Great Article On Fighting In Germany

this writer ha spoken the truth! :rasta

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=17964&more=1

some excerpts from the article

Reile vs Menzer

It is well known that Germany is the most biased country in the world when it comes to boxing and it is a reputation that is well-deserved. It is difficult, if not impossible, to win by decision there if you are a boxer from another country and are not allied with one of Germany’s two major boxing promotional companies, namely Universum and Sauerland. After my analysis of Menzer’s fights, Reile was not at all worried about Menzer. However, Reile was worried about the biased judges because it was something that she could not control. I felt that she had nothing to worry about because I believed that Reile would cause Menzer to tire quickly to the point where she could not continue. I thought that the fight would not go past five rounds if Reile stuck to the game plan and pushed Menzer to her limit because Reile is in much better shape and more athletic than Menzer. Before the fight, Menzer and her trainer Michael Timm described Reile’s fighting style as unorthodox, but Reile actually does use an orthodox stance. Reile does not fight southpaw. What they were really trying to say is that Reile is unpredictable because Menzer’s fighting style is as predictable as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. It is a common view among German boxers that anyone who does not fight like them, like a predictable robot, is considered to be unorthodox.

The German media are supposed to be truthful, but they just function as publicists for what I call The German Gravy Train and its goal is to derail the visiting boxer’s career. In addition to the German media, the promotional companies, ZDF television, the biased German boxing fans, and even the German photographers at ringside are all a part of the gravy train and they have a hidden agenda that is not so hidden anymore. They want the world to know that German boxers are the best boxers in the world. It is all part of the propaganda that they use when they give a false description and portrayal of the fights in Germany. I envision them having a meeting to discuss their plan: “Zee Americans vill never see zuh fight, heh heh heh.” “Ve can say vhatever ve vant, heh heh heh.” The German media thought that they could rewrite boxing history because they believed that no one would be able to see the fight outside of Germany, but they were wrong because now it is on youtube.com.

Universum provided Stacey with food vouchers which allowed her to eat the food in the hotel restaurant for free. Before she left for Germany, I told Stacey not to eat any German food unless it is in sealed packages or fresh fruits and vegetables from a supermarket. I was concerned about someone poisoning the food, but I never thought that the food in Germany is so bad that it is nearly inedible. You don’t have to take my word for it. Just watch rapper Snoop Dogg in his TV show Father Hood. There is one episode in which Snoop Dogg is getting ready to perform in Germany. His family is with him and they go out to eat at a nice restaurant. Dogg and his family just looked at the food and were repulsed by it. Dogg was so frustrated that he had his personal assistant go out on the streets of Germany to search for chicken wings so that he could cook the food himself. Needless to say, his assistant could not find any, so Dogg had to have chicken wings flown in by plane. I believe that athletes should eat food that they are used to, food that isn’t “weird.” If you go to Germany, try to find restaurants that have franchises throughout the world. At least the food is standardized and there is quality control. Also, bring sports bars or energy bars so that you have something to satisfy your hunger in between meals. Stacey’s boyfriend and father regrettably ate the food in the hotel thanks to the food vouchers that Universum was so kind enough to provide. Stacey believes this was done so that she would be more inclined to eat the food from the hotel. Stacey is a world-class athlete, so her body was better able to digest the disgusting food, but I think eating it did adversely affect her. Her boyfriend and father had to spend prolonged periods of time on porcelain thrones during their week long stay in Germany.

The hotel that Universum had Stacey stay in was about an hour drive from the arena, so it was not a convenient distance away. Also, the hotel was above a bar and near a school. The room that she stayed in did not have any working air conditioning, so she had to open the window to get air. According to Stacey, it was very noisy outside because of the bar and school. Opening the window to get some air raised the noise level in her room and consequently Stacey did not have restful and proper sleep while in Germany. Stacey provided me with the phone number to her hotel room and I called her the day before the fight to wish her good luck. I then told her to leave the phone off the hook during the night because I was concerned that someone would try to call her to disrupt her sleep. I also called her the morning of the fight. “Did you get a good night’s sleep?” I asked, knowing how important this was to her performance. “Yeah,” Stacey replied groggily. I sighed. “Okay,” I said. I knew from the sound of her voice that she did not sleep well, but her fight was at night and I hoped that she could take a nap during the day. It is a common ploy among unscrupulous promoters to make the visiting boxer and his or her team as uncomfortable as possible so that they are not at their best on fight night.

