Gene Corri

Biographical information

RolesReferee
SexMale
Full nameEugene Alfred "Gene"•Corri
Used nameGene•Corri
Born1862 in Highgate, England (GBR)
Died22 December 1933 in Southend-on-Sea, England (GBR)
NOC Great Britain

Biography

Eugene Corri, known to all in the boxing fraternity, as Gene, was probably the best-known referee in the early part of the 20th century. Not only was he popular in the United Kingdom, but also across the Atlantic in the United States where he officiated in some of the most important contests of the day.

The son of a professional singer, Corri started his boxing career in the 1890s and was one of the original members of the National Sporting Club (NSC). At the time he was a stockbroker, and was well known for constantly having a cigar in his mouth, and once claimed he had smoked enough cigars to make a chain around London

Corri retired from ring in 1931 after reputedly refereeing more than 1,000 bouts, including many British, Commonwealth, European, and world title fights. He also refereed in the annual Oxford v. Cambridge and Army v. Navy matches. Additionally, he was an official at the 1908 London Olympics and took charge of the John Douglas versus Snowy Baker heavyweight final, and the featherweight final between Dick Gunn and Charlie Morris.

Corri refereed some memorable bouts during his career, including the 1907 fight between Tommy Burns and Gunner Moir, which was the first official world heavyweight title fight (Under Queensbury Rules) held in England and also the first in which a referee had officiated from inside the ring in England. Burns won with a 10th round knockout. Another of his memorable fights was the world lightweight contest between Freddie Welsh (GB) and Willie Ritchie (USA), which the Briton won on points over 20 rounds.

Of course, controversy occasionally followed Corri and in 1914 he disqualified the American Gunboat Smith for throwing a punch at France’s Georges Carpentier at Olympia, London, when the Frenchman was on his knees after slipping. Corri eventually, and controversially, gave the order to carry on fighting, but there were so many calls for Smith to be disqualified, and that is what eventually happened, to the delight of the crowd. Corri’s last major bout as a referee was the 1927 world middleweight fight at Olympia between America’s Mickey Walker and Britain’s Tommy Milligan, who put up a brave performance in losing to the American in 10 rounds.

Despite being involved in so many great fights, and witnessing some of the great heavyweights of the day, like Jack Dempsey, Billy Wells, and Carpentier, Corri always maintained the best heavyweight bout he ever saw was at the NSC in 1892 when two Australians, Frank Slavin and Peter Jackson, fought for the Commonwealth title, which Jackson claimed with a 10th round knockout. An interested spectator was the legendary Buffalo Bill.

When Corri died in 1933 it was on the same day as the famous America racehorse jockey Tod Sloan. Just before his death Corri published a book recalling his days in the boxing ring entitled “Fifty Years in the Ring”. He had previously published “Thirty Years a Referee” (1915), “Refereeing 1,000 fights: Reminiscences of Boxing” (1919), and “Gloves and the Man: The Romance of the Ring” (1927). He also appeared as a referee in three movies: “The Last Challenge” (1916), “The Knockout” (1923), and the 1928 Alfred Hitchcock melodrama, “The Ring”, in which he appeared as himself. Corri was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2014.

One of Corri’s sons, also called Eugene, served as an apprentice seaman aboard the Cunard liner SS Dwinsk but lost his life after the vessel was torpedoed by a German U-Boat, near Bermuda, whilst on a crossing from Brest to New York in 1918. He was just 16-years-of-age at the time.

Referee

Games Sport (Discipline) / Event NOC / Team Phase Unit Role As
1908 Summer Olympics Boxing GBR Gene Corri
Bantamweight, Men (Olympic) Match #1 Johnny Condon — Philippe Mazoir Referee
Bantamweight, Men (Olympic) Match #2 Wally Webb — Harry Perry Referee
Featherweight, Men (Olympic) Match 1/2 Dick Gunn — Charlie Morris Referee
Lightweight, Men (Olympic) Match #1 Harry Johnson — Harry Holmes Referee
Lightweight, Men (Olympic) Match #2 Fred Spiller — George Jessup Referee
Lightweight, Men (Olympic) Match #3 Fred Grace — Matt Wells Referee
Middleweight, Men (Olympic) Match #1 Snowy Baker — William Philo Judge #1
Middleweight, Men (Olympic) Match #2 John Douglas — Rube Warnes Judge #1
Middleweight, Men (Olympic) Match 1/2 John Douglas — Snowy Baker Referee

Special Notes