A couple of weeks ago we spoke about a controversial clash from Thailand that saw a man defending the IBF Flyweight title with some help from a referee who seemed like he knew where he was, and who he was there to help. That referee was Pat Russell, who completely botched his job as the third man in the ring. Thankfully for Russell his performance was forgotten just 9 months later when another referee went to Thailand and butchered the officiating even worse. That was Larry Doggett who did his best impression of a heel referee in wrestling. Amnat Ruenroeng (15-0, 5) vs Johnriel Casimero (21-2, 13) I As with our article 2 weeks ago this is another Amnat Ruenroeng fight, and was actually his 4th defense of the IBF title. He had won the belt in early 2014 and had, by hook or by crook, defended it against Kazuto Ioka, McWilliams Arroyo and Zou Shiming. He hadn't always looked great but was racking up wins and putting in a solid claim as one of the most under-rated fighters in the sport. In June 2015 he looked to continue hie reign as he took on former Light Flyweight champion Johnriel Casimero. In 2015 Johnriel Casimero wasn't the world class Bantamweight that he is today. He was a former world champion at Light Flyweight but was better known for the crazy scenes following his battle with Luis Alberto Lazarte in 2012. Although not well known internationally he was deemed a real road warrior and hardcore fans had been rating him fairly respectably given the win over Lazarte and wins over Cesar Canchila, Pedro Guevara and Luis Alberto Rios, all on the road. On paper this looked like an intriguing match up, but one that could have been a frustrating watch, especially given how Amnat had over-come Arroyo, with clinching being a major part of his arsenal. What we hadn't expected was a total foul fest with clinching being the least of Casimero's issues. The very early seconds saw Amnat pretty much bull rush Casimero to the ropes and throw him down to the canvas. Within just 10 seconds Amnat was trying to play the dirty bully. Later that same minute Amnat hooked in a headlock as he continued to fight as much as box. With around a minite of the round left the referee did give Amnat a pretty clear telling off for pushing and seemed to be saying "no more or I'll take a point". Despite that Amnat got away with a lengthy hold and a shot after the bell to end the round. If the gameplan of the champion was to get into the head of Casimero it seemed to work and in round 2 he dropped Casimero, who was rushing in. It made a bad start worse for the challenger. In round 3 the hugging and holding and wrestling took over again, and was made worse by some farcical behaviour. This included the referee missing a potential knockdown scored by Casimero, letting Amnat away with more headlocks and body holds, a judo throw, almost constant holding and it took around a minute for Amnat to get his shoe laces tied at one point. Round 4 featured a judo throw from Amnat, who was pissed when Casimero got to his feet and tried to punch him, almost forgetting that this was a boxing contest, and responded with another choke hold. Another headlock followed later in the round with the referee responding by warning Casimero, who immediately got put into another headlock. And then another. The choke holds and headlocks dominated round 5, which again saw Amnat putting some in some form of a judo and some other random throws, and even hitting Casimeroo when he was down. It should be noted that all of this was happening with out any sort of admonishment from the referee who seemed to think he was in charge of an MMA bout not a boxing bout. Actual boxing action was scarce with Casimero being held and fouled when ever he was close, and Amnat trying to put in an audition tape for some MMA organisation, rather than proving himself as a world level boxer. We'll not cover the entire fight, as genuinely some of this needs to be seen to be believed, but in round 6 Amnat tried to throw Casimero out of the ring, and in round 8 he mounted him and looked like he was ready to go for a ground and pound. Oh and the hilarious thing, after 11 rounds of fouling Amnat was finally deducted a point. Something that he had been told could happen at the end of the opening round. Doggett however didn't take that point until Casimero had been "dropped" for a second time, from what looked like a trip. Unsurprisingly Amnat would take the win with a decision, however the controversy later lead the IBF to order a rematch, which took place on neutral soil in China. Thankfully justice was served in that rematch with Casimero stopping the Thai in 4 rounds to help right the wrong of this bout. Thankfully this appears to have been the final bout refereed by Larry Doggett, who likely realised he was in the wrong profession at this point. For those who have ever wondered about worst refereeing performances, we nominate Larry Doggett and this fight. This is atrocious to say the least.