 

Before the fight, the German media acted like they adored Stacey. The people in the audience cheered for her when the ring announcer said her name. However, when the fight started, they all wanted her to lose to keep the gravy train going. One journalist on the Internet wrote that Menzer was “the scientist” and Reile was “the student.” Doctor Menzer? Maybe he has her confused with Doctor Mengele. I guess he blinked every time Stacey landed her punches. Of course, he lied about the punch that Menzer threw after the bell to end round three as being “right on the bell.” The German photographers only released photos of Menzer landing punches and none that Stacey did. Finally, one photo must have been inadvertently leaked out that Stacey was able to find on the Internet, so Stacey put it on her myspace page which is myspace.com/staylo4real. The photo shows Stacey landing a left uppercut to Menzer’s head. Surely, there must be more photos like this, but they are being kept a closely guarded secret by the Germans. Speaking of uppercuts, Menzer does not throw them. She prefers to just throw left jabs and right hands and will throw hooks sometimes, but I have never seen Menzer throw an uppercut. I think the reason for this is that Menzer prefers to keep a certain distance from her opponents and an uppercut could only be landed if she was at close range. The German fans are willing participants in this grand propaganda scheme. One German fan recorded the fight from his seat in the audience, but he only uploaded the fourth round on youtube.com. This fan must have recorded the whole fight, but did not want the world to see the first three rounds in which Stacey did well and certainly not the punch that Menzer threw after the bell to end the third round that ruptured Stacey’s eardrum.

think it is a conflict of interest when Universum, the promotional company hosting the fight, is owned by Klaus-Peter Kohl who is also Menzer’s manager. Only one judge was from Germany, but that is not a reliable indicator of whether a judge is biased. Not one judge gave any round to Stacey. Basically, Menzer could have frolicked around the ring holding two beer mugs like the St. Pauli Girl and the judges still would not have given Stacey one round. Even the ZDF commentator Gunter-Peter Ploog (Yes, that is his real name) scored every round for Menzer. After three rounds, Ploog and the judges (Arno Pokrandt of Germany, Sergio Silvi of Luxembourg, and Roger Tilleman of Belgium) scored it 30-27 in favor of Menzer. Moe, Larry, and Curly of The Three Stooges could have done a better job than these three judges. I wonder what would have happened if Stacey had knocked Menzer down. Ploog would have probably scored it a 10-8 round…for Menzer! Then, someone would have had to tell him about the error he made and he would say, “Silly me, my mistake, haw haw haw!” During the breaks in between rounds, ZDF showed replays of the fight in slow motion, but only of Menzer landing punches and none of Stacey. This is just another example of their blatant bias because Stacey was the better boxer during the first three rounds. Stacey also found Menzer’s punches to be weak. Menzer is a feather fisted featherweight champion. In her last ten fights, Menzer won seven of those by decision. Only three of them were wins by stoppage. Maribel Santana quit on her stool. Kasha Chamblin got up from a knockdown, but the fight was stopped by the referee. Stacey Reile’s fight was stopped because of her cornerman. Chamblin and Reile got up from their knockdowns, so they wanted to continue and they were able to. Menzer could not put away 38-year-old Adriana Salles of Brazil in her most recent fight.

