Danny Williams fiasco

[Maelstrom]

Wow, that Fight was an Absolute Disgrace.

Danny Could have Won at the end of Round 5. I dont know why the Round did not Continue after Danny Williams Knocked Down Airich, think the Promoter was just delaying the Fight.

Seriously, that Referee needs to review Boxing Rules and that Promoter needs to be Banned.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/7431510.stm

Danny Williams has urged the British Boxing Board of Control to take action after his controversial victory over Konstantin Airich in Bilbao on Friday.

"I knew I had no chance of winning unless I stopped him," said Williams.

"It was incredible. There were rounds ending early and I lost count of the number of points I had taken away.

The BBBofC's general secretary Simon Block said he was awaiting a video of the contest with interest: "I am very concerned. I won't hesitate to take action if it is deemed appropriate."

Williams added: "I took the fight because Airich didn't look too good on the videos. But I couldn't believe how hard he punched. His power was up there on a level with Vitali Klitschko.

"I wasn't mentally prepared for that kind of power. But I got used to it, and everything that was going on just spurred me on to get the win."

I take it Blocks never heard of YouTube then...

[josh fg]

or this website, if something has happened in bosing which is exciting I tend to be strait on hear to see who's got there first with a link.

[jomothepure]

Oner's take on the fight. If his version of events is to be believed, then tbh I feel rather more sympathetic to him and his actions.

http://boxingbollox.wordpress.com/2008/ ... statement/

[Asterix]

I don't believe him. Why not throw the towel in rather than ringing the bell?

[rhino222]

i dont believe him either, he is a james hunt of the highest calibre, why did he not throw the towel in when he rang the bell !!....twat.

this guy is just making excuses to try and save his licence as he has been caught on film, fcuk me, the twat rang the bell then ran away..hardly the actions of someone trying to stop the fight.

[Old bones Ian]

Oner's take on the fight. If his version of events is to be believed, then tbh I feel rather more sympathetic to him and his actions.

http://boxingbollox.wordpress.com/2008/ ... statement/

He wouldn't of said a word if it wasn't caught on TV,

[knockout]

like i said in an earlier post his ring of the bell was a little sneaky one.... not a full on ring you would do if you wanted to stop a fight

[DavidPayne]

Just a farce. Great thrilling punch-up despite and because of the shenanigans.

Some evidence of form from DW I thought.

[nickd]

Official Statement from Ahmet Oner

First of all I want to apologize for all the confusion in this fight. And I want to point out that I never meant to cheat on Danny in any way. If it would have been my goal to steal the victory from him I wouldn’t have thrown in the towel at a point where Konstantin was leading on all scorecards.

To me the first couple of rounds between Konstantin Airich and Danny Williams have been the most entertaining I’ve seen in a while in heavyweight boxing. Konstantin showed a great performance and impressed Danny with his enormous power and very hard hands and sent him to the canvas a couple of times. The way Danny recovered from that and came back to win the fight with all his experience was very impressive as well.

The main problem of the fight, however, was very poor refereeing and the officials of the local commission.

Regarding this I want to make clear that the show was only co-promoted by ARENA and we didn’t bring German officials to Spain but worked with the local commission in Bilbao. I didn’t know anybody of the officials before the fight and to me they really turned this great bout into a farce.

The referee was at no point in control of the action inside the ring. When Danny’s tape loosened from his glove the ref wouldn’t stop the bout to have it fixed. At one point the ref even tried to wrap the tape around the glove himself which looked really stupid to me after that he even ripped it off completely. In addition to that he warned Danny and deducted points in strange situations, he gave him a standing eight-count which wouldn’t have happened in Germany and he saw knockdowns where the fighters obviously slipped.

The supervisor did nothing to correct the referee and what the timekeepers did was the biggest disgrace. They stopped the breaks prematurely and had one round – I think it was the 5th – going for 3:30.

