James J Corbett Vs Kid McCoy

[BitPlayer]

I mentioned this in another thread, but it needs it own.

For a while this has been accepted by people as being a dive, because it says so in the notes. The only source for this being fake was some weird magazine article written over 17 years after the fact.

There are reports from the time, which described McCoy as dazed, and having trouble walking 2 minutes after he was stopped
https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers. ... y-------0-#
https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers. ... y-------0-#

The evidence for it being fake came from their wives, McCoy's was splitting up from him, and while I can't remember Corbetts situation, IIRC their relationship wasn't a good one.
https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers. ... y-------0-#

There's maybe some question marks around it, but claiming it seems certain it was fake looks like a bot of a stretch to me.

[Ambling Alp II]

Thanks for posting the newspaper articles. The one describing the fight makes it look legit. McCoy won the first round and landed some decent punches. If he was going to throw the fight, he probably would not risk landing and hurting (or cutting) Corbett.

I have read several books where it was reported as suspicious. Boxing was actually suspended in New York City for awhile after this fight. Obviously without actually seeing it, it makes it harder to tell. McCoy did have a reputation of not having fought on the level all of the time. Perhaps his reputation made people suspicious when there was nothing really there. Hard to say.