In sports venues around the world, it is not only the stories of heroes and winners that are being written. But history also remembers the rogues who were so blinded by the vision of glory and success that they spat on the rules of fair play.
Fraud and cheats are as intrinsic to sport as a white foam cap is to a good beer. They were always here, they are still here, and they will certainly not disappear in the future. While there is not much we can write about future cheaters, there is plenty we can write about those who have cheated in the past. The following chapters feature ten athletes who are more famous for their scams than their performances.
Fighting is a brutal sport, but it might well be even more brutal if one thinks about it. Remove the padding from the gloves, and the blows to the opponent’s skull are like hammer blows. This is how Panama Lewis, by then a respected trainer, helped his charge Luis Resto in his 1983 fight with Billy Collins.
Collins ended up the loser in the tenth round of the duel with a completely mashed face and a damaged cornea. He could never see well in the eye again, and his boxing career was over after that encounter. Lewis lost his trainer’s license in time, and nine months after the fight, Collins died at the age of 22 in a car crash when his car drove off a cliff. Family members to this day say it was a suicide.