Because the fight was very exciting but disturbed by poor refereeing I got very angry and started to argue with the officials. Additionally I had heard after the 3rd round that Konstantin had problems with his left hand and seemed to be seriously injured. So when Danny started to attack Konstantin in the 6th, I shouted at the officials to stop the fight. Actually Konstantin’s trainer didn’t think that his fighter was in danger so he didn’t throw in the towel what would have been the best at this point of time.

I thought Konstantin might get knocked out hard as I know that Danny can do some damage. So I kept on shouting ‘Stop the fight!’ and meant that it should have been a TKO for Danny at this point. This situation led to the ringing of the bell with 1:30 to go in the round.

As the officials acted as if nothing had happened and just started the 7th round after a break I threw in the towel to end all discussions. I never meant to cheat on Danny or to steal the victory from him. Otherwise I wouldn’t have thrown the towel in.

Unlike other (German) promoters, I stand for boxing as a sport. I want to see interesting fights and great action inside the ring. That’s why I do the aggressive matchmaking I’m known for. No other promoter in the world would have let a guy with only 10 pro-fights take on a world class fighter like Danny Williams.

In addition to that, I didn’t do the fight on German soil or with German officials like other German promoters do it to control the judging. We went to neutral soil which proved to be a mistake as this local commission really did a bad job. I think the first half of the fight showed that it was a good match-up. That this was ruined by poor refereeing teaches me not to work with inexperienced referees and officials again. And I regret the mistake I made in choosing Bilbao as place for the fight to happen.

I hope that Danny understands my motives and what happened in Bilbao. And I hope that he didn’t mean to accuse me personally but point on a problem we have in professional boxing in general: Promoters impinging on officials to have their fighters win. This might be a typical German problem but I am not a typical German promoter – I am Turkish; I work internationally; and I am a boxing fan as well which means I want to see great fights with fair decisions.

Everybody who accuses me personally should not forget that it was me who ended the fight in favour of Danny and that I saw Sinan Samil Sam losing to Oliver McCall in Ankara one year ago which wouldn’t have happened one of the other ‘typical German promoters.’

After all I hope that Danny gives Konstantin a rematch one day after he recovers from his broken hand because I think Konstantin deserves it as he really showed a heck of a fight which shouldn’t be forgotten besides all the anger and confusion.

[Old bones Ian]

For all the poor refereeing, do you think he actually did Danny a favour with the first standing count, Danny was definetly hurt , his legs did that funny jump. If Airich had followed up it could have been a disaster for Williams.

[Chambers2]

Interesting to here Oners take on the situation.


With regards to the constant problem of glove tape loosening, why can't the board of controls insist on each boxer having an elasticated tubi-grip over the wrist of each glove to keep the tape in place if it comes loose?

[Chambers2]

Some evidence of form from DW I thought.

Yeah me too.

Dannys never going to be World Class, but he's got very good skills and a massive heart when he's in the ring, it's just a shame his prefight preperation isn't consistant. I couldn't believe it when he weighed in at 16-17 stone for Gammer and he thought he was going to be 19 stone

[MightyWarrior]

Laughable attempt by a desperate Oner to talk himself out of a heap of trouble ( let's hope ).

Watch him ring the bell, then quickly turn his back and try to fade into the crowd - not the actions of a concerned manager at all. He doesn't go near the corner either during the break.

[wouter]

Watch him ring the bell, then quickly turn his back and try to fade into the crowd - not the actions of a concerned manager at all. He doesn't go near the corner either during the break.

Come on, give the guy a break. He clearly has boxing's best interests at heart. It's obvious that he faded into the crowd after ringing the bell because he is a modest guy. Kinda like boxing's own private Batman, always in the background saving our sport from the evil that is a 3-minute round.

[dondada]

Couple of interesting bits over at www.britishboxing.net

Young Jonny Callender simply sums up the fight for those who haven't managed to see it and Dooley goes mental in his typcial fashion - very funny stuff.