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A few weeks ago in this series we covered a foul fest that saw the right guy winning a clear decision. That was a bout where the man committing the fouls managed to rile everyone up, and whilst he had fouled through out the bout it was really a final round melt down that highlighted the contest. Today we look at a different type of foul fest. One where the fans are well and truly behind the man breaking the rules, and where the man breaking the rules, is getting away with it. Amazingly this isn't just a foul fest, but also a bout where the judges seem to be in on things as well, with some questionable score cards, a referee that seems scared to take points and a local favourite who seems to know he can get away with anything. Amnat Ruenroeng (13-0, 5) vs McWilliams Arroyo (15-1, 13) Before we get to this bout we need to get to the back story of this one and go back to 2013. That was the year that Moruti Mthalane twice saw bouts with Silvio Olteanu fall through. After those bouts collapsed Mthalane was ordered to take on the then unknown Thai Amnat Ruenroeng, who had been a good amateur but done nothing as a professional. The purse bid for Mthalane Vs Ruenroeng was pathetic, but their was no money in the bout. As a result Mthalane gave up the belt, rather than travel to Thailand for pittance. In December 2013 McWilliams arroyo was also having problems. He had seen his scheduled bout with Rocky Fuentes be delayed, then was cancelled all together in January 2014 when Fuentes failed to get a visa. That was supposed to be a world title eliminator. With those bouts falling through we ended up getting a make shift bout in January 2014 that saw Amnat defeat Fuentes for the IBF Flyweight title, in a bout that was put together on very short notice. It wasn't a great bout, but was a big win for the Thai who was now the new world champion. Amnat followed that up by travelling to Japan and beating Kazuto Ioka, in a massive win. Having seen his bout with Fuentes fall through Arroyo would fight in June 2014, in an IBF Flyweight world title eliminator, where he beat Froilan Saludar to set up a clash with Amnat for the title. So overall it took us around 10 months to get to this bout but we got there in the end....and the wasn't worth it. At all. The bout started slowly, both men trying to figure out what the other hand and eased their way into the contest. There was nothing spectacular to begin with, as both men pumped out their jabs. It looked like Arroyo was the stronger fighter whilst Amnat was the slightly quicker, but there wasn't much in it at all early on. Amnat probably did enough to the take first round but did better in rounds 2 and 3 as he established an early lead. Then the bout started to fall apart. Arroyo had a very good round 4, as Amnat began to try and protect his lead, rather than extend it. He began holding, excessively. Every few seconds in round 4 the Thai smothered, held and did his best cuddly octopus impression. The holding didn't really help slow down Arroyo's pressure and the challenger's success grew, dropping Amnat in round 6 to completely get rid of Amnat's early lead. It was following the knockdown that the bout totally fell apart. The clinching became more and more regular, with Amnat trying to sap the ambition and fire out out of Arroyo. Referee, Pat Russell, repeatedly told Amnat to stop, but didn't take any points from the Thai. In fact not only did he refuse to take points but it wasn't until round 10 that he even gave a firm warning. Even after the warning the messy tactics, holding, spoiling and wrestling continued from Amnat, who was warned but never saw a point being taken. After 12 rounds the bout could have gone either way. Arroyo defintely tried to make the fight, and had real success in the middle of the bout, but the good start by Amnat and the ugly frustrating end of the bout saw him neutralise Arroyo well. But it had been completely ruined by the holding, poor refereeing of Pat Russell and the refusal to take points, in an effort to clean things up. When we went to the judges the they all turned in scores of 114-113, twice, to Amnat and once to Arroyo to give Amnat the decision. It wasn't a terrible score, but certainly seemed to be influenced by the judges and location of the fight. A single point deduction, which is the least we would have expected, would have seen the turn in a split draw but in reality Amnat could have had 2 or 3 points taken for the repeated holding. Annoying had we managed to avoid all the clinching, and the very messy portions of the fight, this would have been a brilliant fight. There was a lot of exciting back and forth to talk about, but that was massively over shadowed by the negativity of Amnat between the exciting bursts of action. Rather notably this wasn't the only controversial bout featuring Amnat, and we will certainly be discussing a much more controversial bout in the future. Though that's for the next future Controversial Clashes! Typically this series has looked at bouts that have been controversial due to the man who deserved the win getting denied their victory. Today we're looking at something a little bit different. This time the right guy got the win, but the controversy wasn't easy to ignore. In fact the controversy was huge with implications that went beyond the scope of just who won and lost. It resulted in lengthy suspensions, laid the ground work to sell another bout on and had been a very personal battle for the two men. Daisuke Naito (31-2-2, 20) Vs Daiki Kameda (10-0, 7) In October 2007 Daisuke Naito was the WBC Flyweight champion, he had won the belt less than 3 months earlier, defeating Pongsaklek Wonjongkam in their third bout. Naito was supposed to then give Wonjongkam a rematch, which would be their fourth bout, however Kyoei had wanted to give Daiki Kameda a chance to become the youngest ever Japanese world champion. As a result Naito's team, who had long targeted Daiki's older brother Koki Kameda, essentially paid Wonjongkam to step aside in the hope of securing a future bout with Koki Kameda, if Naito could get past Daiki. With an agreement set the then 18 year old Kameda began promoting the bout with some rather scummy comments. He had called Naito a cockroach and generally been provocative in the media, hoping to get into Naito's head and draw more attention to the fight. Naito was regarded as a good guy, he was well liked even if he wasn't the most charismatic or well known. He was seen as a stand up guy, a former bullying victim who, thanks to his win over Wonjongkam, had climbed the summit of the sport. The Kameda clan however