born in rionero in vulture, in the italian region of basilicata, from vito giordano and gelsomina capobianco, he moved with his family to the united states when he was still an infant and was erroneously registered as raffaele capabianca giordano. after four years of living in pittsburgh, pennsylvania, he moved to fresno, california, and began boxing in 1919 while still a 14-year-old "newsboy." one day corbett and a friend hopped a freight train headed for sacramento searching 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. corbett, however, earned $7.50 for his performance.