Boxing Probe Details Alleged Fight-Fixing

Seven professional boxers and a manager have told the FBI they agreed to throw fights for as much as $10,000 cash apiece to pad the victory records of two heavyweights being groomed for “big money” matches, according to prosecution documents filed in a federal sports bribery case.

The prosecutors also say that another manager, nationally prominent boxing agent Robert Mittleman, bribed an American fighter with $10,000 cash and a Lincoln Navigator SUV to lose a March 21, 2000, bout in Denmark against Brian Nielsen, a former Olympic bronze medalist whom Mittleman represented.

The affidavit and related court documents contain a litany of confessed misconduct among boxers, providing rare details of fixed fights in a sport long shadowed by suspicions of corruption.

“It’s clear what happened here wasn’t unique,” said one federal law enforcement source. “It’s fair to say this case reads like an indictment of all professional boxing.”

Beyond potential criminal sanctions, the case could have political implications.

The latest allegations have arisen despite regional oversight by boxing commissions in most states, suggesting that little effective reform has taken place in the 40 years since writer Jimmy Cannon described boxing as “the red light district of sports.”

To compel changes, public figures, including former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali and New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, support creating a national boxing commission. Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Harry Reid (D-Nev.) have introduced bills to establish such a commission.

The newest disclosures could add political impetus to those efforts.

Mittleman and the others are among more than 30 boxing figures who have either admitted to or been accused of fighting under phony names or agreeing to fix fights since the early 1990s, based on court records and published accounts. Mittleman has not been charged with a crime.

Some of the tainted bouts were arranged by matchmakers affiliated with either Don King or Bob Arum, boxing’s two dominant promoters. Neither King nor Arum has been charged or publicly accused of any involvement in fixing fights.

Last month agents of the FBI raided Arum’s Top Rank Inc. offices here, seizing employee computers and records. The raid culminated a 20-month undercover inquiry by the Justice Department’s organized crime task force called Operation Match Book.

The Jan. 6 raid on Top Rank was not related to the sports bribery case, but authorities acknowledged that the continuing probe involves similar suspected practices.

The strike force is focusing on fixed fights and faked weights, names, medical records and Social Security numbers for American fighters, as well as for undocumented immigrants smuggled into the United States to box, according to a Las Vegas lawyer who requested anonymity.

The attorney says he represents a boxing figure who is “one target [among] a lot of targets.”

The sports bribery case set for trial in May in U.S. District Court here is more narrowly focused. It charges Thomas Williams, 33, a boxer from Washington, D.C., and Robert Mitchell, 41, a South Carolina manager and matchmaker, with felonies for conspiring to lose a fight in August 2000 at the Paris Las Vegas hotel-casino in Las Vegas. Both pleaded not guilty.

For the boxing profession, some of the most incriminating detail is contained in an affidavit by FBI Agent Scott A. Gillespie. It quotes six boxers and the manager of a seventh as saying they agreed to throw fights with heavyweight Richard Melito Jr., 33, of New York. Gillespie said one boxer told him he threw a Melito bout for as little as $1,500, while another said he did it for $10,000.

The case, also brought by the organized crime strike force, is built around Williams’ loss to Melito during a preliminary bout for the John Ruiz-Evander Holyfield heavyweight title fight three years ago. The fight was promoted by King.

Melito won by a knockout in the first round.

Neither Melito, known as “The Bull,” with a 27-1 win-loss record, nor Richard Melito Sr., his father and manager, has been charged in the case. Melito Jr. told Newsday in November 2001: “As far as I am aware, every fight I had was real.” His father told the New York Post: “If there was a fix, we weren’t in on it.”

Melito Sr. added: “There’s no way I’m going to have my son in a fixed fight.”

None of the other boxers or the manager accused in the FBI affidavit of agreeing to throw bouts with Melito has been charged in the case. When asked to explain, Assistant U.S. Atty. Eric Johnson said: “I can’t comment about a pending case.”

The fighters are identified in the affidavit as Bobby Joe Arthurs, Samson Cohen, Eddie Curry, Benito Fernandez and Gerald “Jay” Snyder, all from South Carolina, and John Carlo from New York. A seventh fighter is unnamed in the affidavit, which describes him as a confidential FBI informant. The manager is identified as Billy Mitchum.

“Between 1995 and August 12, 2000, Melito Jr.’s representatives devised a plan to find and bribe as many boxers as possible to enhance Melito Jr.’s boxing record ... to develop a win/loss record that would demand high-purse matches,” prosecution documents say.

“Mitchell frequently acted as the matchmaker and payoff man of this conspiracy” and arranged for “Williams to join the conspiracy and agree to intentionally lose” to Melito “in exchange for money and other considerations,” charges the indictment and other documents in the case.

Mitchell’s attorney, Thomas Naylor, declined to talk about specifics of the case. “He’s pleaded not guilty,” Naylor said.

Kevin Tate, one of two federal public defenders representing Williams, said: “His position is he’s never thrown a fight. He always gives 100% in every fight.”

Criminal charges coming out of the bribery case involve only one fight, but a federal law enforcement source, who asked to remain anonymous, said the case has broader implications detailing the inner workings of the business.