were seen as natural heels, dislikable, loud, arrogant and appealed to a new generation. Whilst Naito was the old, man, the Kameda's were energetic, drawing a huge fan bases. That fan base was a mix of females, who thought the brothers were cute, fans from Kansai, who were getting behind their local star, and those who just found themselves drawn to the Kameda's and their anti-hero charm. Oh there was also plenty of people who just wanted to see the cock Kameda's being shut up and beaten. Kameda's comments before the bout had seen interest explode in the contest and the feeling was that this was going to be something massive for Japanese boxing. What ended up being a heavily hyped bout turned into a bit of a mismatch. From the opening round Naito was too sharp, too quick, too skilled and too good. Kameda pressed from the early stages with a tight defensive style that saw him pretty much trying to walk down Naito, but lacked the out put and energy needed to be competitive with the champion. For the best part of 11 rounds Naito dominated the younger man. The bleach blonde Naito was trying to fight Naito, but had nothing to really challenger the more experienced and much better Naito. Even when Naito stood his ground and fought Kameda's fight he was getting the better of things. Kameda had spent more time headbutting, trying to thumb Naito, leading with the shoulder and landing low blows. Not only were the fouls from Kameda flagrant, and continous, but they were going unpunished by the referee, who gave repeated warnings but no deductions early on. There was not only fouls but taunting and typically scum like behaviour through out. He was playing the perfect heel. The man people want to see get beat...and he was getting beat. With Naito well in the lead Kameda was showing an increasing level of frustration. This was seen notably in round 9, when he started to abuse some rough house tactics, including throwing Naito down which drew loud boos. Naito returned the foul with a cheap shot of his own later in the round, when he was deducted a point by Vic Drakulich. By this point the the crowd were rabidly against Kameda, who again bent the rules to near breaking point in round 11, with a headlock take down. In round 12 things went from ugly and foul filled to something that didn't resemble boxing. Kameda was essentially sent out to fight Naito, taking him down, again, less than 30 seconds into the round. He was deducted a point, but that was just the start of a melt down. Moments later Kameda picked up Naito and tossed him to the canvas, and had 2 more points taken. Another tackle from Kamda followed, then a tackle from Naito before the two began to engaging in something of an MMA event on the canvas. There was some boxing in the round, but most of it was crude, street fighter stuff from Kameda. After the 12th round there no doubting who had won. Naito had won the bout, and won the hearts of the Japanese fans. But the controversy spiralled on. Kameda left the ring quickly after the final bell, not staying to give an interview. He didn't follow through on any promises to commit Seppuku, thankfully, but refused to not only speak to press but treat them with disdain at a post fight press conference. He stayed silent and then walked out. Following the bout Kameda was given a lengthy suspension, his trainer and father Shiro was given a permanent ban from working the corner and older brother Koki Kameda was also reprimanded for his instructions. There was also speculation that Koki had to cancel an upcoming bout due to issues coming from this bout, though officially the reason was an opponent hadn't been decided on In his next defense Naito faced Wonjongkam, in their fourth and final bout, and would go on to face Koki Kameda two years after this controversial, foul filled bout with his Koki's younger brother. Koki would beat Naito, though lost the WBC title to Naito's old nemesis Wonjongkam, scrapping a chance of a rematch between Koki and Naito, which rather notably Naito's team had the contractual option for but without the WBC title there was no desire to enforce it. Thankfully things bet Naito and the Kameda family have improved since this mess of a fight. Daiki has apologised for what he said and did, and Naito has accepted the apology and drawn a line under the matter. Now a days Naito, Daiki Kameda and Koki Kameda have retired from the ring and this dark bout in Japanese history is not something to be proud off, but is still a very important bout. It's also one of the very rare cases where a fighter was deducted 3 points in a round and not DQ'd. For this edition of Controversial Clashes we return to poor scorecards, for one of the worst decisions in recent memory. The bout is from 2010 and the decision, now more than a decade on, is still completely baffling. Then again one of the men involved has had a very questionable career, with his long and inexplicable reigns never making much sense given his long stretches of inactivity. Beibut Shumenov (8-1, 6) Vs Gabriel Campillo (19-2, 6) II The man who has had the weird career is Kazakh enigma Beibut Shumenov. Early in his career he looked really exciting and the type of fighter we could get behind. He had hunger and desire to race to a world title, he was taking on notable fighters from very early on and ticked a lot of boxes. In just his third bout he was taking on veteran Shannon Miller, and then stepped up to Lavell Finger just a month later. In his 9th bout he lost a close decision for the WBA Light Heavyweight title, to Gabriel Campillo, and 5 months later he would get a second shot at Campillo. Despite facing decent competition it was unclear what Shumenov had actually done to deserve a shot, and in recent years his connections to the WBA have been very interesting, with the Kazakh having had