If you could solve a boxing mystery, what mystery would you solve?

Was the KD of Johnson for real, and did him and Ketchell agree to go the distance, with a return in the bag ? stay safe guys.

 

whats the mystery on this? never heard of it.

 

I mean, he was being humiliated and was not taking well to it at all. His inability to catch Leonard frustrated him, and he was made a fool in one of the most hyped matches ever. I think Leonard used the psyche against Duran in the second fight, to a much more effective degree than Duran had in the first. Both times the psychological warfare were successful, but Duran was a prideful and ego filled man who was fragile. I don't think Duran had ever been outright toyed with, not just outclassed. But I never knew there were suspicions of a pay off.

 

The Freddie Mills death mystery

Also

Did Teddy Brenner put the 'cuffs' on Holly Mims and Georgie Benton when he matched them with Hurricane Carter?

 

That is real interesting Richard, never had heard of it. Leonard fought like poetry in the 3rd meeting with Duran, but it was hard for me to comprehend Duran's loss in that 2nd fight. Like you said in the 2nd it was very odd to see a fighter, and by any measure one of the greatest fighters of all time, quit, in the middle of the round.

 

He was not born in 32, that was just a made up date.

 

Just to know for sure some of the cheating accusations.

Did Dempsey load the gloves against Willard?
Did Louis load the gloves against Schmeling?
What was in Aaron Pryor's bottle against Arguello?

Etc. Not that I believe any of them, but it would are cool to have the definitive answer.

 

The only thing I know or have ever heard/read about money regarding Leonard-Duran II was that the contract was written so that money was in escrow and it was transmitted to Duran’s account at the sound of the bell starting the fight.

Literally all he had to do was show up and the fight begin and he got paid.

The Louisiana athletic commission investigated after the fight and wanted to hold up the purse until it had made its findings and discovered the purse could not be held up because it had already been paid. They ended up fining Duran like $3,500 — the max they could under their rules — for quitting under some sportsmanship rule or some such … just to save face and say they did something.

How did that figure into the outcome? Well, if you’ve already been paid and know you got it (it was IIRC $7.5M, which was a record) then if you do decide to quit, you know they can’t touch your money.

Today’s contract languages are probably pretty similar but maybe not with immediate payment at the first bell. But they are written so that the fighter is required to ‘be delivered’ for the fight — it’s a hedge against a guy pulling out with no reason and causing a promoter to lose out on having no fight after investing all the money in putting one on — and it’s basically ‘you have to show up and the fight has to take place’ … because there’s no way to enforce or have a legal standard beyond a guy participating in a fight as contracted (how could you adjudicate ‘he didn’t try hard enough’ for instance).

I’d love to see some source/reporting on any alleged payoff of Duran to quit. I’ve never heard it and it makes no sense. Why would you want the guy to quit? It doesn’t set up a third fight because nobody is going to pay to see a quitter (and that’s how it played out, the public wasn’t going to throw good money away knowing the guy quit the time before … he had to redeem himself and then some to get another crack at Leonard). It would be stupid for Duran because if he beats Leonard a second time and just made a record purse, he’s going to make even more money going forward as he’s the biggest attraction in the sport — bigger than the heavyweight champion even.

In short, it makes no sense. I’d like to see the allegations you’ve heard because it interests me where that would come from.

 

Fantastic thread premise, @Richard M Murrieta!

I’d like to have a clear answer into the deaths of Arturo Gatti and Alexis Arguello. Both ruled suicides, but both deaths were suspected to have some element of foul play. The Gatti death in particular seems very suspect.

 

I think the Gatti one was a cover up job by the Brazilian authorities. It was first considered first degree murder and then changed to suicide. The wife’s story didn’t add up at all and a private investigation showed up evidence on the body that meant it wasn’t possible for Gatti to have died the way she had said.

The Arguello death is more speculative, but there was suggestion that it was politically motivated as Arguello was planning on leaving the ruling party there. Some talk as well about the angle of the gunshot wound IIRC.