VII.

Corruption

Boxing’s image also suffers from a long-running reputation for corruption. Criminal elements were attracted to the sport as boxing grew into a big-money business during the 20th century. In the past boxers were often more vulnerable than other athletes to criminal influence because of the individualistic nature of the sport combined with the fact that many fighters grew up in poverty and will do almost anything to escape from that life.

The scandals and “fixes” have occurred at all levels of the sport, and for every documented instance there are many more suspected but often unproved. Examples of scandal-plagued fighters and organizations include Italian heavyweight Primo Carnera, whose sensational rise during the 1930s proceeded from fixed fights in which his opponents had been paid to lose (“take a dive”); the International Boxing Club, a major East Coast fight promoter that sometimes colluded with racketeers in the 1940s and 1950s; and boxing czar Paul John (“Frankie”) Carbo, a powerful boxing manager with ties to organized crime in the 1940s and 1950s, who was convicted of extortion in 1961.

While corruption continues in boxing today, the fighter is almost always the innocent party. The governing bodies, which control the all-important rankings, are now the most likely sources of scandal. Robert Lee, the former president of the IBF, was banned from boxing for life and sent to prison in 2001 for accepting bribes from promoters. Many promoters sign multifight contracts with top fighters, functioning as managers without actually looking after the boxers’ best interests.

Despite some improvement in the sport’s image, boxing is still plagued by the presence of a rogue element. One of the most powerful figures in all of boxing since the 1970s is promoter Don King, a notorious figure who helped shape the careers of heavyweight champions Larry Holmes and Mike Tyson. King’s checkered legal past includes a manslaughter conviction, an acquittal for tax evasion and fraud, and numerous other criminal investigations. King’s boxing business dealings, while presumably legal, are equally problematic. He often controls all the principal figures in a major fight, in effect administering the title himself. His influence with governing bodies is legendary. Boxing’s aura of corruption is reinforced by the fact that most of the sport’s big-money title fights now take place in Nevada, where the giant casinos can host the event and simultaneously take in millions of dollars in bets on the outcome. Gambling appears to have less direct influence on the sport than it once did, however.