The Darkside of The Ring: Fixes, Dives and Murder

[HomicideHenry]

In all sports there have been guys on the outside, trying to take control of the inside action. Betting isn't enough, they want a sure thing. Have judges paid off, have timer keepers make the rounds shorter or longer, pay off the referees to stop the action quicker or make the brutality last longer, or maybe even mustard oil or mentholatum on the gloves to blind the other man. Possibly no other sport in history has been plagued with dirty tricks and vile schemes than the sport of boxing. In some cases there have been fighters who were paid to take dives against another to make the other man look better than he really is.

The following are of such cases:


Andre Anderson was a boxer who had far more talent than what he was ever given for. His career could have been something more than what the record shows, had it not been for mobsters and cheap promoters and selfish managers. His overall record stands at 14-19-4 with 12 KO's. He took dives against some of the best HW's of his time and to even unknowns. When he was told to take a dive against former professional football player and professional wrestler "Big" Wayne Munn, Anderson flat out refused saying:

"I'm through throwing fights and laying down whenever they want me to, I'm going to knock out Munn in one punch, if I can."

Which he did by KO in the 1st. Anderson was murdered no more than four months later, because of double-crossing the mobsters who told him to take a dive against Munn.

Jake LaMotta The Bronx Bull was shut out for years at getting a title shot for the Middleweight crown. LaMotta had faced all the leading contenders and bested them all. The mob had other ideas, since LaMotta did not want to be associated with them. They told LaMotta the only way he would get a title shot in NY was if he took a dive against Billy Fox, a seemingly up and coming LHW who was connected with the mob. LaMotta took the dive, only to admit before court that he did indeed fake the fight.

LaMotta did get his shot and the rest is history.


Billy "Blackjack" Fox is arguably the most manufactured fighter in the history of the ring. A man whose abilities as a boxer were average at best and a chin that gave off a musical tinkle when tapped. He went "undefeated" at 36-0 (36) and managed to get a shot at Gus Lesnevich and was undoubtedly "carried" until the 10th round. Fox then "won" seven fights, one of which was against LaMotta, all by "ko". He again got a shot at Lesnevich, but undoubtedly the champion was having no part of "carrying" Fox again and blasted Fox away in a single round.

After the second Lesnevich fight and word got out that Fox's fights were fixed, he was pretty much on his own and went a sorry ass 5-7-1 (4) though even the ones he won could have been fixes as well.


Primo Carnera was possibly the only HW champion to have won the title on a dive, though this has never been confirmed. It is known, however, that when Carnera first started off as a fighter his first twelve fights were fixed by his manager who thought that the gargantuan circus strong man would be a huge draw in the fight game. Carnera would later have legit fights but was most noted for his "tank town" tours against mediocre opposition who was usually much shorter than him to exaggerate his height.

Mitch Rose is one of several men who have stepped forward to claim that he was offered to take a dive against Eric "Butterbean" Esch, only to refuse and blew away the Bean in a single round. Rose' career of course, is one of mediocrity as is Esch'.

Randall Tex Cobb has been accosed of taking a few dives in his time as well, even accoused of paying off fighters to lose to him. The first instance of such was his surprise 1st round KO loss to Dee Collier and in his comeback he "won" fights against Sonny Barch and nine others, and was offered a shot at WBO champion Tommy Morrison, only to be accoused of paying off opponents and the fight never happened.

Other men such as Donnie Penelton and Frankie Hines and others have also had questionable fights and careers.

Who do you know of who has been in fixes, dives and second hand trickery?

[Seamus]

Anderson was murdered by George "Bugs" Moran's close friend Leo Mongoven, after he severely beat Mongoven for threatening him for not taking a dive in the Munn fight. Mongoven who only weighed around 140 was getting the worst of it, when he pulled a gun and shot Anderson to death in a Cicero Illinois saloon.

[generic screen name]

Don't forget Cathy Davis & her scandal which singlehandily sank women's boxing for decades.

[zojo]

Don't forget Thomas Wiliams.

He is still in jail for throwing his fight against Richie Melito.

They say prisons are over-crowded, so why did he deserve to bei prison for longer terms than people who actually hurt others?

[zojo]

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/ ... 81183/pg_1


This is an article found on a wiki attached here on boxrec

[emile]

Mark Gastineau.

