Quote Originally Posted by Fenster View Post

lol, I have no ulterior motive.

I would love for some definitive proof to back up this claim about robberies in Europe. Or at least some history to find out where this idea originated from.
I can remember Harry Carpenter and/or Reg Gutteridge saying something like "the old saying that you need a knockout to get a draw in Italy." It just fits in nicely with the general Italian stereotype of everything being corrupt (although that's an accurate stereotype ). I'm not sure how many fights from Italy the BBC and ITV covered in the post-war years but I don't think it was too many, maybe that "old saying" comes from boxers and cornermen who fought out there, lost close decisions and maybe thought they'd done better than they had done and they're not exactly unbiased observers. There probably were one or two outright robberies in Italy over the years but I'm sure close decisions in Italy and Germany go roughly the same way they do in Britain and America, and that all countries are pretty similar in this regard.