some very questionable world title challengers when he's held world titles, and avoided being stripped, or being stripped and then reinstated, in very odd and strange looking circumstances. In fact as we write this, in May 2020*, the WBA still list Shumenov as their Cruiserweight champion despite having not fought since July 2018. Entering the bout as the WBA Light Heavyweight champion Campillo was a man who lacked in terms of power and financial backing, but more than made up for that in terms of skills, boxing IQ, speed and a brilliant ability to dictate the tempo of bouts. Campillo had proven himself to be a road warrior and had won the title with an upset in Argentina, against Hugo Hernan Garay. His first defense had seen him beat Shumenov, in Kazakhstan, before various dramas clouded over the bout, including accusations of drug testing irregularities and delayed payments of his purse. Unlike their first bout, which took place in Kazakhstan, this one was in the US and was much more visible for fans in the west. Sadly for Shumenov the bout being visible in the West meant that more fans saw what went down. The first round was a very good one for Shumenov, who was aggressive landed solid shots and easily out worked Campillo. He put everything in his shots and whilst he did land more than the defending champion he was using a lot of gas early on. The second round was a better one for Campillo, though Shumenov was again throwing heavy leather throughout. In round 3 Shumenov picked up the pace early on, but Campillo walked through it, as if it was nothing. Even when Shumenov landed clean head shots it didn't seem to phase Campillo in the slightest. On the other hand when Campillo let his hands go on forced Shumenov backwards, and despite not being a puncher it seemed that Campillo's shots were having more of an effect. After a busy start by both men, with the first 4 rounds being really good and competitive, the tempo from the challenger began to slow. This lead to Campillo taking control, and in a number of rounds it looked like a tiring Shumenov was on the verge of being stopped. He looked spent in rounds 7, 8 and 9 and struggled to land clean even when he picked up the pace late on, as he began to fight on fumes. The clean shots of Campillo seemed to be the eye catching ones and the more consistent ones. After 12 rounds it seemed that Shumenov had been game but lost. He had had his lack of professional experience shown up and his lack of stamina had proven to be an issue. He had shown his toughness, and no one could question his heart or desire, but he had been out boxed, out skilled, out landed. Going into the final round Colonel Bob Sheridan stated that he felt Shumenov needed a KO to win. It was a feeling echoed by ourselves, and many others. Despite needing the KO he failed to come close to scoring it and we went to the judges after the 12th round. It seemed a clear win for Cmapillo bot the judges, or more specifically two of them, went with Shumenov, scoring the bout 115-113 and a truly bizarre 117-111 in his favour. Only the card of Levi Martinez, who went 117-111 in favour of Campillo, seemed to make any sense. Sadly after winning the title with this bout we never saw Shumenov give Campillo a deserved rubber match. Instead he defended against the likes of a 40 year old William Joppy, a 38 year old Danny Santiago and fringe contender Enrique Ornelas. *Please note a lot of our articles were written during lockdown, things regarding Shumenov's reign may have changed by the time this goes live in September. In this series we've already looked at poor judging, time keeper errors and a very early stoppage. Today we look at a different issue, a rather baffling technical decision. We know technical decisions are often a bit of an oddity, and are very inconsistent, but this was one of the most baffling and was so clearly suspect that it's a shame it was hidden on a very obscure Thai card when it deserved much more attention than it got. Kwanpichit OnesongchaiGym (22-0-1, 9) Vs Ben Mananquil (9-0, 2) For this Controversial Clash, we need to roll the clock back to July 2013 for a bout between future world title challenger Kwanpichit OnesongchaiGym, from Thailand, and Filipino Ben Mananquil. On paper this looked like the next step forward for the Thai, who was waiting for a big fight and ticking over until he got it. For Mananquil the bout was a big step up and his first outside of the Philippines. The unbeaten Thai fighter, also known as Kwanpichit 13 Rien Express and Prasitsak Phaprom was 31 years old, and for a Flyweight a loss could well end his dreams of getting a world title fight. He had been a professional since 2010 and had padded his record with novices and regional journeymen type. Despite his competition being low level he had claimed the WBO Oriental Super Flyweight and Flyweight titles and was climbing up the WBO rankings on the back of that. At 21 years old Mananquil looked like he was being the next Filipino tossed in to lose to a Thai in Thailand. It's something we see regularly and sadly is part of the problem with both the Filipino scene and Thai scene. It turned out, however, that Mananquil hadn't read the script and the youngster saw the bout as a winnable one. After a few moments of posturing, from both men, the bout seemed to fall into a pattern of Kwanpichit slowly stalking Mananquil who boxed on the back foot waiting for a mistake. When that mistake came he turned the tables and battered the local on the ropes, unloading until the Thai went down. Mananquil continued his assault when Kwanpichit recovered to his feet, with the Thai managing, just, to survive the round. In many other countries the bout would have been stopped with Kwanpichit being saved as he took a worrying amount of head shots. With the help of kind