History Main / ThrowingTheFight

* A specific and totally legal form of this used to exist in UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}} called "Start and Park", which is exactly what it sounds like, you start the race and run a few laps (never more than a tank of gas worth) then claim you have a vibration or something and take the car to the garage and [[{{Jobber}} collect your meager prize money]]. If you were able to run on a [[NoBudget shoestring budget]] this could actually be profitable, smaller teams first starting out would often do this to try and build capital and collect valuable data with the laps they did run, and even some larger teams would occasionally throw out S&P entries, either for live race testing or just to have more cars in the field for points manipulation. NASCAR at first encouraged this without saying so out loud to try and make sure they always had a full field of cars, but complaints from both fans and teams that didn't engage in the practice (both of whom were tired of cars not even trying to be competitive getting in the way and possibly wrecking cars that ''are'' trying to win) led NASCAR to start cracking down, first by reducing the maximum amount of cars in a race from 43 to 40 in the Cup Series. Other unrelated rule changes have meant it's all but impossible to turn a profit doing this, and the Start and Park had basically become a DeadHorseTrope by the 2020s.

** During the ColdOpen, Amity is roped into helping her parents to demonstrate their new "Abomi-ton". Part of the demonstration involves showing off the Abomi-ton's combat abilities, Amity not even putting up a fight at all so it can look more impressive. This lasts until the Abomi-ton nearly steps on Amity's [[PreciousPhoto treasured Grom Night photo]], driving Amity to rip the Abomi-ton apart in seconds.
** During the climax, Amity and Luz are facing off against the upgraded Abomi-ton 2.0 and are more or less at a stalemate with Amity slowly overtaking it. Amity takes the opportunity to force her mother into letting Luz, Willow, and Gus back into Hexside, threatening to win the fight and destroy the Abomi-ton in front of her mother's precious investors. Once Odalia agrees to the terms, they stop fighting and allow themselves to be "crushed" by the Abomi-ton's (hollow) hammer arm.

* ''Literature/BooksOfTheRaksura'': In "The Tale of Indigo and Cloud", [[spoiler:Indigo agrees to [[TrialByCombat duel]] the rival queen Argent for Argent's [[UnwantedSpouse neglected consort]] Cloud, but knows that it would become a pretext for war if either of them were hurt or killed. She goads Argent into accepting terms that free Cloud whether she wins or loses, then yields after the first exchange of blows, damaging her personal reputation but getting everything she wanted -- including the regard of the newly-single Cloud.]]

** With most such strategic use of losing, though, the verdict may depend on whether you believe the ends justify the means. The Pittsburgh Penguins in the early 2000s were in dire financial straits, as their previous years' success had come at a massive financial cost (their filing for bankruptcy and how to handle them was one of the biggest points that led to the 2004-05 Lockout). The Penguins were terrible during this time but were able to use the high draft picks their poor records year in and year out granted them on star players like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. This in turn eventually led to new success (and the income that goes with it), a Stanley Cup victory in 2009, and a brand new arena a couple of years later.

* Occasionally disgruntled wrestlers will go against the wishes of the booker and lose matches they were supposed to win. Back in 1985 David Sammartino (son of [[Wrestling/BrunoSammartino Bruno]]) was unhappy with how he was being used and decided "If they're going to treat me like a Main/{{Jobber}} I'll act like one", letting actual jobber Ron Shaw [[Main/SquashMatch beat him by submission in two minutes]] while not getting a shred of offense in. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kBectvqEYY See for yourself]], complete with a [[CrowdChant "Bullshit!" chant]] from the crowd and Wrestling/GorillaMonsoon on commentary trying to pretend like it didn't happen, and keep an eye out towards the end of the clip for Shaw spitting on Sammartino out of disgust for the lack of respect for Main/{{Kayfabe}}. David, to the shock of absolutely no one, was [[PersonaNonGrata blacklisted from the WWF]] the moment he got back to the locker room.

* Occasionally disgruntled wrestlers will go against the wishes of the booker and lose matches they were supposed to win. Back in 1985 David Sammartino (son of [[Wrestling/BrunoSammartino Bruno]]) was unhappy with how he was being used and decided "If they're going to treat me like a Main/{{Jobber}} I'll act like one", letting actual jobber Ron Shaw [[Main/SquashMatch beat him by submission in two minutes]] while not getting a shred of offense in. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kBectvqEYY See for yourself]], complete with a "Bullshit!" chant from the crowd and Wrestling/GorillaMonsoon on commentary trying to pretend like it didn't happen, and keep an eye out towards the end of the clip for Shaw spitting on Sammartino out of disgust for the lack of respect for Main/{{Kayfabe}}. David, to the shock of absolutely no one, was [[PersonaNonGrata blacklisted from the WWF]] the moment he got back to the locker room.

* ''Literature/BooksOfTheRaksura'': In "The Tale of Indigo and Cloud", [[spoiler:Indigo agrees to [[TrialByCombat duel]] the rival queen Argent for Argent's [[UnwantedSpouse neglected consort]] Cloud, but knows that it would become a pretext for war if either of them were hurt or killed. She goads Argent into accepting terms that free Argent whether she wins or loses, then yields after the first exchange of blows, damaging her personal reputation but getting everything she wanted -- including the regard of the newly-single Cloud.]]

* ''Literature/BooksOfTheRaksura'': In "The Tale of Indigo and Cloud", [[spoiler:Indigo agrees to [[TrialByCombat duel]] the rival queen Argent for Argent's unwilling consort Cloud, but knows that it would become a pretext for war if either of them were hurt or killed. She goads Argent into accepting terms that free Argent whether she wins or loses, then yields after the first exchange of blows, damaging her personal reputation but getting everything she wanted -- including the regard of the newly-single Cloud.]]

* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', Android 18 makes it to the final round of the World Martial Arts Tournament, clearly out-classing the [[MilesGloriosus "champion" Mr. Satan]]. Rather than beating him up and taking the title (which would draw unwanted attention and ruin his reputation if done in such a public venue), she decides to take a dive in exchange for ''[[EveryManHasHisPrice double]]'' this tournament's prize money and a cut of all future prize money he ever earns.

* A key point of the 1994 film ''Blue Chips'' is college basketball coach Pete Bell ignoring stories of how boosters have been bribing his players. One booster mocks Bell on being so naive and boasts he "bought" one of his players three years earlier. Bell doesn't believe it as the student, Tony, is one of his favorites. He gets out a videotape of the game, watching it with some fellow coaches. They also don't believe it, citing things like Tony being ill that week and such. But as they watch the game, they see Tony missing plays he should easily be making and constantly checking the scoreboard and realize he did indeed shave points to help gamblers beat the spread.
* In ''Carman the Champion'' the champ is supposed to take a dive, but he refuses and just fights Carman straight up.

* ''Series/TheBradyBunch'': In Season 5's "Try, Try Again," done by her siblings when Jan is allowed to win at TabletopGame/{{Monopoly}}, darts, ping pong, and basketball -- all to boost her confidence after a series of disappointments (e.g., being dismissed from dance class for continued poor performance).
* Done elegantly in ''Series/HogansHeroes''. Kinchloe has to throw the fight against Battlin' Bruno so the Germans can save face against the (true) accusation that a black American prisoner can outperform the Luftwaffe champion boxer. However, he also needs to make the fight last long enough for his comrade to sneak into Klink's office while everyone is watching the match ''and'' stay upright when Bruno has metal hidden in his gloves. Kinchloe does eventually throw the fight after knocking Bruno mostly unconscious. It's clear to everyone who the real winner is.
* ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'': In his backstory, Banjo's prize fighter career ended because he threw a fight to get money to pay for treatment for his girlfriend.
* The client in the ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' season two episode "The Tap Out Job" is the father of an MMA fighter who was instructed to throw a fight by the gym manager, but refused and had his fighting career ended permanently. Later in the episode, the con is blown and Eliot agrees to be the one to take a dive to keep the mark from retaliating against the client. (Thanks to some XanatosSpeedChess, the team manages to turn the situation back to their favor in the end.)
* The ''Series/DueSouth'' episode "The Blue Line" revolved around the question of whether one of the protagonist's childhood friends, now a famous hockey player, had taken money to throw a match.
* The original ''Series/{{CSI}}'' has had several of these.
* In the ''Series/QuantumLeap'' episode "The Right Hand of God," Sam leaps into a crooked boxer who is under pressure to throw a match if he loves his kneecaps, but must win instead to earn money for a group of nuns.
** In "All-Americans," Sam leaps into a high school football player who must stop his best friend from throwing the big game and losing both teens their chances at college scholarships.
* In one episode of ''Series/PoliceSquad'', the crook of the week blackmails a boxer into throwing a title bout. Drebin rescues the hostage before the round in which the boxer is to lose, inspiring him to win the fight.
* One episode of ''Series/TouchedByAnAngel'' features a star NBA player throwing a game for betting money. Already known as a showboat, he figures he can take a lot of ridiculous shots during the game and it won't seem too out of character - but thanks to the angels, [[SpringtimeForHitler all of his improbable shots go through the hoop anyway]] and he has one of the best games of all-time.
* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': In the episode "[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S05E15TheWildWorldOfBatwoman The Wild World of Batwoman]]", while watching the short film "Cheating", there's a very brief quip where Tom Servo accuses Johnny of shaving points during football games. (This fits with the overall theme of Mike's and the bots' quipping that cheating is SeriousBusiness, and therefore Johnny must be Pure Evil because he cheated.)
* Subverted in [=S3E10=] of ''Series/InTheHeatOfTheNight'', "King's Ransom". Ex-boxer Conrad "King" Baylor told some friends a story: Mobsters approached him the night of a fight, and gave him $2,000 to throw his match. He took the money, then bet it on himself, intending to go out there and screw over the mobsters. Unfortunately, his opposition was a little better than he thought, and he wound up losing. The mobsters met him post-fight, and gave him another $3,000 "for making the knockout so real".
* ''Series/{{Jessie}}'': Zuri Ross does this in "All the Knight Moves" when she feels bad for her opponent during the chess tournament and decides to let him beat her so he can use the trip to Paris to make amends with his family.

