"[10] One day Corbett and a friend hopped a freight train headed for Sacramento in search 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.

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,[11] or, according to other sources, for his haircut similar to that of heavyweight champion James J.

[2] He engaged in a four-fight series with future welterweight champion Young Jack Thompson, winning three and drawing once.

Sammy Baker, welterweight champion Jackie Fields and future middleweight king Ceferino Garcia.

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

On October 2, 1945 Corbett survived a serious car accident on Highway 99 near Delano, suffering a fractured skull and other injuries.