referee the Thai managed to hold, survive and see his way through the round. Honestly it could have been waved off several times in the first 3 minutes. We then had round 2 and Mananquil could still smell blood, taking the fight to the Thai. It was a mostly dominant round for the Filipino youngster, who landed all the shots of note, whilst Kwanpichit again tried to survive the onslaught. The wild aggression from Mananquil ended up causing a rather minor headclash which left Kwanpichit with a small cut on his right eye. It was the kind of cut that many fighters shrug off and fight with. The doctor and referee however knew they were there to protect Kwanpichit's unbeaten record, and this was a chance for them to do that. Rather than letting the bout go on, as they should, they quickly stopped the bout. The cut was that small that by the time Kwanpichit made his way to his own corner, after the stoppage, there wasn't any sign of a bloody cut. It was, but a mere scratch. As a result of the cut the bout ended in a 2nd round technical draw, extending the unbeaten records for both men. Later down the line Kwanpichit ended up with two sizeable pay days for facing Zou Shiming. Neither of those bouts are likely had he lost here, like he probably would have, if not for the doctor and referee. We have looked at bad decisions from the judges and the bell ringing early in this series and today we look at a different type of controversy. The over eager referee. This is the type of controversy that sees a referee stopping a bout way too early. Of course an early stoppage is better than one too late, but in this particular case there was no need, for the referee to step in in the way he did. Today's particular example of such an early stoppage comes from way back in 1976. Buzzsaw Yamabe (24-4-2, 16) vs Alfredo Escalera (33-7-2, 22) I In one corner was Japanese brawler Buzzsaw Yamabe, an exciting and entertaining Japanese fighter who had fought much of his career in Hawaii. He turned professional in 1971 but didn't fight in Japan until 1973, in what was his 18th professional bout. Although not the most talented the exciting southpaw was always fun to watch and lived up to his moniker, he was a buzzsaw in the ring. He had won the Japanese Lightweight title in only his second bout in Japan, though lost the belt 7 months later to Masataka Takayama, the man he actually beat for the belt. In the other corner was WBC Super Featherweight champion Alfredo Escalera, a talented Puerto Rican who had won the title in Japan in July 1975, when he stopped Kuniaki Shibata. He had made 3 defenses of the title before returning to Japan in April 1976 to take on Yamabe. Although not a massive puncher Escalera was a really talented fighter who sadly had his reign ended in 1978 by the legendary Alexis Arguello. Although ill remembered now Escalera's 10 defenses of the belt still stands as a tied record for the WBC Super Featherweight title. Not only was he a solid champion but he was also a true road warrior who became a genuine star in Puerto Rico. The fight began with Yamabe coming forward, pressing the more traditionally skilled Escalera. From the opening moments the pressure was all from the Japanese challenger who was trying to make the classy Escalera very uncomfortable. Escalera was certainly not getting beaten or battered, but he was being forced to work incredibly hard as Yamabe kept coming forward time and time again. After 5 rounds of competitive and exciting action, with Escalera looking more relaxed round by round, we then got to the controversial part of the fight in round 6. Again we saw Yamabe coming forward pressing the action and even seemed to drag Escalera into his fight. The champion never looked hurt but neither did the challenger as the two men traded shots in some thrilling moments. As the seconds began to tick away Yamabe ended up on the ropes and Escalera began throwing shots, missing many of them as the referee stepped in and walked Yamabe over to his corner. It seemed like neither fighter realised what had happened, however the fans did and started to throw things into the ring in anger at what had looked a very, very early stoppage. At no point had Yamabe been down, he didn't look particularly hurt and he seemed to be slipping most of the shots thrown his way. Despite that the referee stepped in and stopped the contest. The Japanese Commission were fuming at the decision, and later over-ruled the official result turning it into a "No Contest". They also appealed to the WBC for a rematch, which happened 3 months later, and saw Escalera win a decision to retain his title. The referee at the center of the stoppage was Ismael Quinones Falu, a Puerto Rican like Escalera. His decision to stop the fight when he did resulted in the genuine anger within the Japanese boxing scene and from what we can find Falu never refereed another bout in the country. He did, sporadically, do other world title bouts however and and is still refereeing today. Escalera would hold the title until 1978, when he lost the belt in "The Bloody Battle of Bayamon" to Alexis Arguello. As for Yamabe he went 2-3 after this, including his loss in the rematch with Escalera and a loss to Esteban De Jesus. Usually when it comes to "Controversial Clashes" the controversy is something that we, as fans, can see. Be that score-cards that don't make sense, a dodgy stoppage, an ending that doesn't add up, and favouritism by an official. Today's however isn't as clear cut, and in fact even now, almost a decade later, it's still unclear what actually happened...if anything. This is "Glovegate" before "Glovegate" became a thing. Riyo Togo (9-4-1, 8) Vs Mariana Juarez (36-6-3, 16) We need roll back to April 2013, when the much unfancied Riyo Togo travelled to Mexico to take on Mariana Juarez, one