KEN RODRIGUEZ
krodriguez@herald.com

DOWN FOR THE COUNT

Foreman pulling back to start swinging ... Foreman's fist arcs toward Fulilangi ... Glove approaches Fulilangi's face ... Foreman misses punch ... Fulilangi goes down Fight photos courtesy of USA Network

More than 30 prizefights have been fixed or tainted with fraud over the past 12 years, according to men who have fought and lost to George Foreman, Frans Botha, Eric ''Butterbean'' Esch and other top-ranked fighters.

Tony Fulilangi, once a world-ranked heavyweight, says he faked a second-round knockout by George Foreman on Oct. 27, 1988, in Marshall, Texas. ''I really hate to say this because it's not good for the sport, Fulilangi said. ''I took a dive.

Former heavyweight Andre Smiley says he made thousands of dollars faking 14 knockouts from 1990 to 1997. ''I made a lot of money throwing fights, he said.

Some fighters negotiated payments to throw matches. Others, unbribed, fell down merely to avoid injury and get a quick paycheck.

Widely suspected but rarely documented, fake fights threaten to remove the last shred of credibility that separates boxing from professional wrestling.

''The fix goes to the issue of integrity and trust in the game, said U.S. Rep. Mike Oxley, R-Ohio, who has sponsored a boxing reform bill aimed at protecting young fighters from unscrupulous promoters. ''Nothing could be more American than believing in a fair fight. And if that is not happening, the public has every right to lose faith in the sport.

Fall guys helped heavyweight Butterbean Esch boost his earnings from $600 a bout as a little-known club fighter to $60,000 as a star attraction. Two opponents and two boxing commissioners say at least four Butterbean matches were thrown or tainted with fraud.

Boxers told The Herald that many fraudulent matches were arranged by promoters or matchmakers intent on improving a fighter's record and ranking to earn big-money title fights.

The sport, some fighters say, is steeped in corruption far worse than alleged criminal misconduct now under FBI scrutiny.

GRAND JURY PROBE

A New Jersey grand jury is examining allegations that the International Boxing Federation extorted money from fighters and promoters in exchange for elite rankings. Rankings determine title fights and other lucrative matches.

In June, federal agents raided the Deerfield Beach headquarters of promoter Don King, seeking evidence that might link him with alleged kickbacks to the federation.

The FBI investigation, however, does not center on fighters paid to throw matches.

Club fighters or journeymen are often asked to take dives, according to Herald research. Sometimes, well-known fighters are approached.

Iran Barkley, a former world light heavyweight champion, has been asked to throw a match. ''They said, 'I'll give you $30,000 to do this, to do that,'  he said, declining to identify who approached him. ''They wanted to build up some kid and felt my name would look good on his record. . . . I would never do it.

BOXER 'SAT DOWN'

Fulilangi says nobody asked him to throw his fight to Foreman. No one had to. Then 28, Fulilangi says he took the match after telling a promoter that he had a bad back and a bum leg and was semi-retired. The promoter insisted and the money was good: $30,000.

A Foreman uppercut dropped Fulilangi in the second round. An overhand right floored him a second time. ''He never hit me the third time, Fulilangi said. ''He jabbed me and threw a swinging right hand. I went under it and sat down.

Videotape of the fight confirms Fulilangi's account: Foreman missing with a right hand, Fulilangi reeling into the ropes, then falling to the canvas. Announcer Al Albert: ''I don't think he even connected, but it is being counted as a knockdown.

Said Fulilangi, ''I went down just to get the money. I went to the airport with a smile on my face.

Foreman laughed when told of Fulilangi's account. ''That happened to me all the time,'' said Foreman, 50, who won the heavyweight title for the first time in 1973. ''If they're getting a whuppin', it's up to them to decide if they want to continue.''

NOT SO UNUSUAL

Fulilangi's fake knockout is not an isolated incident. The dive is common, boxers told The Herald. According to sworn statements and interviews with more than 60 fighters, promoters, trainers, managers, matchmakers and commissioners:

Two former heavyweights, Andre Smiley and Mike Smith, threw fights at the behest of Sean Gibbons, a matchmaker with Top Rank Inc. Smiley told The Herald that Gibbons offered him bonuses during fights to fall down. Smith told the Oklahoma Department of Labor that Gibbons routinely asked him to throw fights. ''A complete lie, Gibbons said.

Two other men helped fix matches for the late promoter Rick Parker. Former heavyweight Tim Murphy said he conspired with Parker to throw a 1991 fight with former pro football star Mark Gastineau. Boxer-turned-matchmaker Sonny Barch said that under instructions from Parker, he bought 10 or 11 victories for Florida heavyweight Mitch Sammons in the late 1980s and early '90s. Sammons did not respond to certified letters seeking comment.

Little-known heavyweight James Calvin Baker threw four matches, including one on national cable television against Butterbean. Baker said he also threw a fight against Barkley. Butterbean and Barkley said they have no knowledge of opponents throwing fights.

Two other Butterbean opponents have been suspended by state commissions for taking dives -- Richard Davis and Bill Duncan. Davis, according to the Illinois boxing administrator, faked an injury to the testicles during a loss to Tony Velasco last year. Duncan, according to the former Oklahoma boxing administrator, ''tanked'' -- or deliberately lost -- a bout against Butterbean in 1997.

Obscure heavyweight Darryl Becker once fought Butterbean under an alias. Videotape shows Becker -- introduced by the ring announcer as Jack Ramsey -- falling to the canvas after a glancing blow to the shoulder. Missouri boxing commissioner Tim Luekenhoff, who identified Becker in the videotape, calls the knockout ''a dive.'' Becker denies taking a dive and fighting under an alias.

HISTORY ALTERED

The comeback that turned George Foreman into an American icon was built on a series of questionable fights. Before winning the heavyweight title again in 1994, Foreman knocked out at least five men who entered the ring with bogus records. One of them, Mike Jameson, was billed as having won 17 fights and lost 15 when he was 13-16 and hadn't fought in nearly three years.

Foreman also knocked out one opponent who fought under multiple names. Journeyman Frank Lux suffered a third-round knockout by Foreman in 1988 while using the alias Frank Williams. Promoters listed Williams as 33-13-3 when he met Foreman in Anchorage, Alaska. According to Fight Fax Inc., official keeper of boxing records, Lux, who also fought as Frank Albert, was 14-28.

Lux, who denies ever taking a dive, says he learned about fake identities and how to escape injury in the ring from manager Bruce ''The Mouse'' Strauss, notorious in the 1980s for taking dives after two or three rounds and fighting under phony names.

Lux says promoters often fabricate records of fighters and splash them on a poster. He doesn't know who gave him the 33-13-3 record for his fight with Foreman. ''I didn't argue with them, he said.

ONLY THE SURFACE?

Interviews with boxers and matchmakers who refused to be identified suggest that The Herald's investigation identified only a fraction of the fraud. Over the past 13 years, there may have been hundreds of fights thrown.

''People say it doesn't go on but it does, says one former world champion who requested anonymity. ''I've been there when they fixed fights. I'm talking about people paying people to take dives. I've seen the rehearsals. I have first-hand knowledge of that. It still happens. A lot.

Herald research editor Elisabeth Donovan and staff writer Manny Garcia contributed to this report.