Interesting interview with Charles Farrell about fight fixing

Farrell (90's boxing manager of guys like Leon Spinks and Mitch Green) was on Q today (popular Canadian radio program) discussing his article, "Why I Fixed Fights."

Link to interview here (hopefully it plays in the US and elsewhere):

http://www.cbc.ca/q/popupaudio.html?clipIds=2456976067

Link to article here:

http://deadspin.com/why-i-fixed-fights-1535114232

Discuss.

 

Well... I thought it was interesting, anyway...

 

Very interesting read
Thank you

 

I heard this a while back. Honestly sounds like a guy making excuses for using old , shitty washed up fighters.

 

ya, very, very interesting, it is a dirty sport, but that side usually isn't articulated like that.

 

the vin vechionne anectdote was also highly intriguing.

 

Yeah... the article has been out for a while. Interview is brand new from today, though.

And I happen to believe that most of what he's saying is likely true (if embellished somewhat for storytelling effect). Not only that, but he actually does a pretty good job of making a case for fixing fights.

Boxing fans (and more and more MMA fans) are far too concerned with unblemished records... and that's a problem because the fight game is so damned unpredictable. So, yeah, it makes sense that a manager would try to limit the risks of this unpredictability on his path to the payday that his skills warrant.

 

why are you dragging MMA into this?

There is only ONE champion in the UFC today that is undefeated.

There are 22 undefeated boxing "world champions".

 

Boxing fans are way too concerned with the undefeated record and Floyd does not help matters. I said elsewhere once an undefeated record in boxing is more often than not a case of a guy that's just fought stiffs. Deontay Wilder is undefeated with a 100% KO record and after 31 fights we still don't know how good he is. Anyone remember "The Danish Pastry" Brian Nielsen? Matched Marciano's 49-0 in heavyweights before he lost. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. was 46-0-1 after 9 years of fighting before he lost to Sergio Martinez. He's now one of the 5 biggest draws in the U.S., turned down $12 million for two fights against Golovkin and someone else, and the best person he's beaten his entire career is Andy Lee. There are some guys that enter UFC undefeated and normally they're found out pretty quick. Or they go straight to the top as Velasquez, Jones, and Rousey did (Rousey admittedly in a much weaker division). Jones is "undefeated" in a Fedor sense as his lone loss is a DQ, Velasquez has since lost.

Re the article, I listen to a weekly podcast with Steve Kim and Gabriel Montoya of Maxboxing, a caller asked them if they had read the Deadspin article and Kim laughed and answered, "Yes, everyone in the sport has read it." They both said it's something that goes on at lower levels but if you fix a fight on TV with all the attention you have some big brass balls on you. Montoya then talked about an undercard fight one time he saw he thought was fixed.


(Haye KO3 Harrison - can't prove anything, but it wouldn't surprise me)

 

I don't really follow MMA much anymore, but I'm certain Rousey fought and was a champion before the UFC got her. She was already at the top. UFC created an entire new class around her.

 

Chris Weidman...real talent but has the personality of a cucumber.

 

weidman's awesome. I wish hed stay champ but he's facing machida who i like even more

dilllleeeemmaaaaaaaaaaaa

 

yeah, she did, didn't feel like getting into promotional bullshit, she was undefeated when she got to Strikeforce and won the championship undefeated, UFC brought over in full Strikeforce's women's bantamweight division, but when Rousey won the title she was in the top women's bantamweight class in the world which is more to my point; if Rousey was all hype she'd've lost the first time she was put in a 50/50 match because MMA as a sport even outside the UFC (unless we're talking Pride's booking) matchmakes much more evenly than boxing promoters do.

Guillermo Rigondeaux? No idea what he's going to do after his fight in Macao. There's no Cuban audience for him to play in front of, can't draw, HBO wants nothing to do with him after a couple horrible fights entertainment-wise, Arum's letting his contract expire that's how much he thinks of him, the only way he can get on Showtime is to sign a contract with Haymon and/or Golden Boy who I don't know they'd want him, yet he still has a title, but it's not a marquee weight division dollar and name wise.

Maybe he can be an opponent for Japanese fighters wanting the title in Tokyo.

 

i dont think rigondeaux's personality is what hinders him so much as his fighting style is just not exciting for noobs.

 

well, he can enjoy a career of getting ducked and having no fanbase - worst of both worlds for a beltholder, no one ever said this game was fair

 

im a fan :icon_chee
im hardly the only one

 

you're a poster on a message board, that means by definition you're nowhere near representative of the majority of the fanbase

Rigondeaux's last fight against Agbeko was the 2nd time in HBO history that the rating for the main event declined from the undercard fight.

 

all hail

 

Agreed. I think there are some indicators that it is moving the way of boxing, but it's not there yet, and I do hope I'm wrong.