of the stars of Mexican female boxing. On paper this was a mismatch of huge proportions. The 37 year old Togo was little more than a regional level fighter, but one with power. She was a natural puncher who had claimed the OPBF Bantamweight and fought as high as Featherweight. There was little on her record to suggest she belonged in a big bout, and just 9 months earlier she had lost a clear decision to Janeth Perez in a WBA female Bantamweight title bout. Two things were clear about her heading into this bout. She could punch, and she was not a natural Super Flyweight. She was much, much bigger than Super Flyweight. Juarez on the other hand was a star of female boxing. A good looking woman, with Mexico behind her. She had struggled early in her career, losing 2 of her first 3 bouts, but turned that around and was 27-3 in 30 previous bouts before facing Togo. Outside of boxing she was getting a lot of attention for her looks, and was mixing boxing with modelling, to increase her profile beyond that of just the sport. The bout was set up as a WBC female Super Flyweight world title eliminator and the reward was a shot at a world title. After 20 seconds of boxing the two women began to brawl more, a tactic that was going to suit the heavy handed Togo. Within just a minute of the fight starting Juarez was rocked back but covered up and recovered. From there on it seemed like she was aware Togo could punch, but decided to fight fire with fire. It was a mistake and with just seconds left in the round Togo landed a brutal combination to the chin of Juarez, who was dropped hard. Juarez got to her feet but was judged as being in no fit state to continue as the referee waved off the bout. The decision gave female boxing one it's biggest ever upsets as Togo took the surprise win over the Mexican star. Rather than getting a world title fight Togo rematched Juarez less than 3 months later. Then things took a turn. Before the rematch Togo's gloves were confiscated by the WBC who found the padding had been removed. This lead some to believe that Togo's gloves had had padding removed ahead of their first bout, and that the knock out had been a result of that. Despite much innuendo however there is still no certainty about it. Togo's padding may have been removed, though the gloves seemingly got through all the checks from the commission suggesting they weren't. Interestingly however Juarez revealed her team had never checked the gloves for the first contest, only checking the wraps. There is a very real chance that there was something going on with the gloves and there's also a real chance there wasn't. No one knows for sure, other than Togo's team. Sadly for Togo the rematch saw Juarez take a clear decision over her, despite Jaurez being shaken late on. Togo couldn't repeat this win a second time around. Given the padding was removed from the gloves in regards to a rematch you would assume some form of punishment was given to Togo from the WBC. Surprisingly however that doesn't seem to have been the case and she actually fought again the following October, in what was her final career bout, retiring at the age of 38. As for Juarez, she went on to have a pretty damn good career in the sport after this loss, and was still holding a world title beyond her 40th birthday! In fact after this bout she has gone 18-2-1 (2) to hold a record of 54-9-4 (18). Although it's not unheard of it is rare for a decision in the sport to leave someone so disillusioned with it that they walk away from boxing in disgust. Perhaps the most famous example was Dave Tiberi, who left the sport after losing a very controversial decision to James Toney. Two of the judges for that bout weren't even licensed in the state where that bout took place. Tiberi however, isn't alone and today we look at another bout that sent a fighter, essentially, into retirement. This was less high profile, but incredibly controversial, and very much a dubious decision. Teiru Kinoshita (21-1-1, 5) Vs Cyborg Nawatedani (9-2-2, 4) We suspect most fans reading this will recognise the name of Teiru Kinoshita. He's a 2-time world title challenger, he took Zolani Tete 12 rounds in a bout for the vacant IBF Super Flyweight title in July 2014, before Tete travelled to the UK and stopped Paul Butler, and also lost to Jerwin Ancajas on a Manny Pacquiao under-card. The man from Kobe was a decent domestic level boxer. Not world class, by any stretch, but a decent domestic fighter with good skills, and a total lack of power. This was going to be his third bout since losing to Tete 13 months earlier, and a clear step up from the stay busy bouts he had had since the Tete bout. Whilst Kinoshita is pretty well known Tomoya "Cyborg" Nawatedani really isn't. Or rather wasn't. He entered the bout with a 9-2-2 record but had gone 8-0-1 since a struggling start to his professional career. He had turned things around really well and had notched notable domestic wins over the likes of Junichi Ebisuoka, Sho Nakazawa and Shunji Nagata. He wasn't anywhere close to the world rankings but the then 26 year old was getting his career on track, building momentum, moving towards a Japanese title fight. He had been climbing up the domestic rankings and a win over Kinoshita would likely have helped him secure a title bout the following year. At this point in time Kinoshita was being lined up for a second world title bout. He was still highly ranked by the IBF, with a top 5 ranking, whilst Nawatedani was ranked #6 in Japan. On paper this was a mismatch, but in the ring things did not go as expected in this all southpaw bout. From the opening round Nawatedani pressed the action. He looked crude and was caught coming in, but didn't seem the slightest bit discouraged by Kinoshita who quickly began to back off. With Kinoshita going backwards there