By Ryan Songalia

Virtually every spectator and television viewer watching live on ESPN2 saw the head butt that eventually led to the termination of the junior middleweight bout between Anthony Thompson and Ishmail Arvin. All except for referee Malik Waleed and the Washington D.C. boxing commission.

A week has passed since the controversial ruling at the Ibiza Night Club, yet there are no signs that the commission is willing to budge. As of now the verdict stands: Sixth round TKO win for Arvin in a fight which had seen him down twice and drifting further from competitiveness.

It was the worst possible scenario for the Philadelphia-born Thompson, now 23-3 (17 KO), who was coming off a razor-thin decision loss to Yuri Foreman in New York City more than a year ago. Manager Cameron Dunkin is determined to correct what he feels to be an injustice against his fighter.

"I'm going to start the appeals process early next week," Dunkin tells BoxingScene.com. "I don't want to say exactly which day, but I have three attorneys that are ready to pounce, believe me. I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but it's obviously heading in that direction."

Dunkin says he didn't immediately file the appeal because he wanted to let the commission "do the right thing on their own," citing the overturning of Delvin Rodriguez-Keenan Collins as a similar precedent. In that fight the referee erroneously ruled that a head butt had caused the cut that ended the fight after the second round, only to be changed by the New York commission upon review. The result was changed from a no-contest to a TKO win.

Just last month, the California commission changed the result of the James Toney-Hasim Rahman fight to a no-contest after appeal.

Dunkin hopes to achieve a similar reversal. The rules state that any fight that goes past the fourth round and ends prematurely by a head clash goes to the scorecards. Whoever is ahead is declared the winner via technical decision. If this happens Thompson wins by unanimous decision by the scores of 57-55, 58-54 and 59-53.

The IBO, which sanctioned the fight for their vacant USBO title, has refused to endorse Arvin as their champion. They believe the fight should be declared a no-contest, an idea that doesn't sit well with Dunkin.

"To say this is a no-contest is bullshit, there was a contest and everyone saw it."

Dunkins believes the commission is concerned about a possible lawsuit from Arvin's camp on the grounds that instant replay is not approved in the officiating of fights.

"They don't even have to say it was video replay, they can say it was everyone who is coming to them who had watched it on television or who watched it in the club. 100,000 people can't be wrong."

Dunkin says that his fighter would be open to a rematch with Arvin but is "doubtful" that Arvin would take the fight.