Before anyone accuses me of supporting only American boxers, I would like to share my viewpoint regarding boxing judges. I feel that every fight should be judged impartially, although I know that this is a fantasy. Every country has judges with bias. Even boxers fighting within their own country can be given a bad decision when fighting in the hometown of their opponent. There are three reasons why I believe that it is extremely important for a boxing judge to score a fight correctly. First, boxers sacrifice a lot in their life to box for a living. For many, if not most, it is not their sole source of income. They risk getting permanently hurt. For a boxer to lose a fight that he or she deserves to win, it must be very disheartening. Second, it lowers the integrity of the sport, what little boxing has left of it. It makes people turn to other sports to watch. Keep in mind, however, that this does not apply to Germany because their biased fans just want the German boxers to win no matter what. Third, it fragments the sport by creating distrust and causes boxers to not want to travel to other countries where controversial decisions are rampant. I believe this is why Roy Jones Jr. never wanted to go to Europe to fight Dariusz Michalczewski of Poland when they both were considered to be the top two boxers in the light heavyweight division for several years. I do not care what country a world champion comes from. I understand that boxing is a sport that is worldwide, so I do not expect all the world champions to come from America. I just want to see the best fight the best and I want the fights to be judged and officiated impartially.

 

After I saw the Reile vs. Menzer fight on video, it was obvious to me that Stacey won the first three rounds. In round one, Stacey was landing repeatedly with a left hook to the body and head combination. Stacey also landed well with the right hook to the body in round two. In round three, Stacey was effective with the left hook to Menzer’s head. Stacey told me after the fight that she noticed Menzer breathing hard in the third round, gasping with her mouth open. When that happened, Stacey thought of me because she remembered what I had told her about Menzer’s cardiovascular conditioning. I knew that Stacey’s limits were far beyond that of Menzer and therefore Menzer would not be able to win if she was pushed to her limits. That was beginning to happen in the third round. It is for this reason that Stacey believes Menzer had no reservations about throwing a right hook to Stacey’s left ear after the bell had rung to end the third round. This punch ruptured Stacey’s eardrum because it hit her directly on the ear. The ruptured eardrum caused her equilibrium to be off. Stacey staggered and the referee touched her briefly to prevent her from falling down. I believe the referee did that because he knew that the punch from Menzer was thrown after the bell. The referee in this fight, Daniel Van de Wiele, was the same referee who waved the fight off after Kasha Chamblin got up from her knockdown against Menzer. I know that the referee tells the boxers to protect themselves at all times, but maybe there should be an addendum to that statement: “Protect yourself at all times, especially in Germany.”

When Stacey returned to her corner, Mark Vaz gave her advice and told her that she was “reaching too much…That’s not winning any rounds on the judges’ scorecards.” According to Stacey, Vaz did not give her any water to drink during the two other breaks between rounds, but finally did so during this one, probably because Vaz knew that ZDF television would show their corner on TV after Stacey got hurt which ZDF did. During the two previous breaks, they only showed Menzer’s corner. Stacey’s left ear was swollen and reddened, but Vaz did not mention this to Stacey. Vaz did not give her instructions such as to move more or hold in order to recover her equilibrium. In the fourth round, Stacey was not the same fighter that she was the previous three rounds. Menzer threw a left jab to the body in order to divert Stacey’s attention from the straight right hand that Menzer directed at Stacey’s left ear, the ear with the ruptured eardrum. Stacey got knocked down and the only reason was because the punch hit her left ear. Otherwise, a punch like that from the feather fisted Menzer would not have knocked her down. While Stacey was down, Vaz did not try to stop the fight. I think that Vaz was hoping that she would stay down because it was only until Stacey got up on steady legs that he waved his arms which forced the referee to stop the fight.

If Vaz was so concerned about Stacey’s safety, then why didn’t he have the fight stopped before the fourth round started and why did he wait until Stacey got up from the knockdown? Also, why would there be a reason to stop it if she got up on steady legs without wobbling? Couldn’t Vaz have let the referee make that determination by the referee looking at her and talking to her? How could Vaz even determine whether she could continue or not when he was facing Stacey’s back? Stacey claims that Vaz told her not to attend the post-fight press conference, so she did not go. Stacey believes that Vaz did not want her to attend so she would not be able to protest his actions to the media. Stacey reluctantly paid Vaz for his “services” just to get him out of her life. Did Vaz receive any other compensation while in Germany? I do not know, but I know what I believe.

