Fighter Found Guilty Of Fight Fixing!
Posted: 09 Nov 2004, 15:40
I found this, thought it may be of some interest to you guys.
A federal jury handed down a conviction Monday in the sports bribery trial of boxer Thomas Williams and matchmaker Robert Mitchell, the first successful prosecution of fight fixing in Nevada.
Williams, 35, of Landover, Md., and Mitchell, 42, of Irmo, S.C., were each convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit sports bribery and one count of sports bribery and attempting to commit sports bribery. They face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each conviction. They are scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 7.
The jury determined Williams and Mitchell schemed to fix fights from March 1995 until Aug. 12, 2000, when Williams fought Richie Melito at Paris Las Vegas. Melito knocked Williams out in the first round of that fight, which was on a Don King-promoted card that featured a WBA heavyweight title bout between Evander Holyfield and John Ruiz.
The jury found that bribes of more than $70,000 were paid in that span.
"The public should be able to trust that professional sporting events have not been fixed," Daniel G. Bogden, the U.S. Attorney for Nevada, said in a statement. "By returning criminal verdicts against both men, the jurors in Las Vegas have spoken that criminal conduct of this kind violates an important public trust in the integrity of sports."
Boxer Shelby Gross testified at the trial that Mitchell, who was then his manager, offered him $8,500 to take a dive in a fight with Melito. Gross testified he accepted but later changed his mind. He then taped conversations with Mitchell in which Mitchell is heard discussing how to fix the fight.
Marc Ratner, executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, was at ringside for the Williams-Melito fight, which began slightly after 4 p.m. with few fans in the arena. Ratner, who said Mitchell was licensed as a matchmaker but never a promoter in Nevada, said Monday he thought the knockout was legitimate.
"Without me having any knowledge at the time of the phone conversations and all this stuff that went on, it looked to me like a good punch," Ratner said. "It certainly looked like a good punch to me. With the knowledge I have now, I guess you could look at it differently, but it still looks to me like it was a good punch that landed."
Bobby Goodman, vice president of boxing operations for Don King Productions, said he worked for several years with Mitchell and never saw any improprieties. He said minutes before the Melito fight, he heard rumors Williams may have agreed to take a dive and confronted Williams.
Goodman said he has also viewed the tape several times and believes it was a good punch.
"When I heard about it, I ran up the steps to Williams' corner and I said to him, `I don't want any shit. You better fight your ass off,' " Goodman said Monday. "He nodded to me that he understood. I was sitting in the media section where I usually do with a monitor and when I saw the knockout, I thought it was from a legitimate punch. I was satisfied that Williams had fought and hadn't (taken a dive).
"I watched the tape a couple of times with Marc. We even watched it in slow motion and it looked like a real good right."
Boxing manager Robert Mittleman testified Williams received approximately $10,000 for losing to Melito.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/ ... 12711.html
Thomas Williams
http://hagler.boxrec.com/boxer_display. ... _id=006458
A federal jury handed down a conviction Monday in the sports bribery trial of boxer Thomas Williams and matchmaker Robert Mitchell, the first successful prosecution of fight fixing in Nevada.
Williams, 35, of Landover, Md., and Mitchell, 42, of Irmo, S.C., were each convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit sports bribery and one count of sports bribery and attempting to commit sports bribery. They face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each conviction. They are scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 7.
The jury determined Williams and Mitchell schemed to fix fights from March 1995 until Aug. 12, 2000, when Williams fought Richie Melito at Paris Las Vegas. Melito knocked Williams out in the first round of that fight, which was on a Don King-promoted card that featured a WBA heavyweight title bout between Evander Holyfield and John Ruiz.
The jury found that bribes of more than $70,000 were paid in that span.
"The public should be able to trust that professional sporting events have not been fixed," Daniel G. Bogden, the U.S. Attorney for Nevada, said in a statement. "By returning criminal verdicts against both men, the jurors in Las Vegas have spoken that criminal conduct of this kind violates an important public trust in the integrity of sports."
Boxer Shelby Gross testified at the trial that Mitchell, who was then his manager, offered him $8,500 to take a dive in a fight with Melito. Gross testified he accepted but later changed his mind. He then taped conversations with Mitchell in which Mitchell is heard discussing how to fix the fight.
Marc Ratner, executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, was at ringside for the Williams-Melito fight, which began slightly after 4 p.m. with few fans in the arena. Ratner, who said Mitchell was licensed as a matchmaker but never a promoter in Nevada, said Monday he thought the knockout was legitimate.
"Without me having any knowledge at the time of the phone conversations and all this stuff that went on, it looked to me like a good punch," Ratner said. "It certainly looked like a good punch to me. With the knowledge I have now, I guess you could look at it differently, but it still looks to me like it was a good punch that landed."
Bobby Goodman, vice president of boxing operations for Don King Productions, said he worked for several years with Mitchell and never saw any improprieties. He said minutes before the Melito fight, he heard rumors Williams may have agreed to take a dive and confronted Williams.
Goodman said he has also viewed the tape several times and believes it was a good punch.
"When I heard about it, I ran up the steps to Williams' corner and I said to him, `I don't want any shit. You better fight your ass off,' " Goodman said Monday. "He nodded to me that he understood. I was sitting in the media section where I usually do with a monitor and when I saw the knockout, I thought it was from a legitimate punch. I was satisfied that Williams had fought and hadn't (taken a dive).
"I watched the tape a couple of times with Marc. We even watched it in slow motion and it looked like a real good right."
Boxing manager Robert Mittleman testified Williams received approximately $10,000 for losing to Melito.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/ ... 12711.html
Thomas Williams
http://hagler.boxrec.com/boxer_display. ... _id=006458