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Anger has already emerged surrounding the fact that Andre Ward has got home advantage for all of his fights during the Super Six tournament, wheras all the other participants have agreed to travel to fight one another. Now it emerges that the referee and judging panel will all be from Ward's state, provoking dissapointment from Team Kessler.
As a result of this, the WBA might refuse to sanction the weekend's Super Six bout as a WBA title fight unless the California State Athletic Commission finds judges and a referee who aren’t from Ward’s home state.
Their current super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler(42-1, 32 KOs), is unhappy about the appointment of local judges and a California referee to his defence of the title in Andre's home town, Oakland.
The signed contracts by each of the tournament’s six fighters set out very detailed requirements with regards the officials - stating that two of them must be from neutral territory.
"Not all the judges can be from California,” Sauerland said during a news conference in Oakland to promote the fight.
"If it stays like this, definitely there won’t be a world championship on Saturday. We have a really serious problem."
During the first round of the Super Six, two non-British judges awarded a split decision to Carl Froch over Andre Dirrell in Froch's hometown of Nottingham.
"It’s just very frustrating, because we put this in the contract, and everyone agreed to it up front," Saulerland's lawyer said, "Abraham did not have German judges ringside".
"Mikkel Kessler is a huge star in Denmark, and we’re taking a huge risk bringing him to fight an Olympic gold medalist in his own backyard. We thought we protected him in the contract, and now we find out it’s just being ignored."
The California commission has heard of Kessler's concerns and is addressing them.
"We are aware of the concerns of the promoter, and so we have been working with both the promoter and the sanctioning body to address those concerns, and that process is ongoing." a spokesman said.
As a result of this, the WBA might refuse to sanction the weekend's Super Six bout as a WBA title fight unless the California State Athletic Commission finds judges and a referee who aren’t from Ward’s home state.
Their current super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler(42-1, 32 KOs), is unhappy about the appointment of local judges and a California referee to his defence of the title in Andre's home town, Oakland.
The signed contracts by each of the tournament’s six fighters set out very detailed requirements with regards the officials - stating that two of them must be from neutral territory.
"Not all the judges can be from California,” Sauerland said during a news conference in Oakland to promote the fight.
"If it stays like this, definitely there won’t be a world championship on Saturday. We have a really serious problem."
During the first round of the Super Six, two non-British judges awarded a split decision to Carl Froch over Andre Dirrell in Froch's hometown of Nottingham.
"It’s just very frustrating, because we put this in the contract, and everyone agreed to it up front," Saulerland's lawyer said, "Abraham did not have German judges ringside".
"Mikkel Kessler is a huge star in Denmark, and we’re taking a huge risk bringing him to fight an Olympic gold medalist in his own backyard. We thought we protected him in the contract, and now we find out it’s just being ignored."
The California commission has heard of Kessler's concerns and is addressing them.
"We are aware of the concerns of the promoter, and so we have been working with both the promoter and the sanctioning body to address those concerns, and that process is ongoing." a spokesman said.
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