Do you think some knockdowns in history had been staged?

[GhostofDempsey]

Ali-Liston II, very obvious when a guy who is supposed to be knocked out by a phantom punch has the wherewithal to cover his eyes from the blinding lights above the ring.

[Fury4daWIN]

Wilder vs Scott looked like a pretty blatant dive. Circumstances leading up to it were fishy as hell too. Scott and Wilder were friends, Scott (a career sparring partner) already told people he considered Wilder the future then turns up to the fight visibly out of shape. At that point alarm bells were already ringing. Then the fight happens and Scott plods around the ring before getting lightly clipped with a left hook and a missed right hand and goes down to one knee with his eyes open looking up at the referee. He then makes some token effort to get up, wobbles in unconvincing fashion and stays down for the count. A complete sham of a fight.

Mercer vs Briggs looked like a straight dive to me. Mercer, a man known for having an iron chin, takes a little tap to the side of the head and goes down like he's shot. Sure, Briggs punches hard but he doesn't punch that hard.

[Mugwump]

Given the strong ties organised crime (and let's not forget plain old Big Business - which is just organised crime legitimised) has historically shared with boxing I'm certain there have been more staged knockdowns in the sport than we could possibly imagine.

Look, boxing is a human endeavour. It therefore follows that it is as vulnerable to human frailties and weaknesses as any other human endeavour. So, sure - rigged fights have occurred in the past. They are occurring right now and they will continue to occur long past I'm a distant memory on this earth.

What I will say is the media unfairly targets sports like boxing for being corrupt whilst giving many others a free pass.

I live in the UK where football/soccer is the number one sport. I've lost count of the number of times stories have emerged in the media about "corrupt officials" or players betting on their own performances only for them to disappear completely in less than a week. It's as if they never took place.

And I'm not just talking about nickle and dime corruption. It wasn't all that long ago when a story broke in the German Bundesliga about a police sting operation which netted several corrupt match referees who were helping to fix games. I distinctly remember them talking about anywhere up to FIVE HUNDRED games in the German lower leagues being affected. Now, you'd think a story like that would get plenty of traction in the media. Not a chance. Within a week you could easily have said, "What match fixing??". The story was killed. Years earlier an even bigger story, also about corrupt match referees, emerged out of Italy and it too was killed.

Compared with a fight being thrown here or there the above accusations are on a completely different level. Yet it's boxing which is always having to defend itself.

I remember once listening to a journalist talking about match fixing which he claimed was taking place in the NFL. At the time I thought his evidence was circumstantial at best but one thing he did say which I've never forgotten is this - "The people who own major sports can make far more money fixing games than by allowing them to proceed naturally. With that in mind - why WOULD'T THEY fix games?"

So yeah - it's happening. Of course it is. BIG MONEY is at stake and there are plenty of ruthless people out there who will do anything to secure their piece of the pie. Meanwhile I'm like an ostrich sticking my head in the sand.

[Dempsey-Louis]

I live in the UK where football/soccer is the number one sport. I've lost count of the number of times stories have emerged in the media about "corrupt officials" or players betting on their own performances only for them to disappear completely in less than a week. It's as if they never took place.

I remember once listening to a journalist talking about match fixing which he claimed was taking place in the NFL. At the time I thought his evidence was circumstantial at best but one thing he did say which I've never forgotten is this - "The people who own major sports can make far more money fixing games than by allowing them to proceed naturally. With that in mind - why WOULD'T THEY fix games?"

I suspect (I really don't know) that European refs are underpaid (as are NFL refs) and easy to buy; plus you have the advantage of only having to buy one referee to make a major difference; "a good bang for your buck" as we yanks say.

I would agree that this was once the case (pre 1980) - but the amount of money in sport today has economically outpaced the gambler's (gangster's) ability to affect (fix) the games. Going after crooked refs is pretty much all that is left; today players are out of their economic reach.

P.S. Did the OP mean to say fake 'knockdowns" or "knockouts" ? - I have a hard time understanding why someone would fake a knockdown, but the OP's remark about Camacho-Cruz is an interesting suggestion. But why do it, what is the gain?

[FinitoxDinamita]

Hops-oscar was the fakest body shot ko ive ever seen lol. Oscar is a terrible actor

[BKM-]

Oscar is a terrible actor

Terrible at acting ko'd or hetero. You're not kidding.

[Anthony342]

I suspect (I really don't know) that European refs are underpaid (as are NFL refs) and easy to buy; plus you have the advantage of only having to buy one referee to make a major difference; "a good bang for your buck" as we yanks say.

I would agree that this was once the case (pre 1980) - but the amount of money in sport today has economically outpaced the gambler's (gangster's) ability to affect (fix) the games. Going after crooked refs is pretty much all that is left; today players are out of their economic reach.

P.S. Did the OP mean to say fake 'knockdowns" or "knockouts" ? - I have a hard time understanding why someone would fake a knockdown, but the OP's remark about Camacho-Cruz is an interesting suggestion. But why do it, what is the gain?

Speaking of refs, wasn't there a big controversy a couple years ago with NBA refs caught taking payoffs?

[Mugwump]

I suspect (I really don't know) that European refs are underpaid (as are NFL refs) and easy to buy; plus you have the advantage of only having to buy one referee to make a major difference; "a good bang for your buck" as we yanks say.

I would agree that this was once the case (pre 1980) - but the amount of money in sport today has economically outpaced the gambler's (gangster's) ability to affect (fix) the games. Going after crooked refs is pretty much all that is left; today players are out of their economic reach.

I disagree on this point. IMO, there's a direct relationship between the level of money in a sport and the level of corruption. I just think the crooks are far less obvious these days. They don't wander around bars frequented by players with brown envelopes stuffed with cash.

[W1LL]

Sonny Liston took a dive. As did Paul Briggs.

[Dempsey-Louis]

I have always felt that college basketball "point shaving" (circa 1955) was the most ingenious fix ever devised.

1. The college players were broke and could be bought cheap.

2. The corrupt player wasn't asked to lose the game but just win within the point spread, (and unlike the NBA, college basketball point spreads were usually much wider, giving the corrupt player more leeway.)

3. And finally, the better (expected) team wins anyway so no one takes notice (except other gamblers).

P.S. A second attempt at this scam in the 1980s (by the infamous Henry Hill) was a disaster. The point spreads had tightened and the poor corrupt players tried their best but the gangsters kept losing their bets. (There is a recent documentary about one of those players getting black-balled from the NBA.)