On the level or no? Ike claimed a dive but he was in a groove of getting stopped at this point of his career.
Davey was absolutely horrible. He fought like an amateur ten year old girl. Hopping around, slapping out these wet noodle punches with his chin way up in the air. No way Graziano, Basilio, and Williams didnt tank those fights. Especially in light of how brutally and easily Gavilan disected him. He was a total fraud built up for white tv audiences. The picture perfect, father knows best, blonde college boy “fighter.”
Ha! My real point to this thread was whether Davey had any true cred or ability. Williams was deep into the mob, no doubt.
Watch his fight with Graziano and you can see Graziano telegraphing these weak, slow arm punches, missing on purpose, trying to not get overly aggressive. It was a completely atypical Graziano performance, especially when he was up against a smaller fighter. Davey had nothing to keep Graziano away and yet Graziano was cowed like he was fighting Joe Louis or something. You can argue that Rocky was gunshy coming off the Robinson loss but Davey was the perfect opponent to come back against for Rocky. Like I said, nobody will ever convince me his fights with Basilio, Graziano, and Williams werent fixed.
Sounds like a throwback Deontay Wilder. How long did they steer this guy around losses and potential stumbling blocks anyway? How successful was their grooming?
I watched not only the Davey-Graziano fight, but Davey's fights with Basilio and Gavilan on you tube, and also Graziano's first fight with Tony Janiro (with Rocky Marciano doing commentary) and his fight with Gene Burton. My initial reaction watching the Graziano-Davey fight was that Rocky threw it. After watching the Janiro fight, I must say not necessarily. Graziano looks just as rotten against Janiro as he did against Davey, while he was two years younger and I assume possibly more focused. He misses Janiro as often, as badly, and as amateurishly as he misses Davey. He misses by a foot or more often, and once misses so badly he fell out of the ring. He uses the same one punch at a time style, with no feinting or jabbing to set up those looping rights and wild hooks. He has no real defense to speak of. So my conclusion is that a "fix" is not needed to explain why Graziano fought like this. This is his level in technique. Davey? One poster remarked he fights like a girl, and his weird bouncing up and down style is certainly risible, but in fairness he was tall for his weight, moves around quickly, and that southpaw style with the right jab always in the other fellows face probably could keep face first fighters like Graziano and the young Basilio off balance. Davey appears a slapper, but he also appears quicker on his feet than Janiro, and looks to be a stamina freak. He was still moving fast in the 10th. Janiro was a playboy not in the best of shape, and Marciano comments on his so-so conditioning and how he slowed up in the last half of the fight *Off the rounds given in the edited tape of the Graziano-Janiro fight, I can't understand how it ended up as a draw. Graziano did almost nothing but miss. As for the Gavilan-Davey fight, I have no problem understanding why Gavilan handled Davey. Gavilan was taller, had faster hands, and had the technique to block the right jabs. The limited Davey was in against an opponent who could cancel his strengths. It is sort of like a one dimensional gridiron team which relies on running but has no passing attack coming up against an opponent with a great defensive line which stops the run. I've seen this often. A team which looks great against weaker defenses now looks helpless. I also think it seems totally out of character for Basilio to have gone into the tank. I can't speak to the Ike Williams fight, though.
