Tony Capazzo Jr plain and simple loved betting on sports. His love for sports mixed with his background in business and his unbelievably high talent with numbers allowed him to spot certain edges in sports odds. In this short time he was already placing bets and earning money with his picks. With that being said Tony found himself in a very opportunistic position. With him betting on sports and his ties to the Cosa Nostra certain bets were more of a "sure thing" rather then a gamble. In a few weeks there was going to be a big boxing match for the world title and Tony knew he had the winning pick. It was time to get everything in order.

Tony and his associate, Paulie, pulled up to a gymnasium in Boston. Tony didn't have much time as he had to get back home for his meeting with a construction worker regarding a upcoming project. He looked to Paulie.

"So this is the place? Did you arrange everything?"

Paulie nodded and opened the door for Tony as they entered the boxing gym.

"I spoke to the owner of the place and he said we could use his office to talk, Sharkey should be here already."

Tony nodded.

"Good work Paulie, I don't want to speak to him at his house or anything. I like this, this is more right at home for me and a common neutral place."

Paulie directed Tony towards the back office. Tony stepped into the office and took a seat behind the wooden desk. A few moments later Paulie came in with Jack Sharkey, the United States heavyweight champion. Tony stood up and greeted him while Paulie left the two men alone to talk some business.

"Jack baby, nice to see you. Thanks for taking some time to see."

Sharkey a bit confused wondered why he was here and what this was all about.

"Sure no problem, what's your name?"

Tony laughed.

"Ha, names aren't important. But you know what's important...money...and lots of it, wouldn't you agree?"

Sharkey nodded.

"You see Jack I am a business man. I saw your fight against Tommy Loughran and I saw you knock that piece of shit out. Awesome job, really awesome."

Tony actually applauded Sharkey as he the boxer looked on still confused.

"Right, so back to what I was saying. You have a fight coming up soon again Max Schmeling..in June correct?"

Sharkey once again nodded.

"According to what I've seen you should easily win this match, as a matter of fact you are a 2-1 favorite to win this fight. Did you know that Jack?

Sharkey shrugged a bit.

"I try not to get too caught up in all that, I train, fight, train, fight and that's it. I don't really have time to follow all the worldly things like gambling odds."

Tony smiled and chuckled again, this time lighting up a cigar in the process.

"I hear you Jack. But let me ask you this, from one business man to another. With the odds being 2-1 there is a lot of money to be made if you were to say....lose this fight. Double money is big money Jack."

For the first time Sharkey showed some emotion and smiled a bit.

"You don't really think Schmeling is going to beat me do you?"

Tony smiled.

"Nope..better. I KNOW he is going to beat you."

Sharkey went to say something and Tony quickly stopped him.

"ANDDD because I know he is going to beat you, I know to bet on him and cash on those 2-1 odds. You follow me Jack?"

Sharkey paused for a moment in disbelief.

"You're not asking me to do what I think you are...are you?"

With his charming smile, just like his father, Tony replied.

"No Jackie baby..I AM TELLING YOU....Look, boxing is a business, you are a business man right? Well as I said earlier so am I. We can make a lot of money. What are you going to do, go in there, get your brains punched in for 30-40 minutes. Come on think. THROW this match and collect a gigantic pay day...a pay day you will never ever ever see in your boxing lifetime."

Sharkey thought about it, what Tony was saying had many truths to it. Curiosity began to take over and Sharkey started becoming more and more interested in this offer.

"How much money are we talking here?"

Tony smiled as he exhaled some smoke from his cigar.

"Enough so that you never ever have to worry about money for the rest of your life, enough so that your family never has to worry about money ever in their lives and enough to be stop boxing."

Sharkey quickly shot up standing.

"Wait a minute, who said anything about stopping boxing. I LOVE boxing, it's been my life for years now, it's been my livelihood and got me out of some really tough times. I am who I am because of boxing."

Tony laughed.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa...down boy. You don't have to retire if you don't want to. If you enjoy being a human punching bag, by all means do your thing. I can tell you one thing you'll be the richest punching bag out there!"

Tony paused and noticed the hesitance from Sharkey.

"Here's what I will do for you Jack. I know the title means a lot to you. It's vacant and you want to go for it and all that bullshit. I'll setup another fight for you two, a rematch if you will and I will guarantee you win the title in that fight."

Sharkey once again looked on confused.

"You guarantee a rematch and guarantee me winning? Who are you, what do you know that I don't"

"Listen Sharkey, I know a lot of people in high places. I am a man who knows how to get things done. We've talked enough. Are you prepared to do this? Stop living this normal mediocrity you call a life and smarten up. This is your opportunity, the door is knocking. Are you going to answer? Feel something other then lint when you reach into your pockets Jack, come on. Are you ready to be a REAL winner minus the hundreds of punches to the face?"

Tony extended his left hand while puffing his cigar in his right hand. Jack Sharkey looked at his hand and thought about it, he thought and thought and thought. He didn't know what to do.

As history has it...a few weeks later on June 12, 1930 Max Schmeling defeated Jack Sharkey in the fourth round after Sharkey uncharacteristically threw a low blow punch disqualifying him from the match. Two years later Sharkey would get his rematch against Schmeling and in another controversial bout Jack Sharkey would win the title by decision and some very suspicious scoring by the judges...

HEH..WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED?....TONY CAPAZZO JUNIOR, THAT'S WHO.