REFEREE RUINS GORRES-DARCHINYAN BOUT
By Dong Secuya
PhilBoxing.com
Feb 3 2008
Philippines
Cebu City — New Zealand referee Lance Revill ruined what could have
been a good night of boxing as last night’s explosive Gorres-Darchinyan
bout at Waterfront Hotel & Casino here totally went out of control.
Revill gave a mandatory 10-count for a knockdown on a slip by Gorres
in the first round that triggered a bottle-throwing spree and ticked
off a series of serious lapses by the totally intimidated referee.
Revill, who came in as a replacement of Australian referee John Wright,
appeared to be in shock when plastic bottles rained from the audience
during the remainder of the first and through the second round and
was never on his element.
Darchinyan, the power-punching Armenian-born Australian who was clearly
the more stronger fighter, never got warned for pushing and shoving
Gorres throughout the fight which resulted in Gorres being thrown to
the canvas many times over. What appeared to be a legitimate knockdown
by Darchinyan over Gorres in the 11th round was ruled a slip by the
inept referee.
An accidental headbutt by Darchinyan that cut Gorres’ head in the sixth
round which could have resulted to a point deduction for Darchinyan
and which had caused blood to continuously bleed from Gorres’ head
throughout the remainder of the contest never got the attention of
the referee nor was it referred to the ringside physician.
All in all, because of the referee’s lousy and rotten performance,
the main attraction of the beautifully organized event came down as
an ugly, controversial and forgettable fight.
Darchinyan’s promoter Gary Shaw has called for the permanent banning
of the referee from boxing after the fight as some boxing pundits
called the referee’s performance the worst they’ve ever witnessed.
The three judges’ scorecards resulted in a split draw which probably
could have just been right for the situation.
Both camps were open to do a rematch with Darchinyan’s manager Elias
Nasser saying that he is going to lodge a protest to the IBF first
thing on Monday but he also said he was open to a rematch to be held
in a neutral country. ALA President Mike Aldeguer, on the other hand,
said Team Gorres is also open to a rematch but they are also looking
at other options for Gorres.