~~~The Lightning Lucian Bute Battleship~~~

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Zuniga's promoter gives ultimatum over choice of officials for Bute title fight

20 minutes ago

MONTREAL — The controversy surrounding Lucian Bute's last defence of his IBF super-middleweight crown just won't go away.
The Montreal fighter is scheduled to defend his title for a third time Friday against Colombia's Fulgencio Zuniga at the Bell Centre. But Zuniga's promoter Alfredo Marchio has threatened to prevent the fight from happening if Montreal's Marlon Wright is refereeing the match.
Marchio said that Bute's victory over Librado Andrade on Oct. 24 - when Bute was knocked down for the first time in his career in the 12th round and got up just in time for the bell - was aided greatly by Wright.
If Wright is working the fight again on Friday and all the judges are Canadian, Marchio is threatening to pull his fighter from the bout.
"I certainly wouldn't want to see the same referee," Marchio said during a news conference Tuesday, noting that Wright has refereed Bute's last five fights. "That could be a big problem."
Marchio would not commit absolutely to pulling Zuniga from the bout if Wright is assigned as referee, but said "it could be" an option.
"We're here to fight," he said. "But we need to know it would be a fair decision."
Zuniga himself said he doesn't care who is refereeing, but Marchio said the decision on whether or not to pull out of the fight will ultimately fall on him.
"Of course," Marchio said. "I have to look at everything and protect my fighter."
Bute's camp obviously disagrees with Marchio's assessment of the Andrade fight, but trainer Stephan Larouche agrees that a neutral referee and neutral judges would be in the best interests of not only both fighters, but of Quebec boxing in general.
"It's not our decision, but if there were three outside judges and an outside referee we'd have no problem with it," Larouche said. "It would make the most sense. People from outside Quebec need to realize that we have good boxers in Quebec and we don't need local referees to win a fight."
Bute said he's through thinking about the Andrade fight and all the controversy surrounding it, but if it means avoiding the same thing happening again he would happily give the choice of referees to Zuniga's camp.
"I won the fight (against Andrade), the referee didn't win it for me," said the 28-year-old native of Galati, Romania. "As far as I'm concerned, the referee could come from Colombia. I don't care. The fight will be won with what I do in the ring. I will do my work in the ring and show everyone that I deserve to remain champion."
Bute (23-0, 18 knockouts) is familiar with Zuniga (22-3-1, 19 knockouts) because the two sparred together in preparation for the October fight against Andrade.
Zuniga is ranked 13th in the world by the IBF, and Larouche admits he's not the ideal opponent for Bute coming off that scare against Andrade but U.S. television insisted on this matchup.
"Of course, after a tough fight like Andrade you're looking for an easy fight, not the hardest one," Larouche said. "Zuniga can knock your lights out with either hand, which was not the case with Andrade. Lucian will have to be alert."
Marchio said he sees Friday night's bout as "Round 13" of Bute's fight against Andrade and that Zuniga is looking to pick up where it left off.
"I think (Bute's) vulnerable," Marchio said. "I believe Librado Andrade shook him up and I think Fulgencio Zuniga will finish the job."
Larouche believes Zuniga will try to knock Bute out early but predicted the fight will not go the maximum 12 rounds, even though Bute himself said he is prepared to go the distance.
"Zuniga's going to come after Lucian early," Larouche said. "But around the seventh or eighth round Zuniga's going to have indigestion because of all the leather he's going to eat."

 

I'm glad for Bute that Wright won't be the ref, but I'm sorry for Wright...when is he going to be allowed to referee Bute again, if ever? Not this time, not in any optional decence, because no promoter will agree to it, not in any mandatory defence, for the same reason, not against Andrade, not in any unification fight...:-(

...such a good referee...but he did side with Bute and he must pay...:conf

 

He'll have to referee title fights on the East Coast of the USA, I guess.:|

...It's sad that Wright had to pay for protecting Bute a bit...:-(...Wright is not a millionaire like Bute...he works security to keep his family...yet, he felt he had to give Bute a slight helping hand...and Bute: "The referee didn't win me the fight; I did!"...etc...:think

 

QFT.

Wright really is an extremely competent referee...but...he is biased, and that lets him down a lot.:|...I feel very sorry for him, though...because I feel he "took one for the side", as it were...even though he might not have been expected to do so...:-(

 

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Sports - Boxe

Écrit par Daniel Cloutier

mardi, 10 mars 2009 19:22

Mise à jour le mardi, 10 mars 2009 19:57

L'arbitre montréalais Marlon B. Wright a sursauté mardi lorsqu'il a été informé que l'Américain Lindsay Page fils avait été mandaté pour arbitrer, vendredi soir au Centre Bell, le combat entre Lucian Bute et Fulgencio Zuniga. «Le comité de championnat de l'IBF a demandé à la Régie québécoise (des sports de combat) de choisir l'arbitre du combat Bute-Zuniga entre deux candidats proposés, et je sais que j'étais l'un d'eux, a déclaré Wright. Normal, puisque je suis le seul arbitre au pays à être membre du comité des officiels de l'IBF, et je demeure à Montréal.

«La Régie a donc choisi l'Américain plutôt que moi, et ça, je le prends très mal. Oui, je suis insulté, d'autant plus que les dirigeants de la Régie ont déclaré publiquement que j'avais fait preuve d'un jugement irréprochable durant les derniers instants du combat Bute-Andrade, le 24 octobre au Centre Bell.

«J'ai donné toutes les chances possibles à Bute de terminer le combat, compte tenu du fait qu'il dominait très largement aux points après le 11e round, et les membres de la Régie, ainsi que ceux de l'IBF, ont applaudi ma décision. La Régie se devait donc de défendre ma position face aux attaques injustes du clan Zuniga.

«L'an dernier à Atlantic City, Bernard Hopkins avait menacé de faire annuler son affrontement avec Joe Calzaghe si Joe Cortez était le troisième homme dans le ring, et la Commission athlétique du New Jersey n'a jamais cédé devant cette forme de chantage. Cortez était l'arbitre, et le combat a été présenté comme prévu (Calzaghe a gagné aux points). Je suis victime d'une injustice et je vais le faire savoir aux dirigeants de l'IBF et à ceux de la Régie québécoise.»

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I am worried about Wright's future and sorry that it has come to this. The Regie and IBF have washed their hands of this affair in an ignoble, hypocritical way. They praise Wright for his refereeing and clear him of any wrong-doing to paper over the controversy only to sideline him without explanation subsequently. This is wrong! Either what he did was wrong and he robbed Andrade of victory, in which case there should have been an immediate rematch, and he should have been disciplined/suspended, or, if he didn't do anything wrong, he should be publicly defended by the Regie and the IBF, and he should not have been sidelined! I am a bit disappointed with the way Interbox have dealt with the situation too. They talk about the reputation of boxing in Montreal and the credibility of Bute being at stake, but how does it helt Bute and Montreal if Wright is de facto branded the referee who won Bute the fight?