was even less pop on his shots than usual. He really couldn't keep Nawatedani away, and the unheralded man kept march in, landing the better shots, and the most eye catching shots. Not only was he landing the better blows, but he was also out landing Kinoshita. It wasn't just the first round that Nawatedani did better than Kinoshita, but pretty much every round. Kinoshita would land some good shots, but they were few and far between whilst Nawatedani's success was consistent, regular and and far more frequent. He was the one dictating the pace, forcing the fight and even left Kinoshita cut late on. After 8 rounds both men were left with some swelling, and it was clear both had been in a fight, and it was a good fight with Kinoshita being dragged into a war and doing all he could to survive. After the final bell their was a loud applause from the fans who had been treat to a bit of a forgotten, small hall classic. Then we got the scorecards and, giving Kinoshita the split decision. The reactions said it all. The crowd cheered the card that had gone to Nawatedani and the mildly applauded the actual result. The result that had favoured the home town fight got a mild applause, whilst a scorecard in favour of the visiting fighter, got a roar. After the fight various Japanese papers reported on the bout, and then Nawatedani essentially vanished from boxing. After this result that was no surprise. He had given his all and had his momentum stopped, when really the bout should have ended in a huge boost for him. This isn't a very well known controversy, but is a notably one, especially given that just a few fights later Kinoshita would take on Ancajas, and look totally inept at world level against the Filipino. (Footage courtesy of Westbrook Satoshi) After covering a big obvious bout from the history of controversies involving an Asian fighter last time in this series we get to look at a lesser known controversy and one that, rather oddly, ended with the right guy winning, albeit on review. Given the bout needed an official review, and had the original result over-turned, that kinda shows just how erroneous the original decision was, and just how poor the judging for the bout turned out to be. So join us again as we take a look at another Controversial Clash! Petchsuriya Singwancha (15-10, 8) Vs Kerry Hope (22-7, 2) The Hong Kong boxing scene certainly isn't a well established one, and it certainly wasn't much of a boxing scene in 2015, with Rex Tso being the countries only notable boxer. With Tso being the only fighter of note DEF Promotions had to bring in international fighters to fill up cards and typically this mean bringing in lower tied fighters from through out the Asia-Pacific region. On August 29th 2015 they had a card headlined by Tso taking on Brad Hore. On the same shower was your usual mix of regional journeyman, novices, and professional losers, though we'll admit Rey Megrino is someone who is much better than his record. Aside from the Tso bout only one other bout stood out. That was the 12 round regional title clash between Petchsuriya Singwancha, of Thailand, and Australian based Welshman Kerry Hope. The Thai had been in 25 fights prior to this one, and had done little of note with his career. He lost his first 4, and 5 of his first 6, but did manage a couple of low key wins over the likes of Xingxin Yang and Ryosuke Maruki, with the win over Maruki netting the Thai the WBC Youth Light Middleweight title. Interesting Petchsuriya lost a rematch to Maruki and had also lost to the likes of Koki Tyson and Dennis Hogan with 9 of his 10 losses coming by stoppage. Kerry Hope on the other hand had originally made his name as a talented but light punching fighter on the British scene. He was a win some, lose some, type but a skilled fighter who's biggest issue was a lack of power. Despite not being a banger he had proven to be a potential banana skin, and had scored a big upset in 2012 when he beat Gregorz Proksa to claim the European title. In 2015 he he left the British scene and began fighting in Australia, after two bouts there, both wins, he then took on Petchsuriya, The bout, for the WBC Asian Boxing Council Middleweight title, had issues before the first bell with the Thai missing the Middleweight limit. By 6 lbs. This wasn't a little over the weight but he was closer to hitting the limit for the weight class above than hitting the one for the division he was supposed to be fighting in. From the opening seconds the taller, bigger looking Hope found the range for his jab and although there wasn't much on the shot it was landing regularly and preventing Petchsuriya from letting much go himself. The clean punching from, Hope continued to be the clear factor in the bout and he looked several levels better than the diminutive Thai, who spent much of the fight doing little, allowing Hope to fight at his pace and range. For 12 rounds Hope fought a controlled fight. Petchsuriya managed to have some moments, though they were few and far between, and it seemed like a very, very clear decision for the Welshman. He seemed to out land the Thai in pretty much every round, Petchsuriya seemed to be content to to survive, look for counters and bide his time, waiting for a mistake that never really came. Some how the judges disagreed with what every one else saw. Rather than a comfortable win for Hope the bout was ruled a draw. There was a card of 117-111 to Hope, 115-113 to Petchsuriya and a 114-114 card, resulting in a draw. The decision was scandalous. There was no way to have had the bout even, never mind finding 7 rounds to give Petchsuriya the win. The WBC then reviewed the bout, had new judges score the bout, and the new judges, along with original judge Jerrold Tomeldan, all scored it 117-111 to Hope. The result was reversed on the