Fight:1475602
Mahir Oral 161 lbs beat Fabio Liggieri 161 lbs by MD in round 8 of 8
- Date: 2010-01-23
- Location: Kugelbake-Halle, Cuxhaven, Niedersachsen, Germany
- Referee: Heinrich Muehmert
- Judge: Daniel Van de Wiele 77-76
- Judge: Jan Teleki 76-76
- Judge: Aleksandr Schunkow 77-76
The corner of Fabio Liggieri and the major part of the audience was not content with this decision.
This is what Fightnews.com had to say (http://www.fightnews.com/?p=35619): In what probably should have been a major upset and what turned out to be a dubious decision, local favorite Mahir Oral (27-2-2, 10 KOs) scored a controversial eight-round majority decision over extremely crude but determined to the same degree Italian Fabio Liggieri (11-5-4, 2 KOs). Oral looked a better fighter for the first two rounds but as the bout progressed he didn’t press the “gas” button enough. Liggieri, on the other hand, marched forward without any breaks throwing wild hooks combined with pretty effective body punches to both sides of Oral’s body. It looked like the Italian was sharper in rounds three and four, and the fifth stanza was even. The locally supported Turk was successful with his uppercuts in close quarters a bit instead of circling around the wild Italian enforcer and using his height advantage. Oral did even less in the ring down the stretch, while the dirty but very active Liggieri used every angle to hit his reluctant opponent. The last two rounds were also in his favour as he kept coming while Oral did little except for clinching and holding. Surprisingly, two of three judges had it in favour of Oral with scores 78-76 and 77-76, while the third one scored the fight a draw 76-76. Fightnews saw it 78-75 – for Liggieri, who should be proud of his performance tonight.
David Mackie saw the fight a "blatant robberie" and wrote on eastsideboxing.com (http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=22588&more=1): The first fight of the broadcast saw German-based middleweight Mahir Oral (27-2-2) take on Italian Fabio Liggieri (11-4-4) in an eight-rounder. Right off the bat Oral appeared very disinterested and sluggish. Liggieri kept taking the fight to Oral and blasted him with lots of shots in every round. Most of the shots may have been blocked or were only hitting Oral's shoulders but never-the-less Liggieri was winning clearly on work-rate alone. Oral would occasionally step back to get out of trouble, but never landing anything offensively. At the end the eight-rounds Liggieri and his corner lept around the ring in celebration at what should have been a big win for the Italian. Oral looked very unmotivated (like he had been the entire fight) and upset with his performance. I had the fight 78-75 to Liggieri as he had been the busier fighter and showed the most heart. The first judge scored the fight a surprising 76-76 draw. The next two judges scored it 78-77 to Oral. A furious Liggieri flipped a middle finger and stormed out of the ring. I have to agree with his reaction. Oral should have lost.