by Charles Jay
On a teleconference this afternoon, Richard Schaefer, the CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, made enough allegations to fill about ten episodes of “Law & Order.”
Schaefer, taking the side of the fighter he has under contract, former IBF & WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan, leveled one of the most serious at the International Boxing Federation (IBF), which just denied his request for an immediate rematch based on a review of the tape of the December 10 fight with Lamont Peterson.
Schaefer intimated that the IBF tampered with its master scorecard for the fight. He said that while everyone was in the ring, crowning the new champion, the D.C. Commission took it from the IBF supervisors, and it, in effect, disappeared, surfacing just a couple of days ago, only to look like it had just been compiled.
“It was too neat,” Schaefer said, referring to the writing of scores on the card.
So in other words, he is as much as accusing the IBF of falsifying the scorecards that held the key to the decision. This was a theme at various points in the teleconference, as Schaefer had pointed out that on judge George Hill’s card, the seventh round had been inadvertently changed from an even 10-10 round to a 10-8 round for Peterson on the WBA’s master scorecard.
He also pointed out several times that Michael Walsh, supervisor for the WBA, was a certified public accountant, and it was curiously that he had a master card that added up to different scores than what were handed in by the judges to the D.C. commission. He said that on the WBA’s master scorecard, the fight was a draw.
As for referee Joseph Cooper, who deducted two points from Khan for “pushing” which ultimate made a difference in the decision, Schaefer said “He did a shitty job.”
While he was denied a summary judgment of sorts on the immediate rematch, Khan, through Schaefer, has decided to take things to the next level, and since the IBF had indicated that it would field a request for an appeal, Schaefer presented the IBF with a check for $10,000 – non-refundable mind you – to cover the costs of such an appeal. A similar action has been undertaken with the WBA, for what Schaefer indicated was a slightly lower amount.
What Schaefer is looking for is both the IBF and WBA to either overturn the decision in the fight, whether that means calling it a draw, no contest or a win for Khan, or to order the rematch right away, something he obviously did not have in the bout contract with Peterson, who was the #1 contender going into the fight.
Schaefer said he was told by the IBF that he would likely see a decision on his appeal by January 19, and could get it in person.
He stated he would be SHOCKED (“and you can print it in capital letters”) if, after ordering a rematch in the Abner Mares-Joseph Agbeko fight, that they wouldn’t order a rematch in this case, and implied that the IBF’s legitimacy would be in question if they didn’t. Things were obviously a lot more blatant in Mares-Agbeko, but that is beside the point.
Personally, I can’t think of anything more stupid than to literally put his fighter’s immediate future (at least as he seems to see it) in the hands of an organization he just accused of skullduggery; of suggesting, not in a subtle way either, that there was something of a fabrication, or even a forgery, of an official document related to the Khan-Peterson, and to infer, perhaps more subtly, that the D.C. commission may have participated in this process.
Furthermore, at this point, why would the IBF, which has been, in effect, accused of something patently dishonest, possibly look favorably on an appeal when they don’t absolutely have to, and – here’s the real kicker – if they really WERE that dishonest, why would they acquiesce to such a thing now, which is basically what they would be doing by doing an about-face on the rematch?
Promoters aren’t the same as managers; at least that’s not what they are supposed to be. But Khan’s “representation” in this particular instance is greatly lacking.
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