review, with Hope clamining the WBC Asian Boxing Council Middleweight title and judges Visuth Yingaupagarn and Pongpan Rattanasutorn were then suspended and retrained. Whether Visuth Yingaupagarn and Pongpan Rattanasutorn scored in favour of their fellow Thai due to bias or ineptitude wasn't clear, though both were back ringside judging bouts in April 2016, if not earlier. That was less thna 8 months after their terrible work here. We continue looking at controversies by going to an incredibly obvious one, in fact the bout is one of the most famous robberies in the sports history and a bout that goes down as one of the biggest disgraces in amateur. Through this series we will look at some amateur bouts, but this is certainly the on that stands as being the worst. Park Si Hun Vs Roy Jones Jr We had to. The 1988 Olympic final at 156lbs is regarded as a disgusting robbery with American fighter Roy Jones Jr being robbed blind by the judges against Park Si Hun. Where many covering this bout begin the story at the 1988 Olympics, we really need to roll the clock back 4 years and look at what is essentially a prologue to the bout to fully set the scene. At the 1984 Olympics, in Los Angeles, the South Korean team was an excellent one. They felt they had a number of gold medal contenders and were seen as one of the best teams there. In the end however it was the US who dominated the games, which didn't have the Soviet Union or Cuba attending. From the 12 divisions the US ended up winning 9 golds, a silver and a bronze. Korea on the other hand left with just 3 medals, a single gold, a silver and a bronze. A number of those medals for the Americans came on the back of some questionable judging, with American fighters winning 36 of the 37 decisions they were involved in. As well as decisions favouring the locals a number of other decisions had gone against South Korean fighters, so much so South Korean officials pretty much accused one judge and referee of having a US bias. Just 4 years after the LA games things went to Seoul, South Korea, and the US were again expecting big things from their team, especially with Cuba again boycotting. It was a chance to get revenge for all the issues South Korea felt had harmed them 4 years earlier. Things didn't go their way to begin with though, and that was increasing the anger of the Koreans. They essentially forced official Keith Walker, who they had been angered by 1984, home in 1988 when he was involved in a bout involving Byun In Jung. They were also annoyed at Oh Kwang Soo losing a close decision to Michael Carbajal. They also had to wait almost 24 hours for a decision to be made regarding Anthony Hembrick, who showed up 12 minutes late for a bout with Ha Jong Ho. One of the US' big hopes was Roy Jones Jr. An athletic freak who was just 19 years old but seen as a sensationally talented youngster. He had taken wins at a number of notable competitions, including the 1984 US National Jr Olympics, and the 1986 and 1987 National Golden Gloves. Outside of the US his success continued and he took a silver medal at the 1986 Goodwill games. He was one of their big hopes for a medal and cruised his way to the 156lb final, taking an opening round win before 3 straight 5-0 decisions. Park Si Hun was the Korean hopeful at the weight and had come in to the Olympics as a genuine star. He had been a 2-time Asian Amateur Champion and had won a gold medal at the 1985 Boxing World Cup. To reach the Olympic final he had taken 3 clear and decisive wins, but had struggled in the quarter final against Vincenzo Nardiello, in what was regarded as a genuine controversy in it's self. The bout was a highly anticipated one. It was a chance for local fans to see their local hero take a gold, or for the sensational American to take home the top honour. It was a chance for Korea to get one over on the national they felt had treat them badly in 1984. It was a chance for revenge. Straight from the opening round the Korean fight looked classed, to slow, too ridged and was unable to time Jones' exceptional speed. The Korean struggled to land anything of note whilst Jones landed near enough at will. The domination of Jones grew round by round and in the end it seemed like he had done more than enough to take the decision. He had been the aggressor, he had landed significantly more punches, he had dominated and was surely about to get the gold medal. Then he lost. The judges some how found a way to give the bout to Hun, giving him a 3-2 split decision. A decision that simply couldn't be explained. A decision that defied belief. A decision that sent the crowd into immediate cheers, but left Hun looking confused and Jones in tears as he left the ring. Soon after the bout the three judges who had given the bout to Hun were suspended, the result was seen as a dark point in amateur boxing, and despite the loss Roy Jones was given the Val Barker trophy by AIBA. It also lead to a change in the scoring system, using a flawed computer scoring system rather than the 20-point must system that had been in use. In 1997 an investigation was completed. It found that the judges had been wined and dined by the organisers but that there was no evidence of any corruption regarding boxing at the Olympics. The change in scoring sadly did little to clean up the sport, and caused numerous issues in it's self, but was a direct result of this bout. After the bout Jones would turn professional, making his debut in 1989, and go on to be one of most talented fighters of his generation. He would have professional success from Middleweight to Heavyweight and will, eventually, be inducted into the hall of fame. As for Hun he retired from the sport, became a teacher, and then got back into the sport as a coach in the 2000's. |
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