped Elliott to a marry his long-time wife, while Ward's controversial relationship with Elliott broke up his (and her first) marriage.
Gentleman Jim was the only top white heavyweight of the era to fight a top Black fighter, when he dueled another scientific boxer, the great Australian, Peter "The Black Prince" Jackson to a 61 round draw in 1891. Corbett lost the heavyweight championship in 1897 to Bob Fitzsimmons. Though devastated by the 1898 murder/suicide of his parents, Corbett continued his successful acting career on Broadway, and in early movies. Like Ward, he was a union organizer, active in the White Rats, the first successful U.S. actors' union.
His colorful biography The Roar of the Crowd, was the basis for the fine Corbett biopic "Gentleman Jim," with Errol Flynn starring.- IMDb Mini Biography By: David Stevens
- SpousesJessie Taylor(August 15, 1895 - ?)Olive Lake(August 1886 - 1895) (divorced)
- Claimed to have invented the left hook punch.
- World heavyweight boxing champion, 1892-1897. Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, 1990.
- Inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame, 1980.
- Generally considered the first scientific fighter because he used his speed and knowledge of his opponent's strengths and weaknesses to develop a strategy for a fight rather than brawn and volume of punches.
- Played by Errol Flynn in Gentleman Jim (1942).
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