The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-01-27
Corbett's Daily Letter
 On Great Sport Topics
By JAMES J. CoRBETT

By JAMIE Frequently. I have been asked:
 What was the outstanding feature | of Joe Cans greatness"
 ! And the answer is-brains and ca gerness to learn every minute detas concerning his profession.
 ! The negro perhaps was one of the
 greatest students of pugilism in the history of the ring; youngster who | was a master even before he reached | the absolute crest of his career, but who always felt that there was some | thing more to be learned. And he never 1 overlooked an opportunity to initiate or perfect any ring tricks which other warriors were using with success. He
 was ever on the lookout for some- 1 thing new. ever ready to adopt it if it seemed worth while.
 l Cans, in this respect, should be an example for many of the present day l youngsters. A lot of them after be- coming fairly clever, fall into a self satisfied condition. They think they They no longer progress, they stand | still. And eventually they come tc
 realize that somebody else has been
 awake to the change while they had
 been asleep. But usually it is too late | Benny Leonard is like Cans in his eagerness to acquire new tricks; his willingness to learn from others and
 that very fact will continue Benny in 1 pugilistic supremacy for years tt come. The youthful king of the light weight division ranks today as one of the cleverest fighters that any divi- | sion of boxing ever has produced. Mos youngsters so placed would feel that | they know all there is to know. But not Leonard. He is ambitious, ever
 wanting to perfect himself more and more.
 ! Cans had wonderful natural fighting ability, splendid physique, great speed, a terrific punch, and powers tc l stand up under punishment. But i was the brains of Cans, ever alert that l made it possible for him to rise from l obscurity to the dominating heights ir 1 the lightweight division, and to remain 1 there for years.
 l And illustration of how Cans used l his brains is shown here:
 ! Cans once was pitted against l fighter who was of the cover up I type, continually keeping hands and 1 elbows protecting his jaw. Cans | finding that it was not possible tt
 reach the jaw of his foe with a so1it 1 wallop, opened an attack on the stom- l ach and heart. But the foeman o1 1 Cans had a body that was impervious
 to the most furious bombardn1ent.
 | Unable to knock out his opponen with body blows and unable to reacf his jay with a direct punch, the keer brain of Cans mapped out plan tha won him the right via the knockou
 route. And this is how he did it:
 Cans, noting that his rival kept his left hand close to the point of his chin drew back and then aimed a might, l right for the left hand of the othel man. The blow struck the target ant the impact drove the left hand of Cans foeman against his own chin so hart that he went down-and completel. out.
 In 1900, while training for my frs
 bout with Jim Jeffries, had headquar ters in Asbury Park, N. J. Cans ant | Al Bedford. his manager, came dow Tone day so that Joe could watch mt
 In my workouts. had developed al uppercut which used only at certain
 times in coming out of a clinch. M.
 opponent always would have to be in { certain position before I would use it
 It was one of my favorite ring tricks
 Yet very few fighters ever had noticed
 me using it and none had initiated i
 up to that time.
 The gymnasium in which wa
 working was small one and the sec
 ond time I used the uppercut I heart
 a chuckle. Turning around I saw i
 was Joe Cans who. great student tha he was, had been watching my ever.
 move and had seen the value of a tricl
 of that kind at such a time in fight
 ing.
 A few weeks later, Cans met Franl
 Erne, In Coney Island. I sat at tn ringside for that contest and to m.
 surprise saw Joe Cans using the iden tical uppercut which had escaped tn observation of many other men, bu , not the observation of Joe Cans. II was master boxer at the time. on of the cleverest and most skillful il
 the game. He knew more ring trick
 than any other youngster. But Jo always figured that he could lear more. He felt that the uppercut wa
 valuable asset, and after he had seel me use it. learned later that he ha spent many hours during his trainin, trying 1t on his sparrinE partners
 working patiently with 1t until h
 had perfected it.
 , So 1t was all through the ring ca reer of the great negro. He was eve !, on the lookout for something; eve watchful, ever learning. Is 1t an wonder that he became the greates : warrior of his weight and time? } QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Dear MT. Corbett: G) Kindly let m
 know to whom I should apply fo
 membership in the Amateur Athleti