FBI Accused Mafia of Fixing Muhammad Ali Fight: Liston Bet Against Himself
Newly released documents have uncovered an investigation by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) into a supposedly fixed fight between legendary boxer Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston.
The investigation accuses the Mafia of having fixed the historic 1964 fight.
Ali at the time was an underdog and not well known when Liston threw in the towel leading to the Ali victory.
The FBI report, released for the first time this week, suggests that Liston was paid $1 million by betting against himself in the fight.
The Vegas mobsters allegedly teamed up with Liston prior to the fight to devise the scheme. A subsequent newspapers article claiming the Mob had lost money on Liston was actually a “cover up”.
Here's the most substantive FBI evidence, from a report in 1966 obtained by the Washington Times.
"On one occasion, Resnick introduced Magids to Sonny Liston at the Thunderbird, [one of the Las Vegas hotels organized crime controlled]," the memo states. "About a week before the Liston and Clay fight in Miami, Resnick called and invited Magids and his wife for two weeks in Florida on Resnick. Magids‘ wife was not interested in going, but Magids decided to go along, and Resnick was going to send him a ticket.
"Two or three days before the fight, Magids called Resnick at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami to say he could not come," the memo states. "On this call, he asked Resnick who he liked in the fight, and Resnick said that Liston would knock Clay out in the second round. Resnick suggested he wait until just before the fight to place any bets because the odds may come down.
"At about noon on the day of the fight, [Magids] reached Resnick again by phone, and at this time, Resnick said for him to not make any bets, but just go watch the fight on pay TV and he would know why and that he could not talk further at that time.
"Magids did go see the fight on TV and immediately realized that Resnick knew that Liston was going to lose,” the document states. “A week later, there was an article in Sports Illustrated writing up Resnick as a big loser because of his backing of Liston. Later people 'in the know' in Las Vegas told Magids that Resnick and Liston both reportedly made over $1 million betting against Liston on the fight and that the magazine article was a cover for this."
It should be noted that nothing of became of the FBI investigation.
- Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com
