Fixed Championship Fights

Muhammad Ali vs Sonny Liston II

C'mon,

Very simple.

Sonny Liston had his Boxing License pulled from 48 States before this bout.

Only Kentucky (Muhammad Ali's home state) and Maine were the only places that the
bout could be held.

If Sonny won, there would be nowhere for him to fight. Nowhere.
Not with his boxing contract and assorted managers and advisors.

The smart move,,,,,,,,,,, LOSE, CASH IN and GO AWAY.

 

Get that "I" qualifier outta there. The rematch wasn't either.

 

The phantom punch that slow motion video evidence has long since proved to have nothing "phantom" about it? That one?

 

Stepin Fetchit was a comedian from the 30's.

The odds that Ali learned any type of boxing punch from a comedian is
very small......just Ali running his mouth as usual.

 

carnera was owned by owney madden, a prohibition gangster and many of his fights were fixed, i don't think the championship fight was fixed though, just that so many previous fixd fights had left a big question mark over any fight he had.

p.s in a book i read about madden it claimed the manager was the one who stole all primo's money, does anyone know the truth of this?

 

I think Carnera's earnings were probably divided up by a whole crew of people - Bill Duffy, Owney Madden, George 'Big Frenchy' DeMange etc. among them


Owney "Killer" Madden actually had a big piece of Jimmy Braddock, at least.
Possibly had his claws in Sharkey and Joe Louis when all was said and done.

 

i didn't know about sharkey, that should raise the chances of funny business in that fight

looks like a fine kd, sharkey could have got up but didn't. can't know for sure from the film

 

We've had these debates before. For some strange reason, the word 'cowardice' rubs people the wrong way. (in spite of the fact that 99% of us have been cowards at some time or other in their lives ... or maybe because of that.)

Seldon's performance demonstrated a lack of courage.
Cowardice is the right term.

Getting in the ring for $5 million (Seldon's purse) and getting out of there as quickly as possible without risking getting in a fight and really hurt is not particularly brave, imo.
And it's certainly nowhere near the amount of courage that should be expected.
It's a severe lack of courage.

Brave fighting men don't have 'some kind of mental breakdown' when faced with another man (of the same size, with two arms and two legs, no weapons).

For FIVE MILLION DOLLARS a man of Seldon's stature should be fighting Tyson as if his wife and kids' lives depended on it. Or something close to that.
Just go out there and fight, that's the job at hand. That's what the five ****ing mill is for.

Fight or flight. Seldon's chose flight. It was definitely a cowardly performance, imo.

But if people don't like the word, they don't have to use it. It is the correct term though.

 

:good

Yes Seldon was brave enough to be a fighter but that was a cowardly performance and nothing else.

When he was smiling and laughing with Tyson post fight he didn't look like someone in the throes of mental breakdown he looked like someone who'd won the ****ing lotto (which he pretty much had).

Tyson intimidated plenty but to put in a disgraceful display like that when you were supposedly world champ will forever tarnish Seldon's name. If he'd come out looking to win and was legitimately KO'd in the first round there wouldn't be anyone who would question his courage, maybe his chin and ability but never his courage. But that was a weak,shameless cash grab.

 

Bill B,

Stepin Fetchit was a 'boxing genius'.

He also invented the 'Internet'

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I think it was probably on the level.
Carnera was an improved fighter since last time he and Sharkey had fought. And Sharkey was over-the-hill and never registered a meaningful win again.

Sharkey's manager Fat John Buckley was said to be connected to mobsters who were connected to the men in Carnera's camp. This doesn't make a fix any more likely necessarily. It shows how much the championship was under the watchful eye of 'the boys' though.

 

It was a counter punch. It was no special technique, just a counter overhand right landed perfectly on the button.

Why didn't anyone else get caught and dropped with it? Maybe because they weren't hurtling like a freight train into its path behind a lunging overextended jab?