Sulaiman goes ballistic at Hopkins-Joppy sidebet
Posted: 16 Dec 2003, 13:04
WBC President Jose Sulaiman has condemned the bet between William Joppy and Bernard Hopkins as a matter of grave concern due to the health risk it created.
Joppy took a savage beating in a lopsided fight, and his appearance after 12 rounds was reminiscent to Joe Frazier after his third and final fight with Muhammad Ali, a fight which finished both men.
Sulaiman believes the Hopkins-Joppy match should have been stopped at the end of the 10th round, and also stressed:
"If I had known about this bet before the fight, I would have immediately contacted both fighters and told them this was a very dangerous gamble, and we just could not accept it. There have been bets in the history of boxing between fighters winning or losing - but not lasting. This is not good for boxing.
"It was very unwise as far as I'm concerned, because Joppy decided to continue fighting and put his health at risk. In these sort of circumstances a fighter can go over the limits of human endurance.
"Whoever was in charge of the boxing commission, did not strictly follow the WBC rules, which are very clear in regards to a fight that is absolutely one-sided, with one fighter getting hurt dangerously, the fight should be stopped.
"In my opinion that fight should have been stopped at the end of the 10th round. At this point, there was no way Joppy could win the fight on points. He was losing by a mountain of points, and he did not have the power to knock out Hopkins."
Perhaps the most famous example of a similar type of bet was done by Jack Dempsey, egged on by his wily manager Jack "Doc" Kearns. Challenger Jack bet his entire purse that he would KO Jess Willard in the first round for the world heavyweight title.
Six inches shorter and outweighed by more than sixty pounds, Dempsey had secured tempting odds of 10-1. Accordingly, on the 4th of July, 1919, in an open air ring in Toledo, Ohio, he tore into Willard, dropping him seven times in the first torrid three minutes. Although bleeding badly and groggy, Willard was able to survive the round - and survived until the end of the third round in fact. For his reputed purse of one hundred thousand dollars, Willard suffered a broken cheekbone in 12 places, a broken jaw in 13 places, had his nose and two of his ribs fractured, and lost eight of his teeth.
It was the worst beating any heavyweight champion has ever suffered.
Joppy took a savage beating in a lopsided fight, and his appearance after 12 rounds was reminiscent to Joe Frazier after his third and final fight with Muhammad Ali, a fight which finished both men.
Sulaiman believes the Hopkins-Joppy match should have been stopped at the end of the 10th round, and also stressed:
"If I had known about this bet before the fight, I would have immediately contacted both fighters and told them this was a very dangerous gamble, and we just could not accept it. There have been bets in the history of boxing between fighters winning or losing - but not lasting. This is not good for boxing.
"It was very unwise as far as I'm concerned, because Joppy decided to continue fighting and put his health at risk. In these sort of circumstances a fighter can go over the limits of human endurance.
"Whoever was in charge of the boxing commission, did not strictly follow the WBC rules, which are very clear in regards to a fight that is absolutely one-sided, with one fighter getting hurt dangerously, the fight should be stopped.
"In my opinion that fight should have been stopped at the end of the 10th round. At this point, there was no way Joppy could win the fight on points. He was losing by a mountain of points, and he did not have the power to knock out Hopkins."
Perhaps the most famous example of a similar type of bet was done by Jack Dempsey, egged on by his wily manager Jack "Doc" Kearns. Challenger Jack bet his entire purse that he would KO Jess Willard in the first round for the world heavyweight title.
Six inches shorter and outweighed by more than sixty pounds, Dempsey had secured tempting odds of 10-1. Accordingly, on the 4th of July, 1919, in an open air ring in Toledo, Ohio, he tore into Willard, dropping him seven times in the first torrid three minutes. Although bleeding badly and groggy, Willard was able to survive the round - and survived until the end of the third round in fact. For his reputed purse of one hundred thousand dollars, Willard suffered a broken cheekbone in 12 places, a broken jaw in 13 places, had his nose and two of his ribs fractured, and lost eight of his teeth.
It was the worst beating any heavyweight champion has ever suffered.
