By Edward Chaykovsky
Promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport is planning to file an appeal with the WBO to force super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham to present Paul Smith with a mandatory rematch.
On Saturday night in Kiel, Abraham made a voluntary defense against Smith and won a wider than expected decision. Hearn called the scoring of the contest "disgusting." The judges saw it 117-111, 117-111 and 119-109 for the champion.
Abraham is looking to face the winner of the November 8th final eliminator between Felix Sturm and Robert Stieglitz.
The WBO ordered a rematch with Smith will be unlikely, because few observers are protesting Abraham being selected as the victor and are more concerned with the scoring not properly reflecting the competitive nature of the contest.
"The response from everybody says it all. It was a close fight," said Hearn to Sky Sports. "When I got in the ring I felt and expected Arthur to get a decision, to be honest. But the way that the judges scored that fight is disgusting."
"Scoring is subjective and if Arthur had won it 115-114 then you take it on the chin. But 119-109 is just not right in the sport of boxing. We will be appealing to the WBO, not for an immediate rematch because we don't think that possible because we know how the system works. But because we feel Paul Smith should be installed as the immediate mandatory for Arthur Abraham. He hasn't had a mandatory for a while."
“I'm sure we'll have some competition but we'd love to do the fight again. It was a very, very close fight whichever way you look at it. And there are now 30-40,000 Scousers who would come out and watch that fight. If there’s demand for the fight from the fans and from the broadcaster, I’m sure the fight will happen. If there isn’t then it won’t happen."
