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Maybe that's why he became good friends with Jake LaMotta. I read some of his autobiography and the movie makes him look like a saint compared to some of the stuff LaMotta talked about in the book.
Bright Lights Dark Shadows was one of the best boxing documentaries I've seen. Others like When We Were Kings were good, but I've always felt that documentary, like others, downplayed Ali's good work on the ropes even before Foreman tired. That Joe Louis Betrayed on HBO one was nothing new, I'd pretty much heard all of that on the ESPN Sportscentury doc on Louis. The Thrilla in Manila provided a few new details, but not much else I hadn't read or watched before.
The Ray Robinson one had a lot more that was new info to me, and provided some insight and details about how troubled he really was. I also liked that doc on Sonny Liston, the Mysterious Life and Death of a Champion.Comment
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Yea, I watched When we were Kings for a film class in school, so I had to break that documentery down.
I liked the Bright Lights Dark Shadows as well, I have just forgotten a lot of it. It came out when i was at school where I didn't have HBO, I caught it when I went home, but once I got back to the real world again HBO was not showing it as much. I have been looking for it since, but have not seen it on HBO in years.
The Liston HBO documentery was really good also.Comment
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Here's another example of the "purity" of boxing in the "good old days".
Here's some more.Mr. Carbo & His Pals
Monday, Jun. 15, 1959
In the heyday of the International Boxing Club's strangle hold on U.S. boxing, Millionaire Sportsman James Dougan Norris ran the show in public, and a slim, grey-haired man named Paul John ("Frankie") Carbo ran a lot of it in private. Breaking up the Norris monopoly was relatively easy for the Justice Department. The underworld dominance of Frankie Carbo was something else again. Few figures in the fight game admitted knowing Carbo or dealing with him in any way. But last July the man known as "Mr. Grey" was finally indicted by a New York grand jury for illegal matchmaking and managing fighters under the table. Carbo promptly disappeared, was caught only three weeks ago as he fled from police at his New Jersey hideout. Frankie was the picture of innocence, said he ran because "I thought it was a rubout."
As police searched for Carbo last month, a Los Angeles fight promoter named Jackie Leonard went before the California Athletic Commission, put the finger squarely on Mr. Grey and his managerial sidekick, a Philadelphia hoodlum named Frank ("Blinky") Palermo. Leonard had promoted most of the key fights of Welterweight Champion Don Jordan. He told a shady story. Last year, when Jordan was still only a challenger, Leonard got a phone call from Blinky Palermo. Blinky demanded that "we" be cut in for a piece of Jordan as a condition for getting a title fight with Virgil Akins. Leonard, together with Jordan's manager. Don Nesseth, pretended to agree. After the fight Leonard ignored Blinky Palermo's attempts to collect a share of the money. Soon he got a summons to Miami. He flew down, was brought into the presence of Frankie Carbo at a waterfront motel. Carbo "advised" he comply.
Leonard continued to stall and the talk got uglier. Blinky visited Leonard in Los Angeles, accompanied by a couple of tough-looking hoodlums with police records who lingered ominously in the background. Leonard got threatening phone calls ("It'll be with a pipe wrapped in a paper sack. You'll never know what hit you"). He testified that Carbo called too. said "something to the effect that 'You're going to get hurt. We're going to make an example of you.' " After the hearing, police were assigned to guard Leonard whenever he left home.
One night last week Leonard went out to get a newspaper at the corner, not bothering to call the cops. It was a mistake. He returned, found the garage light out, started to pull the garage door down, got slugged. He fell, was kicked as he lay on the ground. Leonard wound up in the hospital in serious condition. It looked very much as though Carbo, even under arrest, still had pals willing to do him a favor.
Particularly revealing was Carbo's role in the Orlando Zulueta-Joe Brown lightweight title fight several years back. Hymie managed Zulueta, and he asked Lou Viscusi, Brown's manager, if he would agree to a fight. Viscusi said he would if he could get a promoter "with plenty of money." Wallman sought out Joe Dupler, a Denver promoter, who said he would take the match. Wallman then consulted Carbo. Carbo told him: "The furrier [Dupler] wants the fight; I want $5,000 for the fight." Dupler instructed Wallman to withdraw $5,000 from a New York account of Dupler's and give it to Tex Pelte, the bagman. Carbo subsequently told Wallman that Pelte had given him the $5,000. Before the fight, Carbo told Wallman: "I never bothered you until now but if the kid [Zulueta] wins the championship... Lou Viscusi gets a piece of the fighter."
There was also sworn testimony, included as an exhibit, that Wallman informed Carbo, for betting purposes, whenever Wallman "had a judge or referee who would favor your fighter...."Comment
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Boxing has always been about money. SRR, the greatest boxer in history, hated boxing and readily admitted he only fought for cash.Comment
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People in here talkin smack, "OOH todays boxers care only about the money!"
Well gee if you trained so damn hard and millions of dollars was at stake, everyone here would do the same! remember boxers are ppl coming from poverty and want to help their familys out too, not all the money is gonna get wasted at the casino
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