[silkov]

A short digression into Butterbean's career might be interesting, Samuel. The question of why a Butterbean fight might be fixed might come up, since a lot of his fights were on TV, and the instant replay camera can catch the false knockout. Remember that Larry Holmes knockout on Tuesday Night Fights? Holmes casually threw out a jab, and the other guy fell for the count? A slow-motion replay showed that the jab didn't even land. Larry Holmes announced his retirement after the fight (or I guess he did. Didn't he announce his retirement after every fight back then?). Since Butterbean is Butterbean, people didn't mind if he fought a 1-16-2 guy or a 5-6-2 guy. A lot of the guys who took dives were guys the Bean could've beaten anyway. Here are a few reason why I think those dives still took place:

• So Butterbean wouldn't have to train. He's making $15,000 for the fight (at his best, on the undercard of a pay-per-view), and the other guy's making $500. Isn't it worth $1000 not having to put up with the stink of the gym just to make sure he can swing wild shots for four rounds? For the other guy, isn't it nice making three times as much?
• Tying up loose ends. If Butterbeans fights are all legit, his competition is such that in 10 fights, he'll probably go 8-1-1 (5 KOs). You pay off the three best opponents he faces, and he goes 10-0-0 (8 KOs).
• Butterbean is actually suckier than we suppose. I've seen his Toughman fights from 1992 and 1993, and he at least was able to do fairly well; he was the runner-up both those years. But who knows? Maybe he can't beat anyone, and nearly all of his fights were fixes. Creative matchmaking can do wonders, but we're assuming that he was actually more than complete shit to start with.

What Holmes knockout are you talking about?... to try and insinuate that Holmes would be involved in a fix is sheer stupidity, aside from anything else the man had far too much pride to ever do such a thing and as well as that he was far too good to need to do anything like that anyway!... you've been listening to Brcokton too much mate!...

[silkov]

I didn't say Larry Holmes was involved with it. The guy fell on the floor after being hit with a punch that didn't land. Larry Holmes threw the punch. Whether he was paid off by a gambler, paid off by a promoter, felt like going home, or even paid off by Larry Holmes himself is purely up to speculation, but that was as crooked an incident as I've seen in a boxing ring.

The name escapes me. I posted his name over at Boxing Talk's now dead Boxers of the Past forum. The "knockout" was replayed on the final episode of Tuesday Night Fights, with slow-motion replay confirming the dive. Boxrec used to note the phony knockout on Holmes's record, as well. You used to be able to look at Willie Pep's record, and see, "Pep is believed to have taken a dive in this fight," under - well you know the two fights I'm talking about.

Back on the original subject, here's an excellent Miami Herald article from 1999:

http://www.randlemanland.com/fix.html

It notes the following suspect KOs:

• George Foreman vs. Tony Fulilangi (Fulilangi admits the dive, saying that no one approached him, and that, mostly retired and plagued with injuries, he took the $30,000 payday, he went down for the count after being knocked down twice legitimately, simply because he wanted to go home)
• Andre Smiley, who retired with an 0-25-1 record, said that 14 of his 19 KO losses were paid for. Some of the fighters who won those 19 KOs were Tex Cobb, Frans Botha, Kirk Johnson, Ross Puritty (twice), Marcus Rhode and Damon Reed.
• Mike Smith, who retired with a slightly more formidable 4-14-1 record, admitted taking dives at the behest of Sean Gibbons of Top Rank Boxing to the Oklahoma Department of Labor. He fought Tex Cobb around the same time Smiley did. Hmmm....
• Lots of stuff about Mark Gastineau's career. Another article I read talked about Tim Anderson who claims to have been offered a dive in their first bout, which he won. In their second bout, he is believed to have been poisoned.
• James Calvin Baker admits throwing four bouts, including an 18-second TV fight with Butterbean.
• Bill Duncan was suspended for going into the tank against Butterbean.
• Richard Davis, who lasted a full 70 seconds with Butterbean a year earlier, is believed to have faked an injury against Tony Velasco in 1998.
• Darryl Becker/Jack Ramsey went down and out on a glancing blow to the shoulder by Butterbean
• When Mike Jameson fought George Foreman during Foreman's comeback, his record had been altered to hide the fact that he hadn't fought in three years.
• Frank Lux fought pseudononymously with a false record against Foreman around the same time.

Jesus, if you're going to make such an allegation the least you should do is know what fight you're going on about!.... I have 99% of all Holmes televised contests and have never seen anything like what you are describing. Obviously as you dont even know what fight it was I cant even check it out!... I think you've been reading too many gangster books mate, sometimes TV can lie as well... a rerun can make a punch seem as if it hasnt landed when it has if it is taken from a certain angle... also maybe the fighter was hurt by an earlier punch, ...dont you know the saying that the punch that puts you down isnt always the one thats hurt you!....

[silkov]

It slipped my mind. I'm on medication.

