The man born as Norman Selby in
1872, who later becomes Charles “Kid” McCoy (another fighter’s name that he casually
adopted as his own,) who later took on the nom
de ring “The Corkscrew Kid,” and then eventually, and simply, “Kid McCoy”
was not a good man. He was a con man, a thief, a cheat, and a hustler. His out
of the ring exploits could fill a book of nefarious deeds, but despite all this
thuggish and disreputable baggage you can’t take away the fact that he was one
of the slickest boxers to step into the ring.
Selby, McCoy, or whatever name he
was going by on any given day won the vacant middleweight title with a knockout
in the 15th round of Dan Creedon in 1897. He never bothered to
defend the title, but don’t let that winning of a vacant title and lack of title
defense allow you to assume McCoy was inactive or yellow. On the contrary, he
was active as hell, and seemingly fearless. Consider the following.
In 1896, the year prior to picking
up the middleweight belt he knocked out welterweight champion Tommy Ryan, a
move that would seemingly make him the champion but he never claimed the welterweight
title.
On the evening of November 12th,
1897 he knocked out George LaBlanche and Beach Ruble both on the same night—first
round knockouts of both men.
The years 1897-1898 saw him on a 13
consecutive knockout streak.
December 2nd, in the
year of 1901 Kid McCoy didn’t just fight three men in one night, he knocked all
three of them out.
Let’s also have a look at some of
the men McCoy faced singly. Keep in mind McCoy was a natural middleweight but
he took on and often did quite well against the following men: Joe Choynski,
Tom Sharkey, Peter Maher, Jack Root, Philadelphia Jack O’Brien, Jack “Twin”
Sullivan, Gus Ruhlin, and the estimable James. J. Corbett. These men were all
vaunted heavyweights of the day, but McCoy had no problem saying yes to the
bouts.
What McCoy lacked in morals and ethics
he more than made up for in grit and power.
McCoy could be less than ethical
inside the ring but we’ll leave those stories for another day, instead let’s
focus on what gave him the nickname “The Corkscrew Kid.”
McCoy, claims to have invented an altogether
brand-new punch that he dubbed the “corkscrew.” He would tell many tales about
where and how he developed it over the years always varying details here and
there. In some incidences it was shown to him by a “Chinaman” [his words, not
mine] and in another version it’s a lesson he picked up watching his kitten
play with a cloth toy he was dangling in front of it.
The “corkscrew” is essentially a
way to take your standard boxing repertoire and add a bit of twist at the end
that can add some slashing/tearing action if timed correctly with the twist occurring
upon the punch’s impact.
McCoy claimed (and yeah, again
highly doubtful, considering the source) that he could use the corkscrew tactic
and punch a bag of cement and eventually grind it into a fine powder. Again,
doubtful, but a mighty good story.
Numerous opponent’s both horizontal
and vertical could testify to being poleaxed and/or cut by McCoy’s trademark
tool, but before we get into the mechanics of how to throw the corkscrew
ourselves let’s not forget that McCoy’s version may have had a little bit of
extra help.
He would wrap his hands in mounds
of friction tape to give him some extra heft and “grab” allowing him to club
and tear skin all the better. I will say that this is one of his “nicer” less
than honest tactics inside the ring. Again, stories for another day.
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