IBF orders Mares-Agbeko rematch

[RAZZ-MCFC]

guess this rules out Donaire for the foreseeable future

 

 

IBF President Daryl Peoples and IBF Championships Chairman Lindsey Tucker completed their review of the IBF Optional Bantamweight Championship bout that took place on August 13, 2011 in Las Vegas, NV, between Joseph Agbeko and Abner Mares. Peoples and Tucker observed several low blow fouls committed by Abner Mares. While the referee, Russell Mora, issued numerous warnings for low blows during the course of the bout, he neglected to deduct points for these fouls. With 1:03 left in round eleven, Joseph Agbeko was hit with a low blow foul that forced him to the canvas. Mr. Mora determined that the blow landed by Mares was legal and began to count indicating that a knockdown had occurred.

 

Based upon their review of the bout, it has been determined by the IBF that inappropriate conduct by the referee affected the outcome of the fight. In accordance with IBF/USBA Rule 3.D., the IBF is ordering a rematch between Joseph Agbeko and Abner Mares for the IBF Bantamweight title which must be held within the next 120 days or by December 14, 2011.

 

www.fightnews.com

[WelshDevilRob]

Good call by the IBF.

[gavpowell]

I'm quite surprised to see them penly discredit the referee - I expected a greywash of "While we are in no position to overturn the referee's decision,c ertain factors may have have led outside observers to feel the fight was in some ways less than entirely legitimate. In light of this and to ensure a fair result for all concerned, we are happy to order a rematch to settle this close-fought affair and bring closure to a potentially difficult issue"

[davemurphy]

I'm surprised as well, Gav, who'd have ever expected one of the Orgs to do the right thing. My guess is that there was something else at work and the "right thing" just happened to be a pleasant coincidence. King probably had a representative of his accidently leave a briefcase full of Cash at IBF Headquarters and this is the result :) I seriously doubt Darryl People's, who's managed to say on at the IBF this whole time despite being Bob Lee's Nephew, did it out a sense of outrage over the injustice done to Agbeko Saturday Night.

[littleman370]

I'm surprised as well, Gav, who'd have ever expected one of the Orgs to do the right thing. My guess is that there was something else at work and the "right thing" just happened to be a pleasant coincidence. King probably had a representative of his accidently leave a briefcase full of Cash at IBF Headquarters and this is the result :) I seriously doubt Darryl People's, who's managed to say on at the IBF this whole time despite being Bob Lee's Nephew, did it out a sense of outrage over the injustice done to Agbeko Saturday Night.

 

the IBF has gotten very little negative press lately while the others (notably the WBC) have looked awful. they probably wanted to do the rematch to keep up the positive image. if they hadn't, there would be an outcry against it from the likes of dan "#wbcisdisgusting" rafael amongst others

[iamasadlittleboy]

Me and Ryan both got this E-mail from the IBF regarding Mr Mora

 

Thank you for taking the time to express your concern about this event. Your opinion about our organization and the sport in general are very important to us.

 

I assure you that we are giving this matter the importance that it justifies. At this point in time, we are waiting for a complaint or formal appeal from Joseph Agbeko’s promoter, Don King Productions. Once we receive this then we will proceed with the matter according to our rules.

 

Regarding referee Russell Mora, we can not fine him, revoke his license or prevent him from working any other professional fight because we do not license or oversee officials. What we generally do is submit a list of officials that are members of our organization to the local commissions for consideration when selecting the officials for a fight. However, it is up to the commissions whether or not to utilize officials from our list to officiate a fight. In this case, Russell Mora was not on our list submitted to the Nevada State Athletic Commission. This practice is in accordance with the Muhammad Ali Act and guidelines set forth by the Association of Boxing Commissions.

 

Muhammad Ali Act

 

§ 6307h. Judges and referees

 

No person may arrange, promote, organize, produce, or fight in a professional boxing match unless all referees and judges participating in the match have been certified and approved by the boxing commission responsible for regulating the match in the State where the match is held.

 

ABC Regulatory Guidelines

Referee Approval

The commission shall name the referee and its decision shall be final.

 

World Title Fight Manual (ABC)

I. OFFICIALS

A. Selection

1. The boxing commission in whose jurisdiction a title fight is to take place (“host commission”) shall select the referee and the judges to work a title fight from a list of ring officials who have successfully completed the Officials Certification Course of the Association of Boxing Commissions.

2. In selecting the ring officials for a title fight from the list referenced in ¶1, the host commission may consider selecting those ring officials:

(a) recommended by a sanctioning organization; or

(b) from the same geographic area over which the boxing commission has jurisdiction.

We hope that this matter can be resolved soon.

[The Galveston Giant]

Think it's only fair that Joseph Agbeko gets his rematch.

[davemurphy]

I'm surprised as well, Gav, who'd have ever expected one of the Orgs to do the right thing. My guess is that there was something else at work and the "right thing" just happened to be a pleasant coincidence. King probably had a representative of his accidently leave a briefcase full of Cash at IBF Headquarters and this is the result :) I seriously doubt Darryl People's, who's managed to say on at the IBF this whole time despite being Bob Lee's Nephew, did it out a sense of outrage over the injustice done to Agbeko Saturday Night.

 

the IBF has gotten very little negative press lately while the others (notably the WBC) have looked awful. they probably wanted to do the rematch to keep up the positive image. if they hadn't, there would be an outcry against it from the likes of dan "#wbcisdisgusting" rafael amongst others

 

Scott-

When they had their problems following the Bob Lee indictments/conviction, the IBF turned to Joe Dwyer to run things and he did a pretty good job of keeping their nose clean during his tenure as President. I notice that he's once again in charge, and also that they seem to be avoiding a lot of the games the others are playing. This one here really was a "no-brainer" and to have denied the request for a rematch would've given rise to an outcry.

[grapevine241]

good to hear there will be a rematch. controversy aside, it was a pretty good fight

[londoner]

As Scott mentions above, he and I both emailed the IBF about this and received replies. Maybe fans' complaints don't fall on deaf ears afterall. Perhaps they received a number of complaints and it did have some sort of impact on their decisions. Perhaps it did enough to "hasten" their decision to grant a rematch.