can someone educate me on this one. from what i have read both were controlled by the mob and the result was decided before...and they played their parts, doing very little in the fight to the point where it was described as terrible. aparently neither man did anything worthwhile to deserve winning, but the judges were told beforehand what to do {i have read as well that they were bought out by the mob too for the gavilan v billy graham fight before this}....and after the {sexton} fight gavilan broke down crying in the ring shouting about how he hated boxing. it was supposed to have been such an open secret about how the fight would go that no bookmaker would take a bet on the fight beforehand. there would be no rematch. the sexton v basilio fight a couple of years later was supposed to have been a very controversial one too, albeit a better fight...a fight that got sexton banned from fighting in new york due to his mob connections....basilio stopped him in a rematch though and got his revenge...and even quicker in a third fight. whole thing makes fascinating reading....did all blinky palermo {sextons mob manager} boxers go though similar ? is there more to this bit of folklore ?
Don't know the mob story behind, just know that both were being cautious for half the fight and it looked clearly rigged. That said, Gavilan still clearly won it and it was a robbery decision for Johnny.
i've seen a bit on youtube, without commentary, and it doesnt look too bad of a fight, but its only a small clip of it....i had read it was a terrible fight... have you seen the whole fight ?
I've seen the whole fight. The first 7 or 8 rounds were horrible. Thereafter it picked up a bit. There's no way Saxton legitimately beats Gavilan.
I think Gavilan sort of knows he aint getting it so just coasts and puts up a fairly crap effort but still wins it fairly wide on my card.
Saxton was managed by mob-linked Blinky Palermo, and the fight was in Blinky's hometown (and Saxton's adopted hometown) of Philly, so everyone suspected beforehand that Gavvy would need a KO to win. As far as them both "playing the part," that seems to be just storytelling. Something like 20 out of 22 sportswriters thought Gavvy won, with a general consensus being that he won roughly 9 or 10 out of 15 rounds. I thought the same watching the film of the fight. That accusation was made famous by promoter Teddy Brenner, who claimed that one of the judges had admitted as such on his deathbed. That claim turned out to be untrue, as a NYSAC investigation in the '80s revealed. From the NY Times, December 25, 1985: The New York State Athletic Commission yesterday upheld Kid Gavilan's disputed split-decision victory over Billy Graham in their 1951 welterweight title bout. The commission was persuaded to investigate the bout after a reported ''deathbed'' confession by Arthur Schwartz, one of the judges, who scored the fight 9-6 for Gavilan. In his book ''Only the Ring Was Square,'' Teddy Brenner, the former Madison Square Garden matchmaker, said that Schwartz had admitted to Graham's agent, Irving Cohen, that his decision had not been honest. Jose Torres, the commission chairman, said, ''I'm ruling out fraud because the evidence eliminates the issue of the deathbed confession.'' According to Schwartz's son, newspaper reports and a death certificate, Schwartz died of cardiac arrest in Grand Central Terminal, not at a hospital, as Brenner's book stated. Frank Forbes, the other judge, had the fight even in rounds at 7-7-1, with Graham ahead on points, 11-10. Mark Conn, the referee, had the rounds even but with Gavilan ahead, 10-7. Some fans at Madison Square Garden pelted the ring with debris when the decision was announced. Graham, a liquor salesman living in Syosset, L.I., did not attend the news conference. Gavilan's whereabouts could not be determined. As far as the fight itself, I have always thought Gavvy was a fair and square winner, and when I posted it on here sometime back many posters here shared the same view I did. See here: http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=115253 http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1997197 I believe he didn't break down until in the dressing room afterward, but yes, the reports did say he broke down crying and said he probably wouldn't fight again. I believe I remember reading that as well. Yes. He was the Don King of his day.
I didn't see it quite that way. Saxton just held on for dear life for the first 8 or 9 rounds - I don't think there was much else Gavvy could do. I thought he clearly controlled nearly all of those rounds just by being aggressive and actually trying. Saxton opened up in the championship rounds and probably won some of those rounds, but Gavvy came back and won the last 2 rounds big IMO, which should've absolutely sealed the decision for him. I thought Gavvy clearly won at least 9 rounds.