“There’s more to it than building a record,” the source said. “They also try to build up a personality. Then, if they can get into pay-per-view, they can start making some money. And if they can get a shot at a [Mike] Tyson or some other big name, the [legitimate] payoff can run into the millions.”

Williams also is accused in strike force documents of deliberately losing a March 2000 fight in Denmark against Brian Nielsen, then 55-1, known as the “Danish Pastry” because of his long string of victories over easy opponents. Nielsen was credited with knocking out Williams in the third round. Mittleman “bribed defendant Williams to lose the fight to Nielsen,” prosecution documents say.

“Williams admitted [to his former manager] and to others that he had intentionally lost the fight in return for $10,000 and a Lincoln Navigator,” the documents say, adding that Williams declared that “before he went to Denmark he didn’t have any money, but after taking a dive there, his pockets were fat with ladies’ jewelry, hats, clothes and perfume.”

After the fight in Denmark, Williams “apparently became a ‘labeled man,’ ” according to the documents, or “someone that opponents can pay to lose a fight,” and was “sought after for future bouts.”

Neither Mittleman nor Nielsen was charged in the District Court case, and none of the charges against Williams was related to the Nielsen fight.

Tate and Michael Kennedy, the second federal public defender representing Williams, argued successfully to keep the Nielsen fight from being mentioned to District Court jurors as evidence of a pattern of conduct. They said in a brief that Williams’ life was threatened in Denmark and he was told he “would not leave the country if he won.”

“Obviously, if there’s coercion,” Tate said, “there can’t be a thrown fight.”

Nielsen could not be reached for comment.

Mittleman has represented several world champions, including heavyweight Hasim Rahman, middleweight Raul Marquez and junior lightweight Carlos Hernandez. Mittleman also was the first professional manager for Oscar De La Hoya when he turned pro after winning an Olympic gold medal in 1992.

A woman answering a phone listed to Mittleman in Sunny Isles, Fla., hung up on a reporter seeking his response.

In his District Court affidavit, FBI agent Gillespie also accuses Mitchell, the South Carolina matchmaker, of trying to groom heavyweight Don “Man of Steel” Steele, 34, of Mobile, Ala., with 45 wins and five losses, “for a ‘big money’ fight ... by building up Steele’s win-loss record with ‘fixed’ fights.”

“Don Steele was Mitchell’s most prized fighter,” the affidavit says.

It cites an unnamed boxer “who advised that he fought Steele approximately five times either using his own name or a false name

The boxer, identified by the FBI as a confidential informant, added, according to the affidavit, “that he had several friends that were not amateur or professional boxers that fought Steele under false names ... [and] that his friends lost these fights on purpose per instructions from Mitchell.”

Steele was not charged. He could not be reached for comment.

Naylor, representing Mitchell, said: “We’re exploring the background of the individuals and the fights involved.”

In addition to the boxers and matchmakers named in the U.S. District Court case, others who have admitted to or have been accused of fixing fights include:

* Sean Gibbons, a matchmaker recently fired by Arum. In reports published in 1997 by the Oklahoma Department of Labor, which investigated boxing in that state, and by the Miami Herald in 1999, Gibbons has been accused of fixing fights dating back to the early 1990s.

The Oklahoma report named 17 fighters and five associates, including Gibbons, who admitted to or had been accused of fixing fights, faking knockouts and boxing under phony names and credentials.

The report said “young fighters are shamelessly exploited ... cheated out of their earnings ... forced to fight in mismatched bouts

Gibbons, who has been associated with Arum’s Top Rank organization in Las Vegas since 1997, repeatedly has called the allegations “a complete lie.” Arum fired him following the FBI raid.

An Arum spokesman said Gibbons was fired for “transgressions beyond boxing.” He did not specify what they were.

* Half-brothers Andre Smiley and James Calvin Baker. They are among seven heavyweights reported by the Miami Herald as either admitting to or being accused of throwing fights.

The Herald said Smiley and Baker admitted that they faked knockouts in 18 of their combined 36 fights.

In one bout, Baker went down 18 seconds into the first round against Eric “Butterbean” Esch, a 320-pound former wrestler with a cult following in boxing. Esch told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that the knockout, although one of his quickest, was clean. “My fights are not fixed,” he said. “If I knew the guy wouldn’t put up a fight, you think I would be training four hours a day like I do?”

* Two unnamed Top Rank officials. The New York Daily News reported last month that heavyweight Mitchell Rose, 34, said “two white guys from [Arum’s] Top Rank” knocked on his door in 1995 and offered him $5,000 “to take a dive” against Esch in a fight that Dec. 15 at Madison Square Garden.

Rose, who was 1-6, said: “Even if I wanted to throw the fight, I didn’t trust those guys. I wasn’t opening the door.”

Forty-eight seconds into the second round, Rose knocked out Esch, giving him his first defeat after 14 career victories.Rose told the Daily News it also ended his own boxing career. From then on, he said, he was blackballed. He retired 2-8-1. “If you don’t play by the rules, the dirty rules,” he said, “you are all done.”

Esch told the newspaper: “Why would you pay a guy with a 1-6 record to take a dive? I didn’t see anything at Top Rank criminal.”

