Will Team Taylor’s Paranoia Pay Off?
................This is a blurb from an otherwise forgettable fluff piece in an Arkansas newspaper by writer Harry King, but this does touch on an on-going theme in German fight history.
There is a long line of gossip and innuendo regarding some pretty shady goings-on when it comes to American boxers fighting in Germany.
Strange things often seem to happen to foreign fighters there. The stories usually involve sharp, aggressive challengers arriving in the country, looking like killers in the pre-fight publicity and then showing up to the fight with glassy eyes and a lethargic workrate. After the inevitable loss, they wonder the ring like zombies with absolutely no idea why they simply could not throw punches.
The stories of German foul play go back to the first Joe Louis-Max Schmelling fight at Yankee Stadium in 1936 (Schmelling’s people were accused of drugging Louis’ water before the fight) up to current walking dead performances by Sam Peter vs. Vitali Klitschko and Eddie Chambers vs. Alexander Povetkin..................
A famous case is when Sam Simon, The Simpson’s producer and former manager of Lamon Brewster, kept the reigning WBO Heavyweight Champion out of Germany for as long as possible before his defense in Hamburg with German contender Luan Krasniqi. Simon would go on to sequester his fighter under tight security for whatever time spent in his opponent’s home country. No food or water was accepted, no casual walks in the park permitted, no air conditioning was turned on; Everything necessary was brought in by Team Brewster from the UK..............
http://insidefights.com/2009/10/14/will-team-taylors-paranoia-pay-off/
