Tex Cobb vs Sonny Barch, 1992 ( a comical outcome )

[mr. magoo]

In 1992, Randall Tex Cobb was fighting actively and trying to keep his career alive. One of the men he fought was a journeyman named Sonny Barch who had a respectable record of 19-3-0-18, and had never been previously ko'd. Cobb apparently scored a TKO win that was later changed to a no contest due to BOTH fighters testing positive for cocaine.

Quality at its finest....

[fg2227]

Cobb should write a book, imagine how funny that would be,

[mr. magoo]

Cobb should write a book, imagine how funny that would be,

Hopfully his editor won't be snortin' blow up his nose....

[The Kurgan]

That's not even the funniest thing about this particular fight; in fact, it's only the third most funny thing. Your countdown starts now-

2. Not only were they busted for cocaine, but the going opinion is that they were snorting it together before the fight!

1. You wouldn't expect Cobb to retire as a very rich man, but he did and it was due to this fight. Some newspaper accused him of having the fight fixed; Cobb sued the newspaper and won the case, getting $3 million (if my memory serves me correct). The boxing gods certainly are strange with their favours.

A Cobb biography would be interesting, in that it might shed light on the ultimate unanswered question of his career: just how many mullets were there in the cast and crew of Road House?

[mr. magoo]

That's not even the funniest thing about this particular fight; in fact, it's only the third most funny thing. Your countdown starts now-

2. Not only were they busted for cocaine, but the going opinion is that they were snorting it together before the fight!

1. You wouldn't expect Cobb to retire as a very rich man, but he did and it was due to this fight. Some newspaper accused him of having the fight fixed; Cobb sued the newspaper and won the case, getting $3 million (if my memory serves me correct). The boxing gods certainly are strange with their favours.

A Cobb biography would be interesting, in that it might shed light on the ultimate unanswered question of his career: just how many mullets were there in the cast and crew of Road House?

That is hilarious. Two fighters snorting together before gloving up, LOL. Hey let's give them credit. They obviously wanted to give the fans a great show..

[AnthonyJ74]

That's not even the funniest thing about this particular fight; in fact, it's only the third most funny thing. Your countdown starts now-

2. Not only were they busted for cocaine, but the going opinion is that they were snorting it together before the fight!

1. You wouldn't expect Cobb to retire as a very rich man, but he did and it was due to this fight. Some newspaper accused him of having the fight fixed; Cobb sued the newspaper and won the case, getting $3 million (if my memory serves me correct). The boxing gods certainly are strange with their favours.

A Cobb biography would be interesting, in that it might shed light on the ultimate unanswered question of his career: just how many mullets were there in the cast and crew of Road House?

I think it was Sports Illustrated that accused Cobb of fixing the fight.

[djm]

That's not even the funniest thing about this particular fight; in fact, it's only the third most funny thing. Your countdown starts now-

2. Not only were they busted for cocaine, but the going opinion is that they were snorting it together before the fight!

1. You wouldn't expect Cobb to retire as a very rich man, but he did and it was due to this fight. Some newspaper accused him of having the fight fixed; Cobb sued the newspaper and won the case, getting $3 million (if my memory serves me correct). The boxing gods certainly are strange with their favours.

A Cobb biography would be interesting, in that it might shed light on the ultimate unanswered question of his career: just how many mullets were there in the cast and crew of Road House?

This is an old thread/post, but any news pertaining to Cobb, I feel, is worth distributing. It was Sports Illustrated that was sued, but Cobb's award was overturned on appeal (let's hope he hadn't been too wreckless with the money!!).

From "The News Media and the Law" website, Spring 2002( [Only registered and activated users can see links] ):


Sports Illustrated wins appeal over boxing story verdict
A federal appeals court overturned a $10.7 million libel verdict against Sports Illustrated on Jan. 30.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati (6th Cir.) ruled that the magazine and its reporters did not act with actual malice when they published that former professional boxer and character actor Randall "Tex" Cobb was involved with fixing a match and that he used cocaine after the match.
"The jury's verdict cannot stand without significantly infringing on the 'breathing space' that the (Supreme) Court has carved out for the freedom of speech," the three-judge appellate panel wrote.

Sports Illustrated published an article titled "The Fix Was In" on Oct. 4, 1993. The article reported that Cobb knowingly participated with another boxer, Paul "Sonny" Barch, in fixing a boxing match in Florida in 1992. The article also said Cobb used cocaine with Barch after their fight. Cobb sued the magazine for libel in Tennessee.

Cobb had to prove that the magazine knew that the statements in the story were false, or that the magazine acted with reckless disregard for the truth.

Sports Illustrated based its story in part on interviews with Barch, whose truthfulness the magazine had reason to doubt, the court said. But the magazine's reporters corroborated Barch's story with at least one independent source who was a boxing expert, who witnessed the Cobb-Barch fight, and who reviewed a videotape of the match, the court found.
Sports Illustrated reporters with significant experience covering boxing also watched the videotape and concluded that Cobb was in on the fix, which gave the magazine further reason to believe Barch, the court wrote.
The magazine paid Barch for his first-person account but that did not amount to actual malice, the court said. (Cobb v. Time, Inc.)

[bigG]

first fight conducted in a blizzard..???....gotta be a great book in cobb..what a character..

[Russell]

I've actually seen this fight. Solid one round slugfest. Butch was a huge guy and if nothing else could bang. Big guy.

[djm]

While I was looking up the results of the suit I found an interview in which Cobb claimed that the article killed his acting career as SI is owned by Time/Warner. Tex didn't let it get him down and earlier this year earned a degree from Temple University. At the graduation, in an arena packed with people, he commented "It was nice to have that opportunity to wear a robe, to step up there and not have to worry about bleeding".

[Only registered and activated users can see links]