Besides boxing, I am also a fan of graphic novels. I just finished reading "Boxer: The True Story of Holocaust Survivor Harry Haft"; (an amazing heartbreaking story by the way). Now, according to Haft when he was set to fight Marciano he was threatened by the mob and forced to take a dive. Of course, that sort of claims are practically impossible to prove or disprove. Maybe Haft was full of it or maybe there is some truth in his claim. Who knows? Anyway, we know Marciano was an incredible fighter, a true ATG. We also know the Mob unfortunately was/is very influential in the boxing world. However, I read somewhere that the Mob stayed purposely away of Rocky because they didn't want to bring any suspicion on him since he was such a source of pride for the Italian American community. Rocky's era is not my bread and butter (I am more a 70s and 80s guys) but I wonder what the knowledgeable members of the forum think about tales on Marciano's links to the mob. Just mumbo-jumbo from sore losers? or is there some basis to those claims?
Simply put the mob had control of boxing in varying degrees. So Rocky being top of the boxing food chain, with his Italian background would have been pleasing to the mob, and protecting him would not be out of the question There were for example claims that the owner of the restaurant where Rocky ate several times before championship bouts, had a couple of "Gentlemen" who would turn up and stay with him while Rocky was fighting, in case Rockys food had been tampered with, a mob insurance policy perhaps.
As matchmaker of Madison Square Garden, Marciano's de-facto manager Al Weill had a working relationship with Frankie Carbo who controlled the managers of many or even most of the main-event fighters Weill used to fill out the headline bouts at the Garden. Whether this made him beholden to Carbo or instead gave him a certain degree of independence from Carbo's influence has never been entirely clear to me, but I really doubt that "the mob" had any influence over the outcome of any of Rocky's major fights. And I suspect that Weill's position at the Garden and his long-standing experience as an all-around boxing man may have insulated him from having to share the proceeds of Rocky's earnings with Carbo or any other mob figures. Carbo's network of managers was mostly centered around the lightweight, welterweight, and middleweight divisions. He may have had an interest in some light heavyweights and heavyweights, but I don't think his control extended into the upper tier of those divisions because Jack Kearns who managed both Joey Maxim and Archie Moore and Weill were both firmly entrenched as savvy boxing managers and promoters before Carbo ever came on the scene in the 1930s. These are just my impressions from having read newspapers and the standard boxing publications of the era and later for quite some time now. If anybody else at this late date has solid evidence to the contrary, I will defer to their expertise.
Well, unlike Jake LaMotta there’s never been any credible instances of Rocky doing business with the mob. At least Marciano never claimed to take a dive for them like Jake did for his mob buddies.
I'm not an expert but I think Jake Lamotta refused to deal with the Mafia, and he ended up having to throw his fight with Billy Fox, in order to get a title shot. I guess the mob wanted Jake to eat some humble pie.
From what I heard …the mafia had so much pride in Marciano …that they insisted that all his fights be on the level …I think I saw it on Sportscentury
Sounds like a lot of after-the-fact puffery to me. Something somebody made up after Rocky became a popular champion. You know, something that sounds all warm and fuzzy in an interview but probably had little to do with the way things actually happened back in the day. I'm skeptical is all.
The mob own boxing, how much they impact this fight or that fight we will never truly know, but all top boxers had to play ball with the mob, for Marciano I think Carbo own a percent of money made in Marciano fights. From Dempsey to Louis to Marciano all had to pay something to em.
I never heard anything about marciano fights being influenced. organised crime was so entrenched in boxing that there is obvious overlap, but the important thing is fixing and i think that never happened for marciano. (not at championship level, his early career i am no expert)
No Marciano's fights were not being influenced, but the mob was taken a percent from the fight earnings.
Even though Rocco Francis Marchegiano is Italian-American, that doesn't mean he collaborated with the Mafia. I'm not saying that all Italian-Americans are mobsters, I'm just saying that the term "MAFIA" is of Italian origin.
