Darchinyan camp to protest loss

Darchinyan Camp Protests
By Ray Wheatley–World of Boxing

After viewing the Abner Mares versus Vic Darchinyan bout several times, Elias Nassar, the manager of the former IBF/WBC/WBA champion is disgusted with the scoring and the referee of the SHOWTIME bantamweight bout. Nassar talks to Fightnews and gives reasons for his protest that includes YouTube links.

Nassar: I find it very difficult to accept the loss of my fighter after viewing the replay of the fight countless times. Directly after viewing the bout, I initially accepted the final result. I noted that the fight was very close and without bias I had Vic Darchinyan winning 114-112. I also initially accepted that the fight was close enough for any person who may have watched the bout to pick either fighter as the winner and the rounds could have been judged for the frequency of punches Mares was throwing or for the clean hard punches being landed by Vic.

What I don’t accept is the sub standard officiating of the bout by referee Howard and one of the judges. In relation to one of the judges scorecard’s, I am dumbfounded one judge could have scored nine out of twelve rounds to Mares including the last seven rounds. There is no way whatsoever that Mares could have won nine out of twelve rounds. What is also most alarming though is the refereeing of the bout. This collectively has lead to a official protest being lodged.

I purposely waited to view the bout in it’s entirety to make one comment on the bout. Vic Darchinyan was hit with blatant and illegal low blows. Vic was hit with over 20 low blows over the duration of the bout, 14 of which were direct hits to his groin area. The game plan of Mares was to push Vic back, but with low blows. On the the fourth low blow administered by Mares he was deducted one point for that blatant low blow, for the remainder of the bout Vic was hit with a further 10 direct low blows, five of these low blows were given on the run warnings by referee Howard but there was no further point deductions. A week after the fight to our surprise a Sports Sciences documentary that was produced by the U.S Division of Fox Sports aired, this episode was produced two years earlier. It demonstrated what exactly happens when a fighter is hit with low blows. The person demonstrating the action of throwing a low blow was none other than Abner Mares.

When a low blow is thrown by Abner Mares it delivers in the vicinity of 380 pounds of force to the groin area, another point to note that when he threw the punch for the demonstration he was wearing 14 oz Winnings gloves that are much softer than the 8 oz Cleto Reyes gloves he was wearing in the bout. The repercussions of a low blow result with the opponents lungs reducing considerably in size. Vic wasn’t able to breathe properly for 11 of the 12 rounds and does not remember what happened from round six onwards except that he was repeatedly hit with low blow after low blow. Our corner continually spoke with referee Howard on the frequency of the low blows but it was all to no avail, referee Howard was out of his league with a world title fight of this magnitude, even after one of the illegal blows in round eight with 1:34 to go in the round, referee Howard was quoted as saying to Mares on the run, “Hey brother, I know your not doing it on purpose but please keep them up.”

A single low blow can be labeled as a accident or coincidental. A few low blows can be labeled as major indiscretion with severe repercussions towards the perpetrator, but when a fighter like Abner Mares has detailed information on what exactly happens when a low blow is thrown only one time not 14 times in his instance, it is a premeditated act that shows every hint of intent to hurt and disable my fighter, with further viewing of the Fox Sports Science documentary it borders on blatant disrespect for the sport of boxing, Abner Mares knew exactly what he was doing and it was part of his game plan in trying to break down fighter he would have a lot of trouble beating if he didn’t employ these tactics. In any other fight he would have been disqualified by a more experienced referee after the indiscretion that lead to a point being deducted in round four.

It was commented by some people that Vic ran out of gas in the bout. This statement is totally wrong. Vic Darchinyan’s fitness was hitting an absolute peak on the day of the bout. Our preparation is totally structured with doctors and nutritionists involved in our 10 week preparation process. One week before the bout Vic’s resting heart rate two minutes after a 10 mile run was 48 beats per minute. He is one of the hardest and smartest trainers in the sport and we time his whole preparation to peak on the day of the bout. The only other time where his fitness suffered was when he was head butted by Joseph Agbeko on several occasions and required 44 stitches directly after the bout. In that bout Vic fought the wrong fight and didn’t deserve the win, in this fight he was the better fighter even withstanding the twenty or so low blow blows he received.

Vic wants to move on and fight Yohnny Perez. And we will do that because SHOWTIME and Gary Shaw have showed us unbelievable support for the last six years, but ultimately the care of my fighter is my first and foremost priority, and the principle of sportsmanship and the current result of what has occurred is seriously floored and totally wrong. Vic Darchinyan lost by a world title bout by one solitary point not withstanding all the circumstances I have already outlined, my opinion is that the decision of the bout be should be overturned immediately or at its absolute worst this bout be ruled a no contest with a rematch to be ordered directly after the SHOWTIME bantamweight tournament finishes.

What occurred was totally wrong in every sense and the boxing organizations and governing bodies involved should be rectifying this situation immediately. With the guidance and care of Gary Shaw, protests have been lodged with all involved parties, I hope that this situation is viewed on its merits and dealt with total fairness and honesty. Boxing doesn’t need these sub standards affecting the sports reputation and also affecting the career of my fighter who was unjustly treated.

I have include two links for the people to form their own opinions, I am sure they will be as surprised as I was when I viewed these videos. Please keep in mind that this world title fight was decided by one solitary point.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp9tHlw2TUQ[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRymiQh2P3A[/ame]



I would also like to thank the hundreds of fans that have sent messages and emails to us, thank you for your support, Team Darchinyan will be back this year to face the best and beat the best.