Graham 'Fight Writer' Houston on Williams vs Airich

Good read I thought. I certainly hope they throw the book at Oner.

http://www.fightwriter.com/?q=node/1677



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BUNGLES IN BILBAO: BACKGROUND TO A BAD NIGHT FOR BOXING

TUESDAY, JUNE 3: At least the right man won in the end, but there were twists and turns in the plot before south London heavyweight Danny Williams finally overpowered Konstantin Airich in the seventh round in Bilbao.

The immediate reaction from those who saw the fight on TV or the internet is that every effort was being made to give Airich victory at all costs, and Williams has protested to the British Boxing Board of Control about the strange circumstances surrounding the fight.

After close review of the video, though, I have arrived at the conclusion that the refereeing by Alfonso Garcia Perez was simply incompetent, and not sinister. His handling of the fight reminded me of one of those amateur referees who keep stepping in to issue cautions.

The most bizarre occurrence, of course, came in the sixth round, when Airich’s promoter, Ahmet Oner, rang the bell with his fighter on the verge of being stopped: the time on the on-screen clock showed there was one minute, 40 seconds remaining in the round. Promoter Oner has now issued a statement explaining his action, saying he simply wanted the fight stopped.

Williams had a total of three points deducted and was given three eight counts, once when the ropes probably kept him from going down, then when he staggered, and a third time when he seemed to slip after missing with a punch. Airich was dropped in the fifth and saved by the bell, then dropped again in the sixth before being spared further punishment when Oner threw in the towel in the seventh. There was also the spectacle of a loose tape flapping from Williams’s left glove — in the end he had to pull it away himself. What a wild fight it was: the term “incident-packed” hardly does it justice.

Let’s look at the controversies, as they happened.

Round 2: Williams landed an extremely low left hook and was sternly cautioned. Nothing wrong there. Another low left hook, and Airich was bizarrely given a standing count of eight. Then the referee instructed the judges to take two points from Williams — dos puntos.
Taking two points seemed extreme, but the referee had already in effect given Danny a two-point round by giving Airich the eight count. By taking two points, you could say that Perez was redressing the balance. It was not refereeing of the highest order, but I saw no clear miscarriage of justice, more a case of bungled offciating than anything.

Round 3: The tape on Williams’s left glove came loose. The referee took Danny over to his corner, where his trainer snipped off the loose tape. The tape quickly came loose again.
This was a very rocky round for Williams. A right hand had his legs buckling and he lurched into the ropes. The eight count seemed appropriate.
Later in the round came the second eight count. This time, Williams had merely wobbled a bit. Presumably the standing eight-count rule was in effect.
One could say that it was unfair to give Williams the standing counts, certainly the second one. Another view could be that the referee did Airich a disservice, because he was giving the British heavyweight valuable extra seconds to recover. I will give the referee a pass on this one.
Williams was given three cautions for holding in this round, the last one presumably a final warning before a point was deducted — finito! Although a point was not deducted, the referee now seemed to be picking on Williams, shouting his warnings with unnecessary vehemence. Williams was holding, though — no wonder, he had been hurt — and at one point he had Airich in a headlock.
It seemed to me that the referee was losing control a bit at this stage. Things seemed to be happening too quickly for him. The thought occurred to me that he was out of his depth in a fight between big men in which a lot of things were happening, and happening fast. Perez made an ineffectual effort to fix the loose tape on Williams’s glove in this round, trying to rewind it instead of ripping it away. Of course, the tape immediately started flying around again, and Danny pulled it off himself while being given his second eight count of the round.

Round 4: Williams, coming on strongly now, was twice cautioned for hitting on the back of the head — he had in fact been guilty of doing this. The referee was yelling the cautions, but no point was taken.
Again, I had the impression that the referee just wasn’t experienced enough to be in charge of a fight such as this. Williams did land what looked a distinctly low left hook in this round but escaped a caution.
Then we had Williams going down on his knees after missing with a left uppercut, to be given an eight count, but Airich had pushed out a left jab, and it was only after looking at the slow-motion replay that it was clear to me that Williams had slipped. These debatable knockdown rulings happen all the time, even with experienced, world-class referees in charge — I cannot be too critical of Perez on this judgement call.
Airich now seemed to be tiring, but, as we learned later, his left hand was injured.

Round 5: Williams escaped warning when hitting Airich on the back of the head — but then had a point off for what looked like a borderline left hook. At this stage it looked as if referee Perez might be looking for a reason to DQ Williams.
Airich did not have a lot left, though, and when he was knocked down by a left hook in the final seconds of the round the fight looked over. There was confusion after the eight count, with Perez talking to Airich’s corner. It seemed to that Perez was asking Airich’s seconds if they wanted to retire their man, but the round was over in any case — nothing too egregious there.

Round 6: Here’s where it got really strange. Airich, knocked down early in the round and taking punches without reply, looked on the verge of being stopped when Oner, who had been on his feet at ringside throughout the bout, reached over and rang the bell. Oner says in his statement that at this point he had been shouting: “Stop the fight!” He says that his intention was to save his man further punishment and to give Williams a TKO win — in effect, being a good guy.

Round 7: No controversy here — Airich immediately started taking a pounding, and Oner threw in the towel. Oner said in his statement that by retiring his man it was he who finally gave Williams the victory, even though he knew that Airich must have been far in front with six extra points for the deductions and knockdowns (OK, so-called knockdowns).

Oner, who is Turkish although a German resident, points out in his statement that he did not bring German officials to Spain. He says he put his trust in the local officials. The fight, he says, was ruined by poor refereeing; no argument there.

All things considered, I would regard this as a night of blunders more than anything.

If the referee was consciously looking to get Airich a win he could have stopped the fight as soon as Williams had his first, serious wobble in round three, when it did briefly look as if Danny was “gone”. There have been many stoppages in boxing history that have been considered hasty, and the referee could always have said he was erring on the side of safety — but he gave Williams the eight count and gave him a chance to recover.

All in all, I think it was just a case of a referee being in over his head, and having an appalling night.

As for Oner ringing the bell, he has expressed his regrets. The fact that he was the one who threw in the towel gives some credence to his claim that he rang the bell to stop the fight, but of course what he did was blatantly against the rules.

It could be that Oner, 36, a former boxer himself, was alarmed at seeing Airich getting hammered by big punches and, standing by the timekeeper, acted impulsively. Maybe he was caught up in the emotion of the occasion, and I have heard it said that he is close to his fighters. But, no, he shouldn’t have done what he did, of course he shouldn't, and he acknowledges this.

The ringside supervision was lax — had there been a properly supervised officials’ table the incident would never have happened.
It is up to the Spanish boxing authorities to decide if they wish to pursue the matter of the unauthorised bell-ringing, but the bottom line is that all was well that ended well for Williams.

Some good can come of this, because boxing commissions world-wide are now aware that the possibility exists of someone other than a timekeeper ringing the bell, and supervision will surely be tightened where needed — although I cannot imagine something like this ever happening again.

The real pity of it all is that the weird happenings detracted from a truly dramatic fight that reflected great credit on both winner and loser, and disputed incidents such as the ones that surrounded the fight are clearly detrimental to boxing’s image.

As ever, though, an ill wind will blow somebody some good — interest in Williams’s British title defence against Big John McDermott on July 18 will surely have skyrocketed, to the delight of promoter Frank Maloney.


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