A deleted scene in The Godfather seems to confirm this...and if you look at that movie, several people who were connected like Joe E. Lewis (the entertainer), Jake LaMotta, Frank Sinatra and others are either mentioned or their names/photos on a wall or something...(Johnny Fontaine being a thinly veiled version of Sinatra)...
I don’t know anything about him being ‘controlled’ by anyone (I assume you mean the mob) but some years after he retired the story is Frank Sinatra checked into a ritzy hotel in Miami (I think the Fontainebleau) and saw Beau shining shoes. He had no money left over from his fight career and Frank had been a big fan (Sinatra was at all the big fights for years) and become his benefactor. Jack wouldn’t talk about it much or mention Frank because Frank didn’t want it known (it wasn’t a publicity stunt) but Beau basically said this famous, rich man would send him a check every month and took care of him. Not aware of any allegations of Beau ever throwing a fight or whatnot. (Unlike Jake LaMotta, who people want to insist had nothing to do with the mob even though he threw a fight for them and allegedly later sold a profitable business to them dirt cheap … probably to cover what he owed them be it gambling losses or a loan or some such … but of course Jake even though he was cagey and never named names when he did testify about throwing that fight was as clean as a whistle lol).
I like to think LaMotta was involved only periphelically but who knows..he was Italian-American.. During my investigation for my Wikipedia article about Irving Resnick, I found out Joe Louis worked as an enforcer when he needed money and someone owed the mafia money. On the other hand, on his book named Nardo, Tony DeMarco admitted that he went to see Ray Patriarca to get a fight, and Patriarca said he was not involved in boxing and that he could only pass the word, and asked Tony for his autograph. Interesting stuff that is publicly vailable!
Was it… before or after he was champ? This is sad, I’ve read Louis was an arrogant mean spirited man in private, Funny story that highlights this was when he stole the last of Robinsons cola and they got into a scuffle.
That sounds like Liston. He was very close with Reznick though Joe did get hooked on Coke for a period of time. Its quite possible.