* Subverted in an episode of ''Series/MagicCity''. A big boxing match is coming up and the main characters get a tip that a mobster is betting against the current champion. They realize that the fight is fixed and bet big against that boxer. They realize too late that [[spoiler: the tip was false and the match is fair. The mobster had his mooks spread the rumor around town so the odds shifted against the champion and the mobster bet his money on the champion. When the champion demolished the challenger the mobster won a fortune and everyone who acted on the tip was cleaned out.]]
* One episode of ''Series/MagnumPI'' had a professional competition surfer (who was also of Magnum's ex-girlfriends) paid to "take a dive. Literally".
* On ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' Leslie ends up throwing a Disaster Preparedness Drill. Leslie's nemesis has arranged for the drill to occur on the same day as an important fundraiser Leslie is organizing. He then sabotages her efforts so the drill will drag on for the rest of the day. Desperate, Leslie sabotages her own plans and the drill ends early with the majority of the (simulated) population of the town dead from an outbreak of bird flu.
* The ''Series/{{Monk}}'' episode "[[Recap/MonkS7E4MrMonkTakesAPunch Mr. Monk Takes a Punch]]" has Monk investigating an attempted assassination on professional boxer Ray Regis. During one questioning with Regis and Regis's trainer Louie Flynn; Monk, Stottlemeyer, and Disher learn that Louie's daughter died of surgical complications a few years ago. But at the same time, Monk also discovers that Louie has an unconscious habit of tucking his crucifix in whenever he's lying. Monk eventually figures out that Regis and Louie had bet against themselves to raise money for these experimental surgeries, and believes one possible motive could be that someone figured out that Regis threw the fight and wanted to get payback.
* In the ''Series/BabylonFive'' episode "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS01E14TKO TKO]]", boxer Walker Smith has a defied version of this in his backstory -- he refused to take a dive in his upcoming bout against the champion, so the people in charge tampered with his drug test results, ruining his boxing career.
* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' Will does this against a high school rival in a basketball tournament as he has a son and needs the attention of an NBA scout more than Will does. Said rival [[DontYouDarePityMe calls Will out on it]] after the game and they decide to settle it for real in a private one-on-one match. Though the audience doesn't see the outcome.
* The ''Series/MissionImpossible'' two-part episode "The Contender" had Barney impersonate an up-and-coming pro boxer who had just returned from a tour of duty in Vietnam in order to take down a crooked promoter who routinely had his people throw fights.
* The Creator/MrT detective series ''Series/TAndT'' had an episode with a young boxer accused of throwing a fight. Turned out his mouth guard was laced with drugs.
* On ''Series/StepByStep'', Frank arm wrestles with his high school rival at their reunion. However, he's just learned from the man's date that the life he's presented to the class--beautiful wife, successful business--is a complete lie and that in fact, things are quite the opposite. Despite how much the {{Jerkass}} is taunting him, Frank throws the match, giving the man at least one thing in his life to feel good about. Wife Carol knows the truth.
* ''Series/GeneralHospital'': Local mobster Sonny tries to bully Jagger into throwing an upcoming boxing match by threatening to harm Jagger's ex, Karen (who he knows Jagger is still in love with). Jagger initially takes the fall but realizes that doing so will let Sonny control his life. He jumps up, wins the fight, then punches out Sonny as well and runs off with Karen.

* ''Series/MacGyver1985'': In "Split Decision", Earl Dent agrees to throw his comeback so he can get enough money to regain custody of his daughter. When he changes his mind (at Mac's urging), the bookies kidnap his daughter to force him to go through with the fix.
* ''Series/MurdochMysteries'': The VictimOfTheWeek in "The Knockdown" was supposed to throw a prize fight in the 31st round. He decided to change the script (having placed a large bet on himself) and won in the 30th. He was murdered later that evening.
* ''Series/FamilyTies'': Alex is thrilled at the chance to play chess against a Soviet chess prodigy until he learns that his rival plans to throw the game so he can be allowed to return to Russia and live a quiet life away from the glare of the spotlight. Not wanting to see his opponent disgrace himself, Alex ends up trying to play a worse game than his opponent. HilarityEnsues.
-->'''Jennifer''': I never thought I'd say this at a chess match, Alex, but nice tackle.
* ''Series/{{Porridge}}'' has an inter-wing boxing competition in the prison. Fletcher tries to convince Gobber to take a dive in the fifth round for [[TheDon Harry Grout]]. Problem is he's already agreed to throw the match in the fourth for a rival gangster. So they have to get the other guy to take a dive. In the end, only Fletcher bets on a tie and wins when both fighters fall down simultaneously.
* One episode of ''Series/{{Taxi}}'' has boxer Tony being pressured to do this in a fight, but it turns out his opponent is also trying to lose, flopping after Tony barely taps him with his glove.
* Mentioned on an episode of ''Series/ColdCase'' as they investigate the murder of a high school player who had just won the state championship and was gunned down hours later. They watch video of him in the game, checking the scoreboard and when the team wins, everyone is celebrating but he looks crestfallen. The team speculates that he may have agreed to throw the game but at the last minute, couldn't do it and it got him killed.

* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': In "Last Man Out", a match-fixing ring is influencing the outcome of games in a semi-professional cricket tournament. The match fixers are initially suspected when two cricket captains are murdered, but the match fixing is a RedHerring and has nothing to do with the killings.
* ''Series/VanHelsing2016'': In a flashback, Julius was a boxer who reluctantly took a dive for some gangsters who bet on his opponent, all to raise money for his ailing mother. Unfortunately, when he demanded his payment, the gangsters stabbed him in the stomach and left him to die instead. The vampire Dimitri, who found the endurance he displayed in the match impressive, then showed up and saved him by turning him into a vampire.
* ''Series/FiveHundredQuestions'': Implied with Ken Jennings who was a contestant to begin Season 2 (almost certainly to draw in ratings). Jennings lasted only four questions, and it's been suspected that he took a dive due to Richard Mason, who won at the end of Season 1, not being invited back.
* ''Series/ATouchOfFrost''. A soccer player is offered money to lose the game, which he refuses. However he then misses a crucial goal shot, so he figures he might as well take the money anyway by pretending IMeantToDoThat. This turns out to be a mistake as he finds himself under pressure to throw more games.
* On ''Series/{{Legacies}}'', the Salvatore School has an annual flag football game with a school from Mystic Falls. Given the Salvatore student body is comprised of vampires, witches, and werewolves, they can easily wipe the floor with the humans. However, the headmasters order the kids to always lose so outsiders won't find anything suspicious about a bunch of inhumanly gifted athletic kids. Naturally, the Salvatore students hate having to hold back their true abilities and lose.
** The second season has the team delighted when the new headmaster tells them to go ahead and do whatever it takes to win.
* In the ''Series/FutureCop'' episode "Fighting O'Haven," Haven is undercover as a boxer when he is told to "take a dive" in the third round. Being a LiteralMinded [[AndroidsAndDetectives android]], he instead does a backflip, landing on his back.
-->'''Referee''': What was that all about?\\
'''Haven''': That was my dive, sir. Wasn't it satisfactory?

