Young Corbett III

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Young Corbett III (b. May 27, 1905 in Potenza, Basilicata, Italy, d. 1993 was the world welterweight boxing champion. He was born Raffaele Capabianca Giordano and began boxing in 1919 as Young Corbett III while still a 14-year-old "newsboy."

A tough southpaw, Corbett fought all the great fighters of his era. For example, he engaged in s four-fight series with future welterweight champion Young Jack Thompson, winning three and drawing once. He also scored wins over Jack Zivic, Sgt. Sammy Baker, and welterweight champion Jackie Fields and future middleweight king Ceferino Garcia.

On February 22, 1933 Corbett captured the welterweight championship of the world by decisioning Jackie Fields over 10 rounds. Three months later, he was dethroned by Hall of Famer Jimy McLarnin via a shocking one round knockout.

Corbett then moved up to the middleweight division. He scored wins over future light heavy champ Gus Lesnevich (TKO 5), as well as Hall of Famers Mickey Walker, Billy Conn and Fred Apostoli. On November 18, 1938 he challenged Apostoli for the middleweight crown, but was stopped in 8 rounds. Corbett boxed until 1940, when he retired with a 123-11-17 (33KOs) record. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall Of Fame in 2004.

Ralph Giordano is the great-grandfather of Indianapolis Colts safety Matt Giordano.