Ralph Giordano (born Raffaele Giordano, May 27, 1905 – July 15, 1993), better known as Young Corbett III, was an Italian-born American boxer. He was the World Welterweight Champion in 1933 and the

NYSAC The New York State Athletic Commission or NYSAC, also known as the New York Athletic Commission, is a division of the New York State Department of State which regulates all contests and exhibitions of unarmed combat within the state of New York, i ...

Middleweight champion in 1938. A tough southpaw, he did not have strong punching power but was known for his great speed and determination.Roberts, Skutt, p.90 Corbett is considered one of the greatest southpaws of all time and one of the all-time great counterpunchers. He was inducted into the Fresno County Athletic Hall of Fame in 1959, the

Italian American Sports Hall of Fame The National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit institution honoring exceptional United States, U.S. sportsperson, athletes of Italian American, Italian descent. In 1977 George Randazzo created the Italian American Box ...

in 1982, and the

International Boxing Hall of Fame The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected by members of the Boxing Writers Association of America. The I ...

in 2004.

Biography

Early life

Born in

Rionero in Vulture Rionero in Vulture ( aae, Arrionero) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the southern Italian region of Basilicata. It is located on the slopes of Monte Vulture in the northern part of the region. The village was founded and ...

, in the Italian region of

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, from Vito Giordano and Gelsomina Capobianco, he moved with his family to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

when he was still an infant and was erroneously registered as Raffaele Capabianca Giordano. After four years of living in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, he moved to

Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, and began boxing in 1919 while still a 14-year-old "newsboy." One day Corbett and a friend hopped a freight train headed for

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

searching for a match there but they arrived in Marysville by mistake, where they attended a boxing show that night. After convincing the promoter that he was a fighter, Corbett faced a more experienced boxer named Eddie Morris, who knocked him out in the third round. Corbett, however, earned $7.50 for his performance. After graduating from Edison High School in 1920, Corbett began to practice more seriously. He got his stage name when a ring announcer told him he would not present him as Ralph Giordano and dubbed him "Young Corbett III" because his fighting style reminded him of William J. Rothwell, known as

Young Corbett II Young Corbett II (October 4, 1880 – April 10, 1927; born William H. Rothwell) was an American boxer who held the World Featherweight championship. He took the name "Young Corbett II" in honor of James J. Corbett, a heavyweight champion. Corbet ...

, or, according to other sources, for his haircut similar to that of heavyweight champion

James J. Corbett James John "Jim" Corbett (September 1, 1866 – February 18, 1933) was an American professional boxer and a World Heavyweight Champion, best known as the only man who ever defeated the great John L. Sullivan (hence the " man who beat the man ...

Boxing career

Corbett fought many great fighters of his era, suffering only 5 defeats in his first 75 recorded bouts. He engaged in a four-fight series with future welterweight champion Young Jack Thompson, winning three and drawing once. He also scored wins over

Jack Zivic John A. Zivic (June 23, 1903 – May 22, 1973) was an American boxer who competed in the featherweight class in the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. He was a serious contender for the world lightweight championship in 1924, but was defeate ...

, Sgt. Sammy Baker, welterweight champion

Jackie Fields Jackie Fields (Jacob Finkelstein, February 9, 1908 – June 3, 1987) was an People of the United States, American professional boxer who won the World Welterweight Championship twice. Statistical boxing website BoxRec lists Fields as the #19 ran ...

and future middleweight king

Ceferino Garcia Ceferino Montano Garcia (August 26, 1906 – January 1, 1981) was a champion boxer born in Naval, Biliran, Philippines. He holds the most victories ever achieved by a Filipino boxer and is also the only boxer from the Philippines to become world ...

. Before a crowd of 16,000 on February 22, 1933, Corbett captured the welterweight championship of the world by decisioning Jackie Fields over 10 rounds at San Francisco's

Seals Stadium Seals Stadium was a minor league baseball stadium on the west coast of the United States, located in San Francisco, California; it later became the first home of the major league San Francisco Giants. Opened in the Mission District in 1931, Sea ...