Told you that you're reading too many gangster books!...

[silkov]

The fix was actually much rarer in boxing than is made out... boxing is probably the hardest sport to fix and usually fixes involve judges and the like rather than boxers themselves...

[BoxBuzz]

uhh....did someone forget to tell Primo? Although to be fair it is entirely possible that he had honor and that the "pawns" were put into play without his knowledge. Notice I'm saying he may well be honorable....I haven't gone so far as to say the guy was any good.

[RiddickBowe]

[*]Andre Smiley, who retired with an 0-25-1 record, said that 14 of his 19 KO losses were paid for. Some of the fighters who won those 19 KOs were Tex Cobb, Frans Botha, Kirk Johnson, Ross Puritty (twice), Marcus Rhode and Damon Reed.

I'm always suspicious of guys with these types of records claiming they took a dive against fighters like Botha, Johnson, and Purritty. There is simply no reason for fighters of that caliber to pay off a fighter who has never won a fight. It's not as if the losing fighter is a threat. I think a guy like Smiley is simply talking a lot of garbage, trying to make excuses for why he sucked so bad. It's much easier to tell people you were bought off than to admit to being a crappy fighter. In reality, though, he had no chance to beat those fighters and it would have been idiotic for the manager of Johnson, Botha, et. al., to pay him off.

[HomicideHenry]

But therein lies another question...why would an experienced fight like Botha or anyone else want to fight a guy who absoloutely has NO chance of winning? What does beating a man who has a record of 0-14-0 or 2-50-7 prove? Absoloutely NOTHING.

There has to be some 'work' in the mix. It's like Lamar Clark, a man who had well over 50 bouts all against guys who were 0-0-0 or at some other mediocre status and then was billed as an 'up and comer' and then he faced the likes of Clay and a few solid fighters and was blown away.

I could understand maybe fighting guys who are no good inbetween the bigger fights to stay in shape, but if you are already at a world class level like Botha was, how does a guy whose 0-14-0 going to keep you in shape?

It seems to me that some chickenshit promoter must have paid Botha to take the fight so that his client could either get a big pay day for the first time in his career, or something else was involved. I've seen mismatches before, but fights like that are beyond low class and gives the sport a bad name and a black eye.

I remember when Maurice Hope fought "Irish" Bob Baker who was a club fighter who was 'suddenly' ranked into the top 10 and was literally torn apart by Hope. BUT...at least Bob Baker has faced decent opposition and eventually became more than a club second or a preliminary fighter, but he certainly wasn't world class material either.

Or how about Floyd patterson when he faced club fighter Tom McNeeley? At least McNeeley was undefeated and had an amateur background, but he might as well been fighting amatuers. Or even better, when Patterson faced Olympic Gold Medalist Pete Rademacher in his very first bout as a pro? How could you really, honestly, promote a fight like that into being a legit and on the level contest? You CANT.

That was bad enough...but things like this? That would be like if Tyson in his prime had faced a guy whose record was 0-2-0, somebody would be carried out of the ring in a body bag.

OR...could it be that some chickenshit manager pays off a high profile fighter to 'ease up' on his fighter to make the guy look better than he is, despite what his record shows? There's different kinds of fixes, one where someone is paid to lose, and when someone is paid to make someone else look good.

There have been a few fights I have seen in my time that made me raise an eyebrow and start cussin the screen where I myself can see the opening bright as day to put the man on the canvas---and the fighter doesn't do it. Case in point, James Toney can make all the comments he wants how 'tough' Rydell Booker was for taking his shots, despite Toney having a messed up shoulder---he could have taken that man out at any time, and yet he didn't.

Anyone remember that fight a year back between "Cowboy" Dale Brown and O'Neil Bell for the IBF Cruiserweight title? Possibly the most bullshit decision I have seen in years and it was UNAMINOUS no less, where everybody at ringside saw it Brown's way and he didn't get the win.

It's guys like King who I wish were dead and this sport could finally regroup and get back to being legit again, with no 'paper champions' and no controversial decisions and most of all, no suspicous match-making and eyebrow raising rankings.

[Collins2000]

It's guys like King who I wish were dead and this sport could finally regroup and get back to being legit again, with no 'paper champions' and no controversial decisions and most of all, no suspicous match-making and eyebrow raising rankings.

Rufus, you must be confusing our sport with something else.

There have always been controversial decisions, suspicious rankings, suspicious match making.

If it wasn't King pulling the strings it would be someone else.

People in boxing, aside from the boxers themselves, are a pretty seedy and / or mediocre bunch by and large. Always have been. Too busy with petty feuds and jealousies to work for the betterment of the sport.

