By Mark Vester
The World Boxing Association made an official statement regarding the controversy between the light heavyweight fight between Beibut Shumenov and Gabriel Campillo, which was held on January 29 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
"Any dispute should be analyzed with great discretion. Boxing is a subjective sport and therefore we are making efforts to train our judges under a standard criteria, "said Gilberto Jesus Mendoza, vice president of WBA.
The fight was won by Shumenov, by split decision, in which the judges gave the following scores - Patricia Jarman 117-111 and Jerry Roth 115-113 in favor of Sumenov. While, Campillo was favored by Levi Martinez 117-111. The WBA only approved one of the three judges, and that judge was Martinez who scored the fight for Campillo.
"Unfortunately the Muhammad Ali Act, passed by the U.S. Congress and implemented in jurisdictions where the main fights are conducted for WBA World Championships, they are free to approve and appoint the officials for the fight. We are not trying to generate controversy but our judges attend seminars every year to upgrade to reduce the possibility of controversy and do justice in the ring."
"In this fight, only Levi Martinez was accepted by the WBA. For this reason, the WBA in pursuit of our mission for justice, decided to request a video review by our official international committee. Having studied the status of the division and the results obtained from the analysis, we will make a decision. This can happen in the next 15 days or so, for this reason I prefer not to discuss any topic concerning the fight."
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