By Frank Warren
What a terrific performance by Ovill McKenzie in Buenos Aires. I thought he clearly won the IBF cruiserweight title fight with local favourite Victor Ramirez, and had him ahead at the finish by a good two rounds.
When you get as draw in Argentina it means you have almost certainly nicked it.
Considering Ovill had only 11 days notice this surely was one of the finest performances of the year by a Brit.
We have put in a formal letter of complaint to the the IBF about the scoring (one judge gave it to McKenzie by two rounds, another to Ramirez by the same margin and the third made it even).
I am working hard to get an immediate rematch, which ideally of course would be over here.
The fact it was scored so close in Argentina tells you all you need to know. Usually the only way to win over there is to send in the infantry!
And Ovill says that after the fight, Ramirez admitted to him that he thought he (Ovill) had won.
I know Ramirez had home advantage, but it’s about taking chances and I believed all along that the 36-year-old one-time ‘opponent’ known as The Upsetter really had every chance of causing a turn-up.
He absolutely deserves a second crack at it and I’ve promised him we will do our utmost to get it for him.
***
Losing the Argy-ment
It wasn’t a particularly good week for the Argies, with Ramirez getting the lucky end of a draw, our unbeaten rising star Tommy Langford giving his Argentine opponent a real going over in Wolverhampton and Lucas Mathyesse getting sensationally ko’d by Viktor Postol in Los Angeles.
It was a strange ending. Mathyesse was obviously clipped by a decent combination and was counted out on one knee when it seemed he would be able to get up.
Apparently he said he felt his eye pop and was worried about his sight. Incidentally, Ukrainian Postol, now the WBC’s super-lightweight champ, is another of Bob Arum’s boys – so let’s hope it’s not an omen!
***
Singh takes it away
Boxing history will be made when Vijender Singh makes his debut on the Manchester bill. We’ve confirmed a deal with leading broadcaster Sony Six with an anticipated audience in the Indian sub-continent region expected to be around 20m people.
Vijender already seems to be gathering a lot of fans in this country and there’s every hope that he’ll establish a big following among the Asian community – just as Amir Khan did.
There is every hope he could become boxing’s answer to Bollywood. He is charismatic, conducts himself well and has quickly adapted to life in the UK.
A superstar back home, the 2008 Beijing Olympics bronze medallist - one of his multitude of amateur gongs - begins his new career under our banner at middleweight in a four rounds bout against Sonny Whiting as he completes the transition to the pros, the first Indian-born boxer to do so.
In different circumstances he might have been been competing for India in the current Aiba world championships in Doha – the finals of which also will be shown by BoxNation. Some tasty Indian take-away, eh?
ADD COMMENT VIEW COMMENTS (1)