Rocky Marciano's mob connections

He had some, because he couldn’t avoid it. But apparently it wasn’t a lot.

He said he would get orders from mob guys to carry an opponent the distance. During one fight, he accidentally knocked the guy out. So afterwards, he went to the mobster to apologize.

According to the documentary “Bright Lights and Dark Shadows”, Frankie Carbo wanted Ray to tank a fight against LaMotta, LaMotta would tank the rematch, and the fight after that would be on the level. But Ray politely refused.

 

I stand corrected.

 

This was discussed some time ago in another thread.

For what it is worth, Hertzko “Harry” Haft said in his bio he was threatened by the mob and forced to take a dive versus Marciano.

There. It is his word versus Marciano's

You make the judgement.

 

Haft had lost six of his previous seven, all but one inside the distance, to enter the Marciano fight with a 12-7 record. Stretches credulity to suggest that the mob would have needed to fix that fight.

 

I asked you for examples, Kearns managed Dempsey ,with Rickard doing most of the promoting of his fights.There is no proof Rickard or Kearns ever cooperated in anyway with the mob ,in fact when Capone offered to fix the 2nd Tunney fight ,Dempsey expressly asked him to be hands off.
Louis was managed by Roxborough and Black with Jacobs promoting him.Jacobs used mob connected fighters on his bills,how could he not ?However there is zero evidence he ever kicked back to the mob.
When manager Jimmy Johnston was in control of MSG and Louis was just getting started Roxborough and Black contacted Johnston to try and get his promotional backing,Johnston was interested but stressed that Louis would have to "lose a few".Roxborough told him," nothing doing."

Mike Jacobs,desperate to gain control of the heavyweight title, agreed to a deal in which he would give Joe Gould and Jim Braddock the then champion 10% of all his heavyweight title fights that involved Louis,but that is a separate matter.
Weill short changed Marciano on a couple of his purses , but again there is no proof the mob saw any of that money.

Marciano by Weill promoted by the IBC.Give us an example of 5% being deducted from any of their purses.Norris was hand in glove with Carbo and Palermo,but Norris was a multi millionaire who owned Stadiums,base ball clubs,and race tracks and race horses, 5 % of purses would be small change to him.

 

Haft's record is 12-8-0 he weighed 175lbs for Marciano, had been stopped by Lastarza in his previous fight and 3 months before fighting Rocky weighed 168lbs.
Why on earth would the mob have to threaten him to ensure he did not win?
The fight was a low key affair,with less than1700 people attending and a gross gate of less than $3000 so no gambling coup opportunity there!
"As usual Marciano was all fury and no finesse." Haft made a game showing, being a "rusher" with little style. He landed the first good punch of the fight in the first round, a hard right to Rocky's stomach. For the first minute of round two, Haft traded punch for punch, but then Marciano landed a series of rights that had his opponent groggy at the bell. Haft made one rally in round three but Marciano landed a flurry that put Harry down for the count. Attendance was 1655 and the gate was $2, 747."

 

I think the Haft reference was not so much, "you better throw this fight", but rather just a reminder who is present & the expected outcome is always the favourable one... just mere Intimidation.

and even though Haft stood little chance, the 'effects' of such figures 'Might' have had him hold back abit. I mean it's not as though this doesn't happen, it Boxiness after all.

 

What in Haft's record would suggest this was necessary?

 

NOTHING,

it's just the way these people operate, sure, they have approached, Refs, Managers, Board Members, Press and of course Fighters... So it doesn't always have to be a BIG Event, Issue or Threat, just a mere 'Presence' Reminder of Who's Boss and we're always present & looking in.

Nothing more.

 

Well, you make a fair point.
Under normal circunstances, Rocky would steamroll somebody like Hafts. Thus, the whole idea of threatening him makes no sense.
However, you never know. What if Haft decided to pull a Tokyo Douglas? You never know.
Thus, maybe, just maybe, putting a little "pressure" on Rocky's adversary was kinda an habitual insurance, just in case.

Anyway, as mentioned before, it is just Haft's word and his record as a fighter doesn't show him as a serious menace to Rocky.
Thus, at the end it is just assumptions and not much else.