BoxRec

Got this from ESB.


----- Forwarded Message ----
From: arena Presse <[Only Registered Users Can See Links. Click Here to Register]]>
To:
Sent: Monday, 2 June, 2008 9:14:41 PM
Subject: AW: Disgraceful German boxing

Dear ,
Thank you for your below message. We really appreciate your interest in professional boxing and German boxing in particular. We share your opinion indeed that we all should concentrate on the boxing sport and not on what happens around it. I hope you agree that the first rounds of the Airich vs. Wiliams bout belong to the best we have seen in the heavyweight division for some time. In criticizing Ahmet Öner please do not forget that it was Mr. Öner himself who threw in the towel to stop the fight IN FAVOUR OF DANNY WILLIAMS (which actually doesn’t make much sense had he wanted to steal the victory from Danny who had fallen far behind on all scorecards at that point).

Below you find an official statement from Ahmet Öner we just sent to fightnews.com to apologize for what happened in Bilbao .

“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 ion 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 were 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 proofed 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 hack of a fight which shouldn’t be forgotten besides all the anger and confusion.”
(Ahmet Öner)

If you have any further questions don’t hesitate to contact me.

Best regards from Hamburg

Malte Müller-Michaelis
ARENA Box-Promotion AG
Press department
Niendorfer Weg 11
22453 Hamburg
Germany
Tel +49-(0)40-4192566-15
Fax +49-(0)40-4192566-22
[



What do you think?

load of bull.

The whole show was officiated amateurishly and in that climate, Oehner made a foolish mistake.

Give the guy a chance; he's the only guy who can save German boxing. I doubt he'll do anything like that again.

This happening will have Kohl and Sauerwurst rubbing their sweaty palms with glee. The last thing they need is competition signing good fighters, big talents, putting on good shows, getting TV deals and creating a climate where the big outfits have to up their own abysmal quality of title fights.

Get off your high horses everyone and hope that Ahmet doesn't get banned from promoting or blackballed by any governing/sanctioning bodies.

We've seen what the alternative is like - Inkin twice pulling out vs Froch, wasting a good half a year of one of Britain's world title hopes. As we know, Inkin was Universum and apparently had never pulled out of a fight ama or pro before that farce.

you joking right? its absolutley disgusting, equivalent of bribery in football or steroid use in sprinting

yeah, but he'll learn from his mistakes & will contribute to the shithosue that is German boxing. Full of quality fighters, bad judging and cowardly matchmaking.

Auto mate, you can't condone this behaviour, he rang the bell and at the same time showed a total lack of respect for the rules of Boxing.

Not only that, but if he's prepared to resort to such drastic measures at this level to protect his fighters tag, then just how bad would he be if he was a dominant promoter.

Twinkle Toes wrote:Auto mate, you can't condone this behaviour, he rang the bell and at the same time showed a total lack of respect for the rules of Boxing.

Not only that, but if he's prepared to resort to such drastic measures at this level to protect his fighters tag, then just how bad would he be if he was a dominant promoter.

He might mellow with age. He is a passionate and interesting character, boxing could do with more guys like him.

People are desperate for the moral high ground and think they can change things. How good does it make ppl feel to "fight for justice" behind a username and a keyboard?

I would rather see Arena Box sign the big talents in the future than Universum and Sauerland. If European boxing loses Ohner it will be a severe loss.

In Italy, during the Johnny Nelson-Cantatore fight, the round went on a minute longer after Johnny got dropped.

Odd reply Auto - Stop being so emotional.

I'll remind you of the moral high ground next time you are slating Frank Warrén

Twinkle Toes wrote:Odd reply Auto - Stop being so emotional.

I'll remind you of the moral high ground next time you are slating Frank Warrén

allegedly is a controversial bloke (unless you read the newspapers) who provokes strong reactions for and against. On the other hand he looks after his fighters, re money & title opportunities, which cannot be ignored. But sometimes it can be hard to watch for the fans. I just want a middle ground between happy fighters and happy fans, and right now I think there is a lot to be improved in boxing. If Warren had a big rival in this country, I think Warren's shows would be more exciting. If the big German promoters had a big rival, they would provide better title fights on would think/hope.

For all the Warrens, Sauerlands and Universums in Europe, I think we could do with rival outfits that promise aggressive, ambitious matchmaking like Hayemaker and Arena Box. Because if these latter firms are successful, it creates competition and makes the guys from whom we don't expect good fights, to make more interesting fights consistently. Boxing would be better off all round and we would see companies innovate and take chances a bit more.

If Haye fights well and puts on good shows, at least Setanta commentators and studio pundits can show enthusiasm for fighters of different stables now, can't they? There could be progress in the UK and I want progress in Germany, a country where the best talent in the world is wasted on crap title fights.

Oehner did something idiotic. But I'd rather see him sign some of the Eastern European amateur stars than Universum. Ahmet has already been matching his Cubans quite aggressively and ppl can believe they'll be going places, as opposed to the norm in Germany of waiting til you're 29 or 30 to get a title shot, before sitting on a WBO belt vs American clubfighters & the leftovers of rival champions.

Yes, I have reasons for not wanting Oehner to get blackballed/banned/severely punished from boxing. What he did was wrong but he can give a lot to boxing in Europe. Gamboa has already been on HBO and Solis Fonte will shortly, when he's got his visa sorted. Kohl was on about "Dzinziruk going to America" - WTF, would America want the WBO 154-lb champ who almost lost his last fight?

Has anyone watched the fight on Seconds out yet?

It's only 65p so gonna have a punt at it once I get my home bband back.

Auto, you say he did something "idiotic" and should be given the benefit of the doubt, but what would you be saying if he'd got away with his little stunt - say DW had lost on a cut next round?

A review might have changed it to a ND, but Danny would have been denied a win, and the other guy would still be "unbeaten".

It's only because he was caught out so blatantly, plus his man lost, that makes it seems less serious than it was.

Can you imagine Warren doing something like that?? I think that'd be the end of him.

They're showing high(or low?)lights of it right now on Buncie's boxing hour on Setanta Sports News. Danny's in the studio as well.

Emerson Poncey Name Ghent wrote:Has anyone watched the fight on Seconds out yet?

It's only 65p so gonna have a punt at it once I get my home bband back.

Save yourself 65p and send el-tel a bung

Answers a lot of questions at least.

Well i guess the Promoter was being Naive

BAN HIM FOR LIFE!!!!

Face it, we'd all be calling for Fwanks head if he did something similar wouldn't we.

I think Ohner is a breath of fresh air to boxing - and its not clear whether he rung the bell or not. Calls to ban him are too harsh - if he was banned it would be to the detriment of boxing. His aggressive match-making and willingness to take his fighters abroad and take chance is a far cry from many other european promoters as Autobarn said. If he did ring the bell he should be punished - but overall he has done more good for boxing that bad.

Can someone tell me what happened?

Gray-Fox wrote:Can someone tell me what happened?

u been living under a rock or something.

hitman_hatton1 wrote:

Gray-Fox wrote:Can someone tell me what happened?

u been living under a rock or something.

Exams mate, haven't had ANY time to indulge in boxing :(