It won't change because King has died.

[Cap]

Do a little reading. Boxing was full of suspicious matches around the turn of the 19th-20th century, and right into the 1920s. Boxing got itself banned in several jurisdictions because of fixed fights.

Cap

[HomicideHenry]

I ain't stupid...if you read what I said, I stated PEOPLE LIKE KING, I dont hold Don King responsible for ALL of boxing's mishaps and I am quite aware that there have been controversial decisions and under-handed trickery since the beginning of the sport. I can rattle off quite a few odd decisions of the past:

1- Patterson was cheated out of a decision against Ellis, total highway robbery, and would have made Patterson the 3x HW champion.

2- Ernie Terrell won a questionable decision over George Chuvalo in his defense of the WBA title strap, which should have been for Chuvalo.

3- Chris Byrd gets a 12 round DRAW against Fres Oquendo, on an Indian Reservation, in which everybody felt that Oquendo won.

4- Joe Frazier gets a 10 round DRAW against Floyd Jumbo Cummings, again on an Indian reservation, in which many believed that Cummings won.

5- Micheal Spinks wins yet another 15 round decision over Larry Holmes, and again, Holmes lost, though he had the better exchange in punches.

6- Jersey Joe Walcott is cheated out of a win against Joe Louis in their first encounter, and it wasn't the first OR the last time that Walcott lost controversial decisions, some of which were to Ezzard Charles.

7- Max Schmeling lost a controversial decision to Jack Sharkey in their rematch, it had been a boring contest, but everyone felt that Schmeling won it, but didn't get the nod.

Those are just seven of numerous matches that were controversial decisions, where the fix could have been in. I know this sport, I ain't stupid. Arum, King are just a few of MANY who screwed the public and fighters.

[HomicideHenry]

Excuse me for the "draw" i wasn't thinking, i was rushing. Thanks for clearing that up for everyone.

I'll substitute the Byrd/Oquendo fight for the 2004 [or maybe 2005] contest between Riddick Bowe and Billy Zumbrun, also held on Native America land, and it was a decision win for Bowe, and the crowd started screaming "BULLSHIT" in unison, and I was myself watching it at home.

I had that as a unaminous decision win for Zumbrun, sure Bowe landed a hard punch now and then but that was one of the most BS decisions I have ever seen.............OR..........how about this match:

Chuck Wepner wins a 12 round decision over Ernie Terrell!

[Expug]

I ain't stupid...if you read what I said, I stated PEOPLE LIKE KING, I dont hold Don King responsible for ALL of boxing's mishaps and I am quite aware that there have been controversial decisions and under-handed trickery since the beginning of the sport. I can rattle off quite a few odd decisions of the past:

1- Patterson was cheated out of a decision against Ellis, total highway robbery, and would have made Patterson the 3x HW champion.

2- Ernie Terrell won a questionable decision over George Chuvalo in his defense of the WBA title strap, which should have been for Chuvalo.

3- Chris Byrd gets a 12 round DRAW against Fres Oquendo, on an Indian Reservation, in which everybody felt that Oquendo won.

4- Joe Frazier gets a 10 round DRAW against Floyd Jumbo Cummings, again on an Indian reservation, in which many believed that Cummings won.

5- Micheal Spinks wins yet another 15 round decision over Larry Holmes, and again, Holmes lost, though he had the better exchange in punches.

6- Jersey Joe Walcott is cheated out of a win against Joe Louis in their first encounter, and it wasn't the first OR the last time that Walcott lost controversial decisions, some of which were to Ezzard Charles.

7- Max Schmeling lost a controversial decision to Jack Sharkey in their rematch, it had been a boring contest, but everyone felt that Schmeling won it, but didn't get the nod.

Those are just seven of numerous matches that were controversial decisions, where the fix could have been in. I know this sport, I ain't stupid. Arum, King are just a few of MANY who screwed the public and fighters.

Irish, Cummings and Frazier fought right here in Chicago. Not on an Indian reservation. Jumbos hometown.

[Seamus]

Expug's right, Cummings v Frazier was at the old International Amphitheatre. Logical mistake though. Before Frazier got his license back, there was alot of talk about having the fight on Indian land, which was a new thing back then, or even having it onboard a 747 in flight. It was a bad decision though, the referee asked Frazier in the second round if he wanted to continue.

