The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-01-21
SPORTING news.
Young Corbett Has Been Lucky
in Fights.
The Champion Unmarried by
Scars of Many Battles.
HIS HANDS ARE SOUND.
Resembles a School Boy More
Than a Pugilist.
McGovern Gave Him the Hard
est Blow of His History.

San Francisco, Jan. 21.-"Young Cor
bett" carries fewer scars perhaps than
about any fighter you can think of.
Even some of the so-caIled fast clever
boxers present an occasional "cauli-
flower" ear. or a broken nose or an en-
larged finger joint Young Cerbett'
has none of these marks of battles.
His face is as smooth as a seminary
girls and there is not a pimpIe on his
hands. Just to look at him he is the
last man in the world one would pick
out for a worlds champion. who had
fought his way to the ladder by giving
and taking swinging wallops.
IT don't know whether 1 have been
lucky or not. but my hands are as
sound as when 1 started fighting" the
little champion remarked last night
when you consider that 1 hit from
most any position and am not partic-
ular whether I land on a fellows body
or his bony head, I guess 1 must have
been little lucky to come through the
way / have. OF course 1 wear band
ages on my hands, but they are no
thicker or heavier than the average
fighter wears. The splendid condition
of my hands may be due to the fact
that l don't do great deal of swing
ing. Usually I hit straight out and
when a fighter does this there is less
danger of crippling yourself, but there
are some straight punchers whose
hands are bad. Take Fitzsimmons for
example. He is not what you could
call swinging fighter, yet see what
trouble he has with his weapons.
Whom do you consider the best man
you ever fought?" the little champion
was asked. Silence ensued. Corbett
was in deep thought. Finally he said:
Il believe that McGovern was the best
man l ever fought. He was the best
In this way: He was the most danger
Gus man ever fought. If given an op-
portunity he would drop you with eth
er hand. He had a terrible punch
When I fought him I had to keep my
mind on my work every second. re-
member after my last fight with him
here I collapsed after it was over and
it was not from the work I did either.
The mental strain I underwent was
what did me up. 1t is terrible in a fight.
I know the people who sit beside the
ring don't appreciate the pressure
fighter works under The punishment
a fellow takes is only a secondary mat
ter. When I fought Hanlon I had to
use my noddle to plan a way of licking
him. I had to make a study of his
scheme of defense and offense and fight
accordingly. When I went in the ring
had no idea how I would beat him,
for 1 did not know how he would box.
After fighting him a few rounds I came
to the conclusion that a right uppercut
was the blow that would beat Hanlon,
and it did. It was my right that cut
his nose open and started him to bleed
ing. Hanlon was a dead game boy, but
he did not have McGovern's punch, so
when I was fighting Eddie I was not
under the strain I was when met
Terry. I didn't worry so much about
being knocked out"
Can you remember the hardest blow
you ever stopped?" was the next ques-
ton fired at Corbett
It think I do" was the champions
response, and this time he replied with
out first knitting his brows in thought.
L don't think that I will ever forget the
blow McGovern planted on me in the
first round back in Connecticut. In
coming out of a clinch he soaked me
with his right over the temple. 1t was
a peach. For minute I staggered and
reeled. McGovern's friends noticed my
condition instantly and what a howl
they set up. They thought they saw
their money coming home quickly. Nc
Govern was famous for being a quick
ffnisher, when he got his man going, and
I knew this. Just for a second felt my
self going, and you can imagine what
those feelings were. But I kept my
head and steadied myself until my brain
cleared and then I went back at him.
McGovern fought me to my liking by
bringing the battle to me and I knocked
him out in the second round"