Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2004 | 9:18 a.m.
A Maryland boxer and a South Carolina boxing promoter were found guilty Monday of throwing an August 2000 heavyweight fight in Las Vegas.
Thomas "Top Dawg" Williams and promoter Robert "Bobby" Mitchell both face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine in connection with a fixed fight on Aug. 12, 2000, at Paris Las Vegas where Williams was knocked out by Richard Melito Jr.
U.S. District Judge James Mahan is to sentence Williams and Mitchell on Feb. 7 for conspiracy and sports bribery. Neither defendant had any comment as they left the courtroom Monday evening.
After three weeks of testimony the jury deliberated for about 2 1/2 hours before returning with the unanimous guilty verdicts. The jury found that Mitchell, 42, spent more than $70,000 to bribe fighters to take dives against Melito, and found that Williams, 35, had accepted more than $5,000 to lose in his bout against Melito.
Federal Deputy Public Defender Kevin Tate characterized Williams as the victim of unscrupulous boxing managers and promoters. Tate told the jury in closing arguments that when Williams entered the ring against Melito in Las Vegas four years ago he came to fight, but the jury found differently.
Tate played excerpts of tape recorded conversations between Williams and promoter George Peterson in an effort to prove that his client was not thinking about throwing the fight.
"I'm going all the way," Williams says in the phone conversation with Peterson. "I'm taking this white boy out of here.
"I want his head. I want his head. Yeah. I want his head."
Tate said that an offer had been made to Williams to throw the fight, but Williams refused. The fight ended with Melito knocking Williams out, Tate said.
"The only difference between Thomas Williams and the other broke-down boxers that were brought in here to testify is that Thomas Williams refused to lie and say he threw a fight," Tate said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen Bliss told jurors about the plans of Melito to be heavyweight champion, and how a line of allegedly fixed fights and crooked promoters were going to be his road to the top.
Bliss went through more than a dozen fights and explained how Mitchell lined up opponents, including Williams, to take dives for Melito.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Johnson asked jurors to review the wiretapped phone conversations between Mitchell, Williams and others, and to rely on the testimony of seven boxers and three promoters who all talked about their run-ins with Mitchell.
"The stories are consistent from all of these witnesses," Johnson said. "The call was made, money was offered and the condition (to take a dive) was set."
Bliss told jurors that Melito Jr.'s father saw the potential in his son and wanted to see him make it to the top. She said that Melito Sr. wanted insurance that his son would win and paid fighters to take a dive.
Mitchell found the heavyweights and brought them into the fixed fight scheme, paying then between $1,500 and $15,000 to throw the fights.
Tate pointed out that experts such as boxing referee Richard Steele and Marc Ratner, Executive Director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, testified that they thought Williams' bout with Melito was a fair fight when they saw it.
Thomas Naylor, Mitchell's attorney, said that government witnesses, such as convicted fight-fixer Richard Mittleman, lacked credibility.
Mittleman is cooperating with federal prosecutors in the case, and has pleaded guilty to helping to fix the Melito fight, as well as a Williams fight in Denmark in March 2000 against Brian Nielson. In addition, Mittleman admitted to attempting to bribe an assistant U.S. attorney and a federal judge to try to get the indictment against Williams dropped.
Naylor added that a boxer named John Carlo started spreading rumors about Melito's fights being fixed after he lost to Melito and was not granted a rematch.
Bliss asked the jury to remember the testimony of boxing trainer Don Turner who said he talked with Williams after his loss to Melito in Las Vegas on the undercard that featured Evander Holyfield vs. John Ruiz in the main event.
According to Turner's testimony Williams said, "They gave me money not to win and I just laid down."
Mahan ordered both Mitchell and Williams to check any boxing activities they are planning between now and sentencing with U.S. Pretrial Services. He also restricted their nontrial-related travel to the county in which they live. Neither is allowed to possess guns or a passport, Mahan said.
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