[Lenny]

Danny Williams has a habit of doing that to you. I also couldn't wait for him to knock out Sam and go onto world title glory, only to see him repeatedly beaten to the punch and knocked all over the ring. So surely a guy who was so outfought against Sam wouldn't stand a chance against Tyson? Then, just am i'm convincing myself he can get inside against Vitali and let those shots go, he spends 8 rounds like bambi on ice (whilst showing plenty of the only attribute we can all agree he has, heart).

I still maintain the belief that a 220-240 pound Williams can be a player on the world scene. But then again every August, I believe Liverpool will win the league - only to be shattered by September

[Chambers2]

Couple of interesting bits over at http://www.britishboxing.net

Young Jonny Callender simply sums up the fight for those who haven't managed to see it and Dooley goes mental in his typcial fashion - very funny stuff.

That piece by Terry is piss funny

[Chambers2]

Cheers Stu, I thought you would understand the mind set I was in when I sat down to write it late last night

I enjoyed Johnny's piece as a sober analysis of the fight. I did not realise Danny takes on McDermott in 4 weeks time, thought it was further away than that. Not sure what Danny can do about his weight in that time but he has those rounds in the bank.

Both Danny and Konstantin should be applauded for putting up with that ref. Take the reffing out of the fight, and the promotional shenanigans, and we could have had one of those classic slugfests.

Williams can throw, and land, some quality shots. It is a real shame that he thinks he has better punch resistance when heavy, all the evidence, Tyson fight aside, contradicts this viewpoint.

I used to think Danny had a decent chin, but those days have long since past.

It's difficult to know whether the extra weight improves his punch resistance as it's very rarely we see anything other than a BIG Danny, but IF his chin is worse at a lower weight he'd be fucked.

[Poncey]

The annoying thing is I believe Danny had the natural ability to win a world title, but not the confidence or diet. Didn't fulfil his potential IMO.

[EddieShredder]

Good article Terry

I find Danny infuriating.... probably because I like the guy. IMO he had (perhaps even still has) all the physical tools to be a world champion. Unfortunately, he doesn't have it mentally. By that, I don't mean heart.... no-one can question his heart.... but this obsession with coming in borderline obese, is obviously masking poor discipline in training. He just doesn't have the drive or desire to train hard enough. Gutting, because Danny in shape would still be a handfull for any fighter in the world, and if he's stayed at a lighter weight throughout his career, I think we'd be looking back now and talking about a very good fighter at world level.

Shame.

[Lenny]

This time of the season is the best time to be a Liverpool fan. The signings start, Stevie G gives his war cry, you know next season Rafa will learn from his mistakes and make sure he wins games against the likes of Reading. By the season opener it's pretty much done and dusted, Liverpool will be champions. Then Liverpool lose to a bottom 5 team with Gerrard and Torres watching from the bench...

If Rafa is going to play a 4-3-3 then Barry gives you a left footed option in the middle of the park. Also whilst I believe Alonso is a better player, he hasn't proved it on the pitch for Liverpool in quite a while now and probably needs a move. I think a move to Liverpool now could improve Barry as a player.

And Danny has a sharp jab when he wants to and can double it, triple it with good effect...
But he was still outjabbed by Sam? Bloody Shingles/Ramadan (can't remember which one Danny stuck with)

[Chambers2]

Whilst we're loosely on the topic of football, did anyone see that Villa have donated their shirt sponsor space to a local charity called Acorns for 2 years. I don't like complementing the Vile, but fair play to them on this point and especially Randy Learner (sp) who must have had the final say (estimated revenue for Villa for their sponsorship space is abot £2m)

[Wales]

Anywhere this can still be viewed? I caught it on the origional link earlier but its gone now...

[THEBUTCH]

Does anyone know if Williams' fight could end up on Eurosport at some point ?

[Wales]

you can buy it for50 odd p on secondsout.com - cant see the bent promoter wanting to sell the rights?!?