Stacey returned to Florida and was devastated. Stacey felt betrayed by Vaz and dealing with the aftermath of this fight was even more difficult because most of the information on the Internet about the fight such as articles by journalists or publicity by Universum and ZDF were less than truthful. In addition, the haters came out in full force, spewing their venom and vitriol on the Internet. These are people that wanted Stacey to fail and they were eager to make their feelings known. On top of all this, Stacey’s ear was still hurting from the ruptured eardrum. I knew that her ear would heal physically, but I was more concerned about how this experienced affected her as a person. She was dejected for a couple of months. I never thought that boxing, a sport that made her feel so good, could make her feel so bad. I grieved as well because it was so unfair how she was treated before, during, and after the fight. The misinformation marketing machine of The German Gravy Train had no more use for Stacey Reile other than to misleadingly portray that Menzer dominated the fight. After that, they discarded Stacey like a used tea bag. Life, like boxing, is unfair.

Even though it is clear that boxing is declining in popularity in America, some boxing fans are not accepting that fact. When a Fight of the Year candidate comes along, they are quick to use that as an example of boxing doing well. That is what happened when Antonio Margarito fought Miguel Cotto. They say, “See? Look at that!” Well, I’ll tell you what I see. I go to my local bookstore and see seven mixed martial arts magazines for sale, but only two boxing magazines. I go to my local boxing gym which had two boxing rings, but now has replaced one of the rings with a MMA cage. I go to a local restaurant/bar that shows UFC pay per view events and I ask the hostess if they are going to show any boxing pay per view events in the future and she looks at me like I have a hole in my head. Saying that boxing is popular in America because of one good fight is like saying there is no global warming because of one cold day.


In Germany, boxing judges are supposed to be impartial and promotional companies should be held accountable for the way they do business. However, sanctioning bodies are not going to bite that hand that feeds them, or should I say fees them. The balance of power in boxing has shifted to Europe, but it is possible that MMA will eventually permeate Europe just as it has done in the United States. UFC president Dana White said, “Boxing is in trouble for one reason, and one reason only – greed.” I would like female boxers to have better opportunities which would happen if the UFC allowed women to compete in their events. They would be able to earn more money instead of fighting for pitiful portions of paltry purses. They would have to learn new skills, but I think women should have the option of competing in either boxing or mixed martial arts if they want to. I have never seen a bad decision on the judges’ scorecards in MMA and it seems that the competitiveness of the fights is more important to the promotional companies than who wins.

In sports, there is such a thing as home field advantage or home court advantage. This is a question that I would like all of you reading this article to consider: When does an advantage in sports become an unfair advantage? Judging in boxing is so significant because the competitors are in combat with each other. It is not like the judging in diving or figure staking where the athletes compete independently of one another. When one boxer knows that he or she has the judges on their side, the boxer does not have to do much to win the round. This means that they can be very defensive and do not have to take chances. They can be conservative. Conversely, opponents who know they have to overcome the judges’ bias in order to win have to take risks. This is what happened when Stacey fought Menzer. Is it always going to be a part of boxing that in order to win against the champion in his or her home country, state, or town that you have to knock them out? All Menzer has to do to win a round is flick a few jabs and they don’t even have to land. Menzer does not really have to exert herself much during these two minute rounds either because she does not have to do much and she still gets tired. Just imagine if she ever fought in another country where she knew that the judges were not going to show favoritism to her. If Menzer had fought Stacey in America, Stacey would have beaten the bratwurst out of her. I do not care that Germany has become a mecca for boxing. I do not feel deprived because I am not able to watch their events on television. People in Germany can watch the events for free on television. If Germans want to spend their hard-earned money to pay for tickets and see biased boxing at the venue, then so be it. Whatever makes them feel warm and fuzzy inside.
.