. He competed with a broken hand received from a sparring session three days before the fight, and hurt his left thumb in the fifth round but continued to fight undaunted. Referee Jack Kennedy remembered Corbett as "vicious in those first five rounds. He ripped him like a tiger. Fields could not protect himself". Three months later, he was dethroned by Hall of Famer

Jimmy McLarnin James Archibald McLarnin (19 December 1907 – 28 October 2004) was an Irish professional boxer who became a two-time welterweight world champion and an International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee. McLarnin has been referred to as the greatest ...

in a first round knockout. Corbett then moved up to the middleweight division. He scored wins over future light heavy champ

Gus Lesnevich Gustav George Lesnevich (February 22, 1915 – February 28, 1964) was an American boxer who held the World Light Heavyweight Championship. Boxing career Lesnevich was born and raised in Cliffside Park, New Jersey. He turned pro in 1934 and in 193 ...

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

Billy Conn William David Conn (October 8, 1917 – May 29, 1993) was an Irish American professional boxer and Light Heavyweight 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 ...

. On February 22, 1938 he beat

Fred Apostoli Alfredo "Fred" Apostoli (February 2, 1913 – November 29, 1973) was a rugged, accomplished body punching middleweight, who was recognized as the world champion when he defeated Marcel Thil on September 23, 1937. Statistical boxing website Bo ...

, winning the middleweight championship. On November 18 of that year, he challenged Apostoli again, but was stopped in 8 rounds.

Retirement and death

Corbett boxed until August 20, 1940, winning his last fight against Richard "Sheik" Rangel. He retired with a 123-11-17 (33 KOs) record. He later operated a bar in Fresno. On October 2, 1945 Corbett survived a serious car accident on

Highway 99 International * European route E99 Australia * Springbrook Road, Queensland Canada * British Columbia Highway 99 * Ontario Highway 99 (former) * Saskatchewan Highway 99 China * G99 Expressway India * National Highway 99 (India) ...

near

Delano Delano or DeLano may refer to: Places in the United States * Delano, California * Delano, Wichita, Kansas, a neighborhood in Wichita and former community before merging with Wichita * Delano, Minnesota * Delano, Nevada * Delano, Pennsylvania * De ...

, suffering a fractured skull and other injuries. He died in Auberry,

at the age of 88, after about 20 years afflicted with

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

. A statue of him, posed in a fighting stance and boxing gloves, was erected in Fresno. The sculpture was realized by

Clement Renzi Clement Renzi (born as Clement Edward Joseph Peter Renzi) was an American sculptor whose figurative bronze and terra cotta works depict people, human relationships, animals, and birds. His work has been popular with collectors in California's C ...

Personal life

Beside the boxing career, Corbett was a physical education instructor for the

California Highway Patrol The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is a state law enforcement agency of the U.S. state of California. The CHP has primary patrol jurisdiction over all California highways and roads and streets outside city limits, and can exercise law enfor ...

and a grape grower.Young Corbett III - Non c'era solo Rocco Mazzola
(Italian) His cousin Al Manfredo (1912-1990) also was a boxer and later a boxing manager. Corbett is the great-grandfather of former American football safety

Matt Giordano Matthew Victor Giordano (born October 16, 1982) is a former American football safety. He was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the fourth round of the 2005 NFL Draft. Giordano grew up in Clovis, California and played college football at Fres ...

Professional boxing record

References

Bibliography

*James B. Roberts, Alexander G. Skutt, ''The Boxing Register: International Boxing Hall of Fame Official Record Book'', McBooks Press, 2006 *David L. Hudson Jr., ''Combat Sports: An Encyclopedia of Wrestling, Fighting, and Mixed Martial Arts'', ABC-CLIO, 2009

External links

* * https://boxrec.com/media/index.php/The_Ring_Magazine%27s_Annual_Ratings:_Welterweight--1930s * https://boxrec.com/media/index.php/National_Boxing_Association%27s_Quarterly_Ratings:_1933 * https://titlehistories.com/boxing/na/usa/ny/nysac-wl.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Corbett, Young, III 1905 births 1993 deaths Middleweight boxers American boxers of Italian descent International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees Welterweight boxers World welterweight boxing champions Italian male boxers Boxers from California People from Rionero in Vulture Sportspeople from the Province of Potenza Sportspeople from Fresno, California American male boxers Italian emigrants to the United States