Agent Gillespie’s affidavit was prepared in October 2000 to seek court approval for an FBI search in Columbia, S.C., at the home of Mitchell, whom Gillespie described as a matchmaker in a number of Melito’s fights.

Other court documents also cite this taped phone conversation between Mitchell and a boxer arranging a fight against Melito:

Mitchell: To do a straight-up fight they’ll pay us $6,000 total.

Boxer: Oh.

Mitchell: They’ll give us the fifteen if we do what ... they want.

Boxer: Okay. I mean what are they gonna want, though?

Mitchell: You just let them win.

Boxer: How many rounds?

Mitchell: Four, five, six.

Boxer: Right.

Mitchell: I mean, they want it to look good.

Boxer: Right.

Mitchell: Fight back some, you know.

This boxer told the FBI he agreed to the deal at first, according to the affidavit, then changed his mind.

The FBI affidavit provides uncommon detail behind alleged arrangements to fix fights. The following accounts are from that court document:

For a fight on March 7, 1997, heavyweight John Carlo, then 35 and 11-0, said Mitchell had promised to pay him $8,000 if he would lose on purpose “by faking a shoulder injury.”

Carlo told the FBI he was prepared to fake the injury, but that “towards the end of the second round, he was hit with a punch that knocked him out.” Carlo “received a check or money order in the mail from Mitchell for approximately $8,000.”

Melito’s next fight was on April 22, 1997, in Columbia against then-40-year-old Eddie Curry, 12-24-2. Curry told the FBI he agreed to lose for $1,500. Curry recalled that Mitchell came to his dressing room just before the fight and reminded him of the deal, saying, “Don’t play me or you won’t get paid.”

However, Curry “was hitting Melito pretty good,” prompting Mitchell to go to Curry’s corner between rounds and say to his trainer, “Tell Eddie -- don’t be no fool.”

In the next round, Curry went down -- and stayed down. Melito was awarded a third-round technical knockout.

After the fight, the affidavit says, Curry was paid “approximately $1,500” by Mitchell, who told him, “You scared the hell out of Melito’s people.”

Bobby Joe Arthurs, of Lancaster, S.C., then 36 and 16-4-3, told the FBI that he agreed to go down in the fourth round of a fight with Melito on Dec. 11, 1997, in Port Chester, N.Y. The original price: $15,000 to $20,000.

Melito won by a technical knockout in two rounds.

After the fight, Arthurs said, he went to a hospital for X-rays and Mitchell showed him “a paper bag filled with cash.” Later, in Arthurs’ hotel room, Mitchell reportedly counted out $10,000 for Arthurs, kept $5,000 as a management fee and promised Arthurs another $5,000 that he never received.

In March 2000, Benito Fernandez, then 33 and 17-8, faced Melito in Yonkers, N.Y. Billy Mitchum, Fernandez’s manager, told the FBI that Mitchell offered Fernandez $5,000 to lose, but the fighter “called Mitchell himself and negotiated the price up to $7,000.”

Melito hit Fernandez “with a good punch” and knocked him out in the first round. Fernandez reportedly got $7,000, less a 30% management fee to Mitchum.

Mitchum also managed Gerald “Jay” Snyder and Samson Cohen. Mitchum said he helped Snyder, then 37 and 18-4, and Cohen, then 39 and 15-10-1, fix a pair of fights in 1998 with Melito in South Carolina, according to the affidavit.

Mitchum told the FBI that Mitchell paid Snyder $7,500 after he went down in the first round of his bout.

In Cohen’s fight, however, the fix apparently was still up in the air when the bell rang for the first round. Mitchell offered Cohen $5,000 “to lose the fight on purpose ... [and] the fight could not go more than three rounds.”

At first Cohen wanted more money and Mitchell “agreed to pay somewhere more than $5,000 and less than $7,500.” Then, in the fight, Cohen failed to go down. As the fourth round ended, not only was Cohen “fighting well against Melito ... he was beating Melito badly.”

Cohen later told the FBI that Mitchell warned his manager between rounds that Cohen would not get paid if he won.

Cohen told the FBI that “he wanted the money,” so his manager informed the referee that Cohen was too tired to continue.

Melito was awarded a fifth-round TKO.

Later, Mitchell confronted Mitchum, saying “Melito’s people were mad that Cohen made Melito look bad, and they didn’t want to pay.” Later, Mitchell reportedly went to Cohen’s dressing room and paid him $6,000, less 30% to his manager.

Attempts to locate or interview the fighters named in the affidavit were unsuccessful.

In one case, the affidavit says, a fighter changed his mind.

Mitchell offered Shelby Gross $8,000 to lose to Melito in 1999 and advanced Gross “an unknown amount of cash,” the affidavit says. At first, Gross agreed, it says, but had second thoughts.

Gross phoned Mitchell, saying he wanted a bigger payoff, the affidavit says -- but secretly recorded the call and gave the tape to the FBI.

The fight never happened.

The affidavit does not say what became of the cash advance.

Times staff writers Greg Krikorian, Steve Springer and Henry Weinstein in Los Angeles and researcher Nona Yates contributed to this report.