BBBoC- Are they really this hopeless? Going against WBO Title Fight rules.

Team Parker fuming as British referee appointed for WBO title fight in Manchester

Joseph Parker's handlers are "dismayed and appalled" at the decision to appoint a British referee for his WBO world heavyweight title defence against Hughie Fury.

Britain's Fury and Parker clash in Manchester on September 24.

The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBoC) has appointed British referee Terry O'Connor - the same official in charge of Hughie Fury's last two bouts - to control the fight.

"We're frankly appalled by this. We have petitioned the BBBoC multiple times to see sense, but to no avail. Serious questions need to be asked of the BBBoC," Duco Events director David Higgins said on Thursday.

Fury's last fight against Cameroon's Frank Kassi in April last year, ended in a technical decision to Fury when O'Connor called off the fight after the Brit suffered a cut to the eye in the sixth round.

Duco say a written request from the WBO to the BBBoC to follow its guidelines with regard to the neutrality of officials for world championship bouts has also been rejected.

"This appointment of 'home town' officials contravenes the WBO's guidelines that officials should be neutral, and clearly leaves the contest open to speculation about bias and impropriety," Higgins said.

"WBO president Paco Valcárcel wrote to the BBBoC politely requesting that 'the same procedure applied by the British Boxing Board of Control in the Anthony Joshua versus Wladimir Klitschko bout, should be used on this occasion'.

"Inexplicably the BBBoC has ignored that. This is disgraceful."

Higgins said the appointment of a referee who has controlled Fury's last two fights breached the fight contract.

"It's entirely contrary to the spirit of the deal and the letter of the contract struck with Hennessy Sports for the title fight, the governing principal being that it would be a fair fight," he said.

He feared the appointment would fall into the likely game plan of Fury.

"The entire world knows that Hughie Fury is going to run away from Joseph Parker, clinch, elbow, headbut and do whatever he can to steal a result. Having a referee with whom he is familiar clearly provides an unfair advantage.

"Mr O'Connor refereed Hughie Fury's last two fights, so it is patently inappropriate for him to have any influence over this world title fight.

"We might have expected this sort of thing had the bout been held in a banana republic, but to see this lack of neutrality and fair play in a nation like Great Britain is staggering."

Higgins said Duco Events had lobbied BBBoC successfully to have a New Zealander added to the judging panel to balance the presence of a British judge, however the BBBoC had refused repeated requests to appoint a neutral referee.

"We've formally raised these issues with BBBoC and its response has been quite frankly pathetic. They could not provide an adequate reason why they did not want a neutral referee."

WBO guidelines state that for a world title fight officials should be 'not the same nationality or place of residence or origin of the champion or the challenger(s), or of their respective agents'.

"BBBoC has the final say over the appointment of officials for this fight and we want to know why they have ignored the WBO's quite sensible guidelines," Higgins said.

"Furthermore, Peter Fury looked me in the eye, shook my hand and said he wanted this to be a fair fight with neutral officials. I'm sure he hasn't changed his mind about that. So why would the BBBoC appoint non-neutral officials against the wishes of both camps?"

The latest controversy signal the dangers of taking Parker's title on the road and continues a trend in the troubled promotion that was first set down for May in Auckland, only to have Fury withdraw, citing a back injury.

There were problems with the fight purse bids and there are concerns the promotion will be run in a half full stadium as ticket sales continue to struggle.

 

Terry O'Connor lmao, can they make it anymore obvious?
Parker should withdraw, he can cite WBO rule breach.

 

terry o'connor

good ref

hes pretty fair

 

figures the furys never play fair lol.

 

Brit stoppage ordered in Fury's favor.

That's probably the only way they have a reasonable chance of actually getting him into a ring without cancelling.

 

WBO need to grow a pair and refuse this appointment.

Parker should walk away with that chunk of cash Hennessey put into the Escrow acc.

 

As if it didn't look dodgy before, the fix is in The Furys are doing what they can to make life difficult for Parker and his team still, playing mind games and making it impossible to raise his profile so that win or lose he doesn't really win. These guys should have already lost the mandatory after the last circus, but this is even worse and clearly calculated.

Seriously, if this breaks the contract then Team Parker need to either pull out and get Team Fury to sort it out or get the WBO to find a deserving team for Parker to defend against.

 

better question is how does someone whos best win is a victory over Fred kassi. before a mandatory for a world title -.-. like seriously. atleast parker fought someone like takam before a title shot. feel sorry for parker hope he gets a KO win because I think that's the only way hes leaving with the title

 

I literally worry about a British stoppage if Fury lands more than 3 feathery shots in a round

 

As a compromise, the BBBoC need to let Parker's team pick the round the Brit ref is going to step in for the questionable stoppage so they can at least get their bets in and collect a few coins.

 

I dont get this WBO rule. Was the ref for Kovalev vs Ward not American?

I like the rule but it doesnt look like it gets applied.

 

O'Connor is the Fury's own referee isn't he? He's sure done the last few of Hughie's fights.

 

At least they both live and fight out of America haha

 

They have played it very smart. The financial hit from the cancelled fight in NZ and relatively small purses Parker has fought for mean there is little to no chance of him handing back $2,000,000 to cancel this fight.

Team Fury doing their best to buy a belt because they'll be sure to lose $$ on this fight.

 

One biased Ref decision and Joe's title is gone for good.

Just the kind of thing I have been predicting. Dealing with these guys is a nightmare.