* Toya flat-out refuses to take a dive during a four-way Go match in ''Manga/HikaruNoGo'', even though he's up against a rich Assemblyman who absolutely hates to lose and will likely cut funding if he does. But he goes further than that: Toya ties all four games, just to hammer home the gap between them. As one might expect, he gets his ass chewed out by his superiors when they find out.
* During the Chunnin Exams in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', Gaara was threatened by Tsuba and Midori of Kusagakure to take a dive in his fight with Sasuke. He refused. And killed them.
* Malcolm Gedo from ''Manga/HajimeNoIppo'' makes it a habit to throw fights, but not without asking his opponents for a substantial fee, which the opponents understandably see as an insult.

* An involuntary variant is part of Ken's backstory in ''Anime/KnightHunters'' -- he was a J-League goalie and was drugged without his knowledge to fix a game, then blamed for throwing it. His efforts at finding out who was responsible ultimately lead him to join Weiss.

* This is one of the few ways Kyoko from ''Manga/MarchComesInLikeALion'' attempts to tarnish Rei's professional shogi career: telling him sob stories of his opponents in order to manipulate him into losing on purpose.

* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', Android 18 makes it to the final round of the World Martial Arts Tournament, clearly out-classing the [[MilesGloriosus "champion" Mr. Satan]]. Rather than beating him up and taking the title (which would draw unwanted attention and ruin his reputation if done in such a public venue), she decides to take a dive in exchange for ''[[EveryManHasHisPrice double]]'' this tournament's prize money and a cut of all future prize money he ever earns.
* In ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', in the Champa arc, Goku eventually forfeits his match with Hit because he didn't think it was fair that the tournament's rules prevented Hit from fighting at his full potential. To repay his debt, Hit pretends that his next opponent, [[spoiler:the uber-weak Monaka]], was able to defeat him with a single punch.
* In ''Anime/GundamBuildFightersTry'', two of Shimon's teammates confront Team Try Fighters, begging them to throw the fight so that Shimon can win the tournament for his sickly-but-recovering brother Mamoru. This shakes the team's resolve, but ultimately Sekai doesn't budge and he and Shimon go into a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown to see who would go on.
* In the TournamentArc of ''[[Manga/Brave10 Brave10 S]]'', the second opponent from Nobuyuki's side is his wife Komatsu. While she is talented with the [[NaginatasAreFeminine naginata]], Yukimura's all too aware it wouldn't be seemly for Ana, a {{ninja}}[=,=] to defeat his sister-in-law publicly, so Yukimura has Ana throw the fight.
* Used repeatedly in ''Anime/MegaloBox'' due to the nature of underground boxing:
** Junk Dog starts the first season as a professional {{jobber}}: Despite being skilled enough to compete professionally, his debt to the mafia means his job is to go down when Nanbu tells him to, no matter how much he hates it. Part of the show is set in motion when Junk Dog has had enough with being repeatedly told "OneLastJob before he can box for real", goes into business on his own, and just lays out his opponent in the first round. This gets both of them in big problems with Fujimaki, the local crime boss, and forces Nanbu to enter Joe into Megalonia for the price money.
** In episode 9, [[spoiler:Fujimaki reveals that he sponsored Joe in order to get him into a fixed match in Megalonia, and Nanbu was in on it all along. Joe is initially so disheartened he plays along, until a combination of Yuri and a regretful Nanbu makes him abandon the plan and box for real. Nanbu is forced to give up his other eye to settle the score with Fujimaki.]]
** In ''Nomad'', [[spoiler:Chief]] is another {{jobber}}, albeit a freelance one. He moves from town to town, sets up a script with the ring's owner beforehand, uses his charisma and impressive moves to encourage betting in the first rounds, goads his opponent into giving him a believable blow he can sell in round four or five, and gets paid for it. He then moves on to the next town before people get suspicious. Like Junk Dog, he is also a genuinely skilled boxer, [[spoiler:although he never went pro like he claims to his audience.]]
** Fujimaki makes another appearance in ''Nomad''. When Bonjiri ends up having the deed to his cafe stolen, Joe visits Fujimaki to square it up, and Fujimaki asks Joe to take a dive in his ring in return. [[spoiler:Due to his CharacterDevelopment, Joe swallows his pride and goes through with it.]]
** Finally, Fujimaki offers [[spoiler:Sachi]] a lot of money for him to become a {{jobber}} in his ring, like Junk Dog was in Season 1. [[spoiler:When Joe shows up to tell Sachi not to do it, Sachi gets angry and the two end up hashing out their differences in the ring. Joe (predictably) wins, at which point Fujimaki says he wasn't serious about the offer anyway; he made it because he wanted Sachi to get insulted, understand that he wasn't really boxing because that's what he wanted to, and should go back to what he's really good at, which is mechanics and engineering.]]