[AndreWardFan2006]

The first Emmanuel Augustus - Courtney Burton fight had to have been a swindle. Even the blind knew who won that fight. Maybe it was verified and I’m not aware of it, though they did have an evaluation afterwards. I loved Tessitore and Atlas' response after the cards were read...Atlas was irate and it showed when he said the judges shouldn't have jobs...good job Teddy

[RiddickBowe]

Fixed fights happen for two reasons:

1. Building up a untalented prospect in order to get that prospect one big payday. This is what happened with Richie Melito, Billy Fox, and probably Brian Nielsen. Or, related to this, building up a sideshow's record to get that sideshow a good payday. See Mark Gastineau or Butterbean's fights.

2. Making the favored fighter in a fight lose in order to make a killing betting on the underdog.

Other than these two scenarios, fixing a fight makes no sense. It takes money and a lot of risk to pay a fighter off. The reward must be high. Fights aren't fixed so that fighters don't have to train. That's ridiculous. There is no incentive. Botha, even at his worst, would not lose to Smiley. Only a retarded person would pay a perennial loser to lose a bout. There is no need to pay someone like Smiley off. He's going to lose without a fix.

[Chuck1052]

Questionable bouts in California history include:

1. Tony Fuente KO-1 Fred Fulton in Culver City in
1924. It was believed that Fulton took a dive.

2. Primo Carnera TKO-6 Bombo Chevalier in
Emeryville in 1930. A second for Chevalier
named Bob Perry threw in the towel at a
time when it looked like Chevalier was able
to continue. It was reported that Frank
Churchill, a representative for Carnera on the
West Coast, paid a visit to Chevalier's corner
just before the towel was thrown in.

3. Art Aragon stops Tommy Campbell in Los
Angeles during the early 1950s. It was felt
that Campbell, a top black lightweight, "went
into the tank." Babe McCoy, the matchmaker
of the Olympic Auditorium, was accused of
arranging several alleged fixes, including
the mentioned bout between Aragon and
Campbell.

4. Art Aragon stops Carlos Chavez in Los
Angeles ca. 1950. It was felt that Chavez
"went into the tank." Babe McCoy was
accused of arranging this alleged fix.

- Chuck Johnston

[HomicideHenry]

There is another 'fixed' story that I heard of:

Jack Dempsey as a young man 'lost' by KO [the only time in his entire career] by championship contender 'Fireman' Jim Flynn. Now iono if this was a fix or not considering it was the young Dempsey way before he ever fought guys like Carl Morris and Fred Fulton and eventually Jess Willard, but it does raise a question mark or two.


Another 'fix' fight story I heard of was apart of the Sonny Liston story:


Sonny Liston in his last fight took on Chuck Wepner, where rumors had spread that Liston was offered to take a dive against the limited and cut prone Wepner, where Liston refused and in the process gave Wepner 85 stitches in his face winning by TKO in 10 rounds. A few months later, Liston was found dead, apparently from an over-dose of heroin, which is odd since Liston was terrified of needles.

It was rumored that Liston was 'fragged' because he didn't take the dive against the long-shot Wepner.

[wouter]

Jesus, if you're going to make such an allegation the least you should do is know what fight you're going on about!.... I have 99% of all Holmes televised contests and have never seen anything like what you are describing. Obviously as you dont even know what fight it was I cant even check it out!... I think you've been reading too many gangster books mate, sometimes TV can lie as well... a rerun can make a punch seem as if it hasnt landed when it has if it is taken from a certain angle... also maybe the fighter was hurt by an earlier punch, ...dont you know the saying that the punch that puts you down isnt always the one thats hurt you!....

It's Paul Poirier.

[Jaclem]

...poor billy fox had a mental breakdown at the end of his career. doctors did not say it was from taking punches....it was an emotional trauma.....fox thought he had actiually scored all those knockout wins legitimately..and couldn't understand how he could lose so badly when the mob dumped him...and then found out his career was a hoax.

during his wrestling career carnera stopped into a newspaper office and showed his hands to the sportrswriters, saying, sadly, "i killed a man with these fists"..he was referring of course to ernie shaaf. most boxing folks thought shaaf death in the ring against primo was the result of a battering he had taken in an earlier fight against max baer. lots of stories about carnera.....mixed opinions as to how much he knew about the many tank jobs he won.

somebody he said walcott lost questionable decisions against ezzard charles. no way. the only robbery in their series was walcott's over charles in their third fight....which wasn't really all that close.


one chicago wag said that johnny bratton had lost so many fights deliberately that he forgot when he was supposed to win, and this was picked up by the chicago boxing gentry. when bratton was through he had some of the same mental problems...though not as severs..as those suffered by billy fox. the word was johnny felt he could have had a much better career if he hadn't had to wear handcuffs in too many fitghts.

johnny saxton was involved in a lot of questionable fights....and his post career life was tragic.