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Did Willie Pep take a dive against Lulu Perez? The fans seemed to think so. But the state athletic commission thought Pep was shot and simply couldn't take a punch anymore and suspended him. Pep did fight 51 more fights after losing to lightly regarded Perez and was only stopped once more to Kid Bassey in a fight where Willie showed great skill but just got worn down. Years later Pep sued a sports writer who had suggested the took a dive, but the case was thrown out after 15 minutes of deliberations. Supposedly Pep was paid $16,000 to throw the Perez fight. What do you think?
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It's possible. But maybe Willie just had an off night.
QueensburyDrools will be by soon to tell us that he saw footage of the $16,000 exchanging hands... -
Watching the fight it's hard to say. Pep certainly wasn't the defensive genius we were use to seeing and Perez was not a hard puncher. But the shots were pretty flush. It certainly could have just been an off night with his many years and fights catching up with him on that particular night. I'm going to see what else I can dig up about the fight.
Trust me, Queenie boy will not be posting in this thread anytime soon. Trolls need not bother entering any thread I post. They're persona non grata.Comment
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Pep doesn't throw a single right hand the entire (KO) round. -- He throws only two jabs with meaning, the rest of the time he paws with it like he is setting up a combination but never delivers.
While the first two KDs look sharp the third and final KD looks su****ious as Pep seems to lower himself to the canvas and at 1:49 of the video below Pep has a strange moment of focus on the camera as he is being lifted to his feet, as if he is checking out who is watching.
My guess, he was in the tank.
video cued to the KD in slow mo
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This will sound strange but I would be disappointed if he didn't tank a fight at the end of his career. By then he had earned a double-dip payday; hope he had big money on Perez.
I love the game, all its aspects, even the corruption (of course not when it puts a fighter in danger, that's different). Cross fighters and even double cross fighters are as much a part of the history as ATGs are; I have a romance with all of it, even the tank jobs. Football, Basketball, Baseball, it's all so boring.Comment
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Taking a dive would be shameful. That left a stain on Jake LaMotta's legacy.
I would hope Willie Pep didn't. Say it ain't so, Willie.Comment
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