* In ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', Tenya Iida and Mei Hatsume find themselves in a one-on-one fight during the Sports Festival. However, Mei ends up giving him special support gear to help give it his all, which Iida accepts graciously. What he doesn't realize is that the entire thing is just a ''ten-minute advertisement to get companies biting towards her gear''. Once she's certain they've bitten and want more, she promptly throws the match. Iida is vastly upset at this.
* In ''Manga/GTOTheEarlyYears'', Eikichi is worried [[spoiler:Minamino]] will actually kill or permanently maim Ryuji, so he digs up some dirt (namely, [[spoiler:that Minamino is a [[PaedoHunt lolicon]]]]) and blackmails him into losing to Ryuji.

* This is part of ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'s backstory: his father was killed when he refused to take a dive. [[Film/{{Daredevil}} The film]] and [[Series/Daredevil2015 the Netflix show]] also use this variation.

* In ''[[ComicBook/SpiderMan Amazing Spider-Man]]'' #253, Ray Nesters is the star quarterback of an NFL team who is secretly taking payoffs to throw some games. He foolishly believes that this will end when he loses the final regular season game only to be informed that mob boss the Rose wants him to throw the playoffs as well. When he naturally refuses, the Rose has Ray's younger brother Tony kidnapped. When Ray goes on a rescue, Tony is [[BrokenPedestal heartbroken to realize the Rose has been telling the truth]] on his brother's actions. While ComicBook/SpiderMan is able to rescue them both, Ray knows the only way to get out from under the Rose's thumb is to confess the truth and accept his ruined career.
* Franchise/{{Superman}}
** Two Golden Age stories centered around this trope, though the players weren't the ones cheating. In one, a boxer was drugged by his manager so that he would lose the fight, and in the other, a college football coach was trying to rig the game in favor of the other team.
** In a Bronze Age story ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} investigates the case of a football player who has been beaten up and threatened by a group of gamblers to throw several games. Fearing for his and his girlfriend's safety, he agrees to it.

* In ''ComicBook/MarvelVersusDC'', ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} defeated ComicBook/{{Lobo}} in a fight off-panel. Given at the time Wolverine didn't have his adamantium skeleton and only had bone claws, and Lobo has Superman-level strength and an insane HealingFactor, this seemed highly unlikely. Later, Lobo commented that some bald guy (likely Professor Xavier) bribed him into throwing the fight.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Diabolik}}'', former boxer Big Bolt once told the protagonist he was asked by the mob to throw a match so there would be more people willing to bet against him. Knowing it wouldn't impact his career and chances to win the world championship, Big Bolt accepted... But right as he let himself get knocked down to pretend he had lost he changed his mind, rose up, and dropped his opponent. It was his last fight, as ten mobsters were sent after him and the last one managed to wreck his leg before being punched out.

* In ''VideoGame/StarWarsKnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', Deadeye Duncan is the worst gladiator to grace the Taris circuit. ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8960878/3/Revan-s-Story Revan's Story]]'' offers a different explanation: as the first person any new gladiator would fight, his real job is to gauge their potential. If they pass his test, he starts their winning streak by taking the fall. If not, their career ends as the weakling who couldn't beat Deadeye Duncan.

* ''Film/EightMenOut'': Based on the real-life 1919 Black Sox
* ''Film/SnakeEyes'': Footage shows that one guy faked a knockout. He was being blackmailed by a conspiracy so he could form a distraction while they assassinated the U.S. Secretary of Defense who was in the crowd at the time.
* ''Film/OnTheWaterfront'': He coulda been a contender! Instead of a bum! You shoulda been lookin' out for him, Charlie!

* ''Film/PulpFiction'': Butch (Creator/BruceWillis) is supposed to take a dive. He agrees to go down in the fifth round (as shown in the page quote), but then turns around and bets on himself, and winds up ''[[CasualtyInTheRing killing]]'' the other boxer during the fight. What follows is the weirdest fucking day of his life. It's even worse for Marcellus.
* ''Film/{{Snatch}}'', Mickey is told to take the dive but refuses. Everyone thinks this is just him being deliberately contrary, [[spoiler: but it turns out to be a thoroughly-planned revenge plot which includes placing a huge bet on himself.]]

* A very sympathetic example appears in ''Film/TheHammer''. Jerry and Robert end up facing each other in the final matchup at the national Olympic tryouts, with the younger, faster Robert far ahead on points but, as a point of pride and honor, refusing to simply keep evading Jerry and run out the clock. This backfires pretty badly when Jerry manages to land several good, hard blows and sets him up for the knockout, but Jerry suddenly has a change of heart and decides that the younger man deserves the chance to compete at the Olympics more than he does. He pulls back his punch within an inch of his opponent's face and hugs him until the bell, letting Robert take the win on points.
* Many of the races are fixed in ''Film/SpeedRacer''. When Speed tells the CorruptCorporateExecutive who's trying to get him to throw a race about the race that inspired him to become a race car driver, the exec informs him that the victory was staged, and the race was ''really'' about one of the competitors who didn't even finish, allowing the company that made his car to run a pump-and-dump scam.
* An interesting example in ''[[Series/ThePhilSilversShow Sgt. Bilko]]'', Master Sgt. Bilko in an attempt to fix a boxing match convinces one of the boxers to take a dive. Unfortunately, the [[ButtMonkey errand boy]] gave the money to the wrong boxer, resulting in this boxer deciding to take a dive as well. [[DoubleKnockout Care to guess what happens?]]
* In ''Carman the Champion'' the champ is supposed to take a dive, but he refuses and just fights Carman straight up.

