Stop the ROBBERY bull****. The Fightwriter has spoken.

[badnewsbrown]

its not worth watching at all. one of the worst fights ever. holy won it clearly. valuev hardly landed a punch

[KostyaTszyu44]

Following last nights controversial decision in the Valuev-Holyfield bout NSB has been over the top with cries of robbery, foul play and worse.

I had Holyfield winning 115-113 so I found it a close fight. Not a robbery as I could understand somebody giving the nod to Valuev.

I just checked the fight report from the great reporter Graham Houston (the fightwriter) and he scored it for Valuev! Mr. Houston is arguably the best boxing reporter in the world. Here's the relevant passages from his report:

"What on earth is all the fuss about? Nikolai Valuev was unimpressive, no argument, and Evander Holyfield showed that at 46 he is still a fighter to be taken seriously, but the decision in Saturday’s heavyweight title fight in Zurich was hardly one of the worst of all time.

This could have been scored for either fighter. It so happened that Valuev got the majority decision. One point on one judge’s card was all that kept this from being a draw. It was that close. The 116-112 score in favour of Valuev by the Italian judge seemed too wide, but I had no quarrel with 115-114 in favour of Valuev by Swedish judge Mikael Hook or the 114-114 score by Guillermo Perez, from Panama. I actually had Valuev winning, 115-113.

The fuss about the scoring, I believe, comes in large part from the TV commentary that had Holyfield winning practically every round.

Then we had the Swiss fans getting right behind Holyfield and cheering every time the great old warrior landed a punch or made an aggressive thrust.

....

The thing is, disputed decisions and refereeing controversies happen everywhere although it helps to be the fighter on home ground.

I hope I don’t sound as if I’m knocking Nick Charles and Al Bernstein, gentlemen who have been watching boxing for many years. Maybe they were completely right about Valuev-Holyfield and I was completely wrong. We see it the way we see it, and it is one of the intriguing things about boxing that two people can watch the same fight and see it differently.

....

And yet, sorry, I can’t go with the tide of condemnation over the Valuev-Holyfield scoring. The decision was debatable, that’s for sure, but in this minority view it was no robbery."

The whole article is here: http://www.fightwriter.com/?q=node/2020

it was a horrible decision

but you are just a biased european piece of ****

see thats the catch with the euros getting in to boxing- good for the sport but they cant score a fight for **** and are completely biased

[BattlingNelson]

I respect Graham Houston very much and you have to consider that boxing is his livelihood and he is an all around class guy. He isn't going to come out and bash decisions and he isn't going to bad mouth the sport unless it is something cut and dry (like Cortez DQ'ing Soto)

I agree with the points he made, but I will only go so far as to say that Draw was a stretch but can be accepted. A 4 point margin for Valuev is inexcusable, even if Valuev's manager was commentating he couldn't have made you believe Valuev won 8 rounds.

This decision in and of itself may not be something to ***** about but consider the fact that questionable events surrounding German fight cards are slowly becoming the norm.

Consider please,

1. Referee helping Joan Pablo Hernandez to his feet after he was clearly dropped by a right hand by Wayne Braithwaite. Referee then gave Hernandez nearly 20 seconds to recover.

2. Ahmet Ohner ringing the bell to end a round early with his fighter in trouble. Apparently there was no discipline for him for doing that. The referee in that fight also deducted points from the travelling fighter for no reason at all.

3. Now the **** (In my opinion) deicision with Valuev makes 3 highly questionable actions in 3 high profile fights in the past 6 months alone.

Houston was so sick of all the bad endings of fights this spring that he actually quit writing for a month in disgust.

[BattlingNelson]

I still haven't seen the fight.

I want to watch it to see what all the fuss is about, but I heard it was pretty boring. Can anyone tell me if it's worth watching it? Or was it that bad?

Dont bother. Only the scoring aspect is interesting. Otherwise the fight's a bore.

[Chunk..]

Opinions aren't bull****.

My opinion is that the fight was **** but Holyfield did more then enough to win. If that's bull****, then kiss my arse!

[BattlingNelson]

it was a horrible decision

but you are just a biased european piece of ****

see thats the catch with the euros getting in to boxing- good for the sport but they cant score a fight for **** and are completely biased

Please elaborate. Or STFU.

[Hitman932]

Houston was so sick of all the bad endings of fights this spring that he actually quit writing for a month in disgust.

Yes I know, I go to his page every day.

There is no better source for eye witness accounts of low profile fights and fighters.

[BattlingNelson]

Yes I know, I go to his page every day.

There is no better source for eye witness accounts of low profile fights and fighters.

That's right. His reputation is impeccable.

And nobody is better in predicting the outcome of a fight.

[T-97]

its not worth watching at all. one of the worst fights ever. holy won it clearly. valuev hardly landed a punch

Dont bother. Only the scoring aspect is interesting. Otherwise the fight's a bore.

Cheers,

I won't bother.

it was a horrible decision

but you are just a biased european piece of ****

see thats the catch with the euros getting in to boxing- good for the sport but they cant score a fight for **** and are completely biased

No, Bat even said that he thought Holy had won the fight. His point was that it was a lot closer than people claim, and to have Valuev winning isn't impossible.

[SickmyDuck]

it was a horrible decision

but you are just a biased european piece of ****

see thats the catch with the euros getting in to boxing- good for the sport but they cant score a fight for **** and are completely biased

12 year old running his mouth

keep your mouth shut you mongrel piece of ****

you dont want mommy banning you from using the computer


ignorant clown