Delayed reaction KO…huh?
Accusations of corruption have always been prominent in Western Boxing, as has corruption itself. In late 2017, one of the biggest fights of all time, between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Gennady “GGG” Golovkin was tarnished by an abysmal scorecard. Judge Adelaide Byrd scored the fight widely for Canelo. The fight was undoubtedly close, and no matter who fans had winning, everyone agreed that Byrd’s scorecard was outrageous.
In situations like that, the commissioner (in this case, Bob Bennett or Nevada) has two choices: either admit that there might be corruption in the system, or admit that you and your employees are wildly incompetent. You can watch Bennett grapple with this dilemma live at 17:30 of the post-fight presser.
This past weekend, a much more hilariously suspicious event occurred. HBO Boxing (the network that signed Canelo), squared off Lucas Matthysse (39-4-1 NC, 36 KOs) with Tewa Kiram (38-1, 28 KOs) in a Welterweight bout. Tewa Kiram was a Thai fighter making his American boxing deubt. The fight was predictably one-sided and the crowd was becoming restless, until in the 8th round, Matthysse landed a hard jab and a glancing right hand that sent Kiram splaying onto the canvas. Miraculously, in a couple of seconds he gathered himself up and sprang back into the fight.
.@MatthysseLucas lands a big shot to knock down Tewa Kiram in Round 8. #MatthysseKiram pic.twitter.com/FK9RJwAUFI
— HBOboxing (@HBOboxing) January 28, 2018
Later in the round, Kiram was caught with another hard jab, but then looked to land a right hand over the top. After the exchange he fell down, apparently KO’d and the fight was stopped.
.@MatthysseLucas floors Kiram for the second time in Round 8 and earns the knockout win. #MatthysseKiram pic.twitter.com/9I5ZFQr04D
— HBOboxing (@HBOboxing) January 28, 2018
Commentator Max Kellerman said: “Sometimes there’s a delayed reaction knockdown. That is the biggest delay I’ve ever seen. I’ve never seen a delay that long. It was so delayed that it’s reasonable to question whether Kiram was looking for a place to fall down, at that point.”
It’s possible that Kiram was simply looking for a dramatic way to quit, and possible that there was money involved behind the scenes. We likely will never know, but things like this continue to undermine the legitimacy of pro-boxing.
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