* Jamal Wallace in ''Film/FindingForrester'' misses a pair of free throws at the end of a game on purpose because he's tired of the way he's being treated by the administrators of his school.
* In ''Film/CityLights'', a gangster makes a deal to throw a boxing match to Creator/CharlieChaplin's character and split the prize money. Unfortunately, he skips town at the last minute, and Chaplin has to fight the replacement for real.
* In ''Film/HotShots'', a guy at a boxing match comments that both fighters are working for the same manager. One of them goes down after a single punch - which rather obviously didn't connect.
* The movie ''Film/{{Kickboxer}}'' ends with Kurt's brother Eric being kidnapped by Freddy Li's men in order to blackmail Kurt into throwing the fight with Tong Po. To save his brother's life, Kurt is instructed to go the distance with Po before losing the match. Kurt takes a hell of a beating, but when his friends get together and rescue Eric, he gains the second wind necessary to finally take Po down.
* A plot point in the sequel ''Film/TheSting II''. Hooker, the con man who is ''not'' a boxer gets into the ring with a professional, but as he plans to take a dive, it doesn't matter much. Until his partner figures the mark double-crossed them, and Hooker has to win the bout! He does, to his own surprise, but learns later that his partner had paid off the professional to take the dive.
* One or two [[Film/TheThreeStooges Three Stooges]] shorts have run on this idea. The boys would be managing an eager boxer and even have wagered in favour of him ... only for The Mob to 'suggest' that their fighter lose.
* In ''Film/TheColorOfMoney'', [[spoiler:after Eddie beats Vincent in the 9-Ball Classic semifinals, he learns that Vincent threw the match because he had numerous bets riding on him to win.]]

* In ''Film/TheMilkyWay'' everyone gets the mistaken impression that wimpy milkman Burleigh Sullivan knocked out boxing champion Speed [=McFarland=] on a public sidewalk (ItMakesSenseInContext). In fact, Burleigh didn't punch Speed and has no boxing talent, but Speed's weaselly manager Gabby Sloan comes up with the idea to make Burleigh into a fake contender by arranging a series of bouts with palookas who will take dives. Then Burleigh will fight Speed, who will get an easy victory. (Unsurprisingly, the plan goes wrong.)
* A key point of the 1994 film ''Blue Chips'' is college basketball coach Pete Bell ignoring stories of how boosters have been bribing his players. One booster mocks Bell on being so naive and boasts he "bought" one of his players three years earlier. Bell doesn't believe it as the student, Tony, is one of his favorites. He gets out a videotape of the game, watching it with some fellow coaches. They also don't believe it, citing things like Tony being ill that week and such. But as they watch the game, they see Tony missing plays he should easily be making and constantly checking the scoreboard and realize he did indeed shave points to help gamblers beat the spread.
* The plot of ''Film/Safe2012'' is kicked off when Luke wins a boxing match he was supposed to throw. In a very rare twist on this trope, he had every intention of throwing it. He only hit his much weaker opponent once to make it look good and promptly knocked him out.
* ''Film/SaveYourLegs'': Mark deliberately throws the cricket match against the toymakers after being promised a position in the Indian league if he does so.
* In ''Film/{{Diggstown}}'', two brothers are paid by the protagonists to throw their fights with "Honey Roy" Palmer. Unfortunately, the younger brother is too obvious about it, even after Roy tells him to sell it. The BigBad threatens the other brother and tells him that, if he loses, then his brother will be killed. Unaware, Roy initially assumes that the second brother is really good at selling the dive, but is then forced to knock him down. Tragically, the younger brother is found having seemingly hanged himself. No one is under any illusions that it was a suicide, but the sheriff is deep in the BigBad's pocket. Before the bet, the BigBad demonstrates the power he has in the town by ordering one of the sparring fighters to take a dive by standing up, straightening his tie, and turning his fist thumb down. [[spoiler:At the end, the protagonist does the exact same gesture to get the BigBad's surprise fighter (a prisoner he paid in advance) to take an obvious dive]].

* ''Film/AkeelahAndTheBee'' shows this in the third act. [[spoiler:Akeelah catches her opponent, Dylan, being berated by his father to not lose due to the fact that he came in second twice in the National Spelling Bee and she resolves to throw the fight so he can finally get his win. However, Dylan catches on when the word she misspelled purposely is the same one she messed up on earlier and purposely misspells ''his'' word. He berates her for pulling such a stunt that they just resolve to do their best to see who comes out on top... which ends up being both of them.]]
* {{Downplayed| trope}} in ''Film/TheGambler''. [[spoiler: One lets Axel off the hook in exchange for bribing Spencer to shave enough points in a game so that his team doesn’t beat the spread. It barely works, as the coach takes him out of the game when he starts missing.]]

* ''OGPU Prison'' by Creator/SvenHassel. The ex-con soldiers of the 27 Penal Panzer Regiment arrange for a Germany vs. Russia boxing match. The early fights are rigged so Germany will win, while the main event is rigged for the German to lose so they'll make a killing when everyone bets against the Russian in a patriotic fervor. Unfortunately the two boxers start mauling each other so hard that they lose their temper and forget the arrangement (fortunately the Russian wins anyway).

