Fight fixer goes to prison

Jace Radke

Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2005 | 9:21 a.m.

South Carolina boxing promoter Robert Mitchell was sentenced to more than three years in prison and fined $6,000 Tuesday for his role in organizing a fixed fight at Paris Las Vegas in 2000.

Mitchell, 42, who was convicted of conspiracy to commit sports bribery and sports bribery, plans to appeal his sentence of 37 months in prison, according to his attorney Thomas Naylor.

Mitchell was found guilty by a jury last year. Prosecutors said he spent more than $70,000 to bribe fighters to take dives against Richard Melito Jr.

One of these fights was an August 2000 bout in Las Vegas between Melito Jr. and Thomas Williams. Williams, a 35-year-old Maryland resident, was sentenced to 15 months in prison last week for taking more than $5,000 from Mitchell to lose to Melito Jr.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Johnson said that Mitchell is an example of what is wrong with boxing as he argued for 15 additional months to be added to Mitchell's sentence during Tuesday's hearing before U.S. District Court Judge James Mahan.

Mitchell has "undermined the integrity of a sport that has national and international influence," Johnson said. "He has done nothing but try to manipulate boxing to his own ends."

Johnson argued that 15 months should be added to Mitchell's sentence because Mitchell perjured himself when he took the stand during the trial and said he did not fix fights.

Mahan said that while Johnson's argument had merit, he would not add the 15 months because he felt it would place an undue burden on Mitchell's Fifth Amendment rights.

Naylor asked that Mitchell be confined to house arrest or serve a maximum of 20 months in prison, saying that his punishment should align with the sentences given to others involved in the fight fixing who struck deals with the government.

Boxing promoter Robert Mittleman, 61, of Oak Park, Ill., was one of the government witnesses Naylor pointed out.

Mittleman, who managed Oscar De La Hoya in 1992, pleaded guilty to helping to fix the Las Vegas fight as well as a March 2000 fight in Denmark between Williams and 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.

After testifying against Mitchell and Williams, Mittleman was sentenced to six months of home detention and three years of probation.

The government has alleged that a total of 11 fights over five years were fixed so that Melito Jr. would win. Mitchell and Williams were found guilty only of charges stemming from the Las Vegas match.