* In ''[[Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo 1636: The Devil's Opera]]'', Hans Metzger is ordered to throw a fight for a $50,000 purse by his employer. He refuses on principle (and the fact that he could really use the money to support his crippled sister). After beating his opponent in a brutal match he nearly lost legitimately, his employer sent thugs after him to reclaim the prize money. [[spoiler:They succeed in killing Hans, but not until after he'd killed or maimed all of his attackers.]]
* In the Creator/PGWodehouse Literature/{{Ukridge}} story "The Return of Battling Billson" offers a rather complicated example; the titular boxer is recruited to throw a match and agrees to do so without telling his (sort of) manager Ukridge, and then when the pivotal moment comes, Billson's opponent accidentally steps on his ingrown toenail, causing him to forget himself and win the fight.
* In the second ''Literature/BlackBlade'' novel, Lila is asked to throw the final round of the Tournament of Blades by her opponent's mother on the grounds that [[spoiler:Deah will suffer if she ever loses, and Lila will only be able to kill Deah's father with Deah's help]]. She does so when she realizes that what she was told is true, and the gesture is not appreciated by the eventual champion.

* In ''Literature/SardHarker'', Harker's first encounter with the villains is at a boxing match which they've fixed.
* ''Literature/TalesOfDunkAndEgg''.
** In "The Mystery Knight", a hedge knight deliberately loses an easy tourney victory against a lord who's still hungover. He trained the lord when he was a boy, and plans to flatter his skill so he can enter his service again. Instead the lord doesn't even remember him and refuses to employ such an apparently inept knight.
** In the same novel Ser Uthor Underleaf suggests that he does this all the time. He's an incredible jouster but never wins any tourneys because he bets on himself (with long odds) until he decides to lose (and then he bets on the other guy). If he actually won, he'd become more famous, and he'd never get those long odds again. This trope backfires on him as well when he finds himself up against a genuinely dangerous opponent in his last joust. Unaware that Ser Uthor was planning to lose, some other contestants decided to take him out of the running.
* ''Literature/WelcomeToWonderland'': P.T. asks Dill to intentionally lose his Frolf game against Geoffrey in "Beach Battle Blowout", since he's the son of one of the judges, and Geoffrey winning and having fun might increase the Wonderland's chances of winning the first round of judging. Dill gladly complies, stating that he's still a winner if he's still having fun.
* Implied to be the case with Doughnut Jimmy in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', who used to be a jockey who "made a lot of money not winning races".

-->'''Rob, shocked:''' You want me to take a dive?
-->'''Laura, upset:''' Oh, I don't know the technical term.

* In its spiritual predecessor, ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'', a number of characters (Jam most notably) had to throw fights to get different routes in Story mode. This made getting Dizzy's third ending in ''XX'' an absolute chore since she had to defeat Boss I-No on ''one try'' (if she lost, she got a different ending).
* In ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'', TheBoxingEpisode concludes with a match against a pro boxer that gives you a bigger payout if you lose.
* This is pretty much half the point of PSP game ''VideoGame/TheCon''. If the odds are heavily stacked that your opponent is going to lose the next round against you, it may actually be more profitable to bet against yourself and let the guy kick your ass. The catch is that you actually have to look like you're trying to fight by doing minimal damage, or they get start to get wise to your... [[TitleDrop well, con]].

* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''

* ''VideoGame/ScarfaceTheWorldIsYours''. Talk to the bouncer at the club. You'll learn he's working off a debt. He didn't refuse to throw a fight, he just forgot which fight he was supposed to throw. Perils of taking blows to the head...

* In many scenarios in the [=PokéStar=] Studios movies in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'', getting the good ending or the GainaxEnding requires losing on purpose, which isn't easy, especially with the rental Pokémon you have to use before you can use one of yours.
* In ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'', the Galar League had a scandal of this nature in the past. [[spoiler:The death of Mustard's first Pokemon hit him hard and he fell into a funk accentuated by loss after loss. The Chairman of the day offered to give him a rigged match to get him back in the spirit, but given what kind of man Mustard is, the thought offended him so severely that he retired on the spot.]]
* In ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials & Tribulations]]'', Furio Tigre frames Maggey Byrde for a murder he committed, then disguises himself as Phoenix Wright and "defends" her in court, losing on purpose to get her found guilty.
* In ''Gundam Breaker 3''[='s=] backstory, there was a match between the character Will and his Hyaku Shiki J and the Gunpla Battle Champion (who now goes by "Mr. Gunpla"). Will won the match fair and square, but the Champ's sponsors hated that he lost like that, so to save face they ''claimed'' he let him win. Will was so angry at this supposed betrayal that he temporarily quit Gunpla Battle.
* ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct2013'': T.J. Combo approaches Ultratech for assistance in getting back into the spotlight in the boxing circuit. They agree, but after he makes the big time again, they call in their marker - they set up a match between him and their new Fulgore robot, and then order him to lose. Combo instead defeats the robot, at which point Ultratech exposes his deal with them, destroying his career.

* In ''WebVideo/ThereWillBeBrawl'', mob boss Dedede casually tells [[VideoGame/PunchOut Little Mac]] that he's going down in the third round.
* ''LetsPlay/MarioPartyTV'':
** Sometimes seen when one player is dominating and a co-op minigame comes up: rather than win and strengthen his lead, his partner may choose to deliberately blow the game.
** An accusation often thrown at Mr. Doom, claiming he does so so the others won't be so salty at him. Mr. Doom claims it's just bad luck. (The worst part is, since he's BornLucky, he usually ends up doing well ''anyway'', which just makes the others saltier, as he wasn't even trying.)
** The one time he ''admitted'' to sandbagging was their playthrough of Pyramid Park: he wanted to see if he could finish the board with zero stars (for context, on that board everyone starts with five stars and the objective is to steal each others' stars). [[spoiler: He succeeds, but still ends up getting a bonus star for using the most orbs.]]

** Sometimes teams play to a specific score which benefits both sides: take the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disgrace_of_Gijón 1982 World Cup match]] between West Germany and Austria, the last game in Group B. Due to tiebreaker rules at the time, a 1-0 or 2-0 West German win would have seen both teams through to the elimination rounds. A bigger West German win would eliminate Austria, whereas a tie or Austrian win would eliminate West Germany; in either case, Algeria would have gone through instead. West Germany scored after 10 minutes, and the two teams spent the remaining 80 minutes kicking the ball around aimlessly. Algerians weren't the only ones pissed off: a West German fan burned his own flag in protest, both German and Austrian commentators were disgusted, and the local paper printed the match news in the crime section. This only happened because Algeria had played their final match the previous day, giving Austria and West Germany time to realize there was a result that benefitted them both; to prevent this from happening again, every World Cup since has had each group's final two matches take place at the same time. If you're asking what happened to Austria and West Germany later in the tournament, the former faltered in the second group stage while the latter went all the way to the final where they were ultimately battered 3-1 by Italy.

* Similar to match throwing is tanking, where a team may deliberately not win games for some advantage other than direct monetary gain.

* ''Film/{{Daredevil}}'': See comic book entry, above. Fallon also brings this up in a DidYouActuallyBelieve speech, in which he says Matt's father only won the previous fights because his opponents threw them, and now, it's his turn.

However, this is one trope that is {{Defied|Trope}} more often than it's played straight. Our hero decides that he's not going to be anyone's UnwittingPawn anymore, that the OnlyInItForTheMoney / MoneyDearBoy is no longer worth the loss of dignity. This of course costs a lot of dangerous people a lot of money, which they're not likely to be very happy about.

See also FixingTheGame and DeliberateUnderPerformance. Many of these ploys qualify as a FailureGambit, though rarely sympathetically. Sometimes when SparingTheFinalMook, a hero may tell the mook to do this as part of the act.

** Junk Dog starts the first season as a professional {{jobber}}: Despite being skilled enough to compete professionally, his debt to the mafia means his job is to go down when Nanbu tells him to, no matter how much he hates it. Part of the show is set in motion when Junk Dog has had enough with being repeatedly told "OneLastJob before he can box for real", goes into business on his own, and just lays out his opponent in the first round. This gets both of them in big problems with Fujimaki, the local crime boss and forces Nanbu to enter Joe into Megalonia for the price money.

** Finally, Fujimaki offers [[spoiler:Sachi]] a lot of money for him to become a {{jobber}} in his ring, like Junk Dog was in Season 1. [[spoiler:When Joe shows up to tell Sachi not to do it, Sachi gets angry and the two end up hashing out their differences in the ring. Joe (predictably) wins, at which point Fujimaki says he wasn't serious about the offer anyway; he wanted Sachi to understand that he's not able to follow in Joe's footsteps and should go back to what he's really good at, which is mechanics and engineering.]]

** Junk Dog starts the first season as a professional {{jobber}}: Despite being skilled enough to compete professionally, his debt to the mafia means his job is to go down when Nanbu tells him to, no matter how much he hates it. Part of the show is set in motion when Junk Dog has had enough with being told "OneLastJob" before he can box for real, goes into business, and lays out his opponent in the first round.

* In ''Anime/MegaloBox'', the protagonist Junk Dog is caught in such a setup at the start of the story, forced to take a dive at the very last minute. That's despite the fact he's skilled enough to knock out his foes in the first round.

* The plot of ''Film/{{Safe}}'' is kicked off when Luke wins a boxing match he was supposed to throw. In a very rare twist on this trope, he had every intention of throwing it. He only hit his much weaker opponent once to make it look good and promptly knocked him out.

** A [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Mist_Scandal_(Japanese_baseball) very similar scandal]] happened in 1969-71 which almost destroyed baseball in Japan. It started when pitcher Masayuki Nagayasu of the Nishitetsu Lions was caught taking bribes from the Main/{{Yakuza}} to throw games. After he was released from the Lions, Nagasayu implicated six other Lions players in game-fixing. Soon the scandal spread to other teams such as the Toei Flyers and Kiniketsu Buffaloes, with around a dozen players being slapped with penalties ranging from "stern warnings" to lifetime bans. The scandal also resulted in the Lions and the Flyers being sold to new owners.

* Averted by Wrestling/SammyGuevara during his Wrestling/{{AEW}} World Championship 4 way match with Wrestling/{{MJF}}, Wrestling/DarbyAllin, and "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry at ''Double or Nothing'' 2023. MJF offered Guevara a large sum of money to just lay down, and with Guevara announcing via his placards during his entrance that he and fellow AEW wrestler Tay Melo were expecting their first child he could have definitely used the cash. Guevara seemed to take MJF up on the offer... and then immediately double-crossed MJF, nearly winning with a roll-up when MJF went for the cover.

* Speaking of Austin, in May 1996 he faced off against Savio Vega in a "Caribbean strap match" (which is like a regular strap match[[note]]For those who don't follow wrestling, in a strap match the wrestlers are connected to each other at the wrist with a leather strap around 10 feet long, the goal of the match is to incapacitate the opponent long enough that you can touch all 4 corners of the ring[[/note]], only one of the participants is from Puerto Rico) where if he lost his manager, Wrestling/TedDibiase, would have to leave the WWF. Austin would put in a very half-assed effort (in the sense that it was part of the story, not that he was being unprofessional), lost, and stated in a promo the next night that he threw the match to get rid of DiBiase[[note]]Who was leaving for WCW, hence the stipulation[[/note]], who Austin thought was holding him back.