October 29, 1991
Elijah Tillery taunted Riddick Bowe during their fight at the Convention Center and “Big Daddy” responded by flicking out a cheap shot jab which in turn was answered by Elijah who let go with at least two kicks to Bowe’s groin and shin area (one of which may had landed). An unscheduled brawl ensued and ended when Bowe’s diminutive manager Rock Newman appeared out of nowhere and put a stranglehold on Tillery from behind while Bowe pummeled Elijah as he disappeared from sight over the sagging ropes. The well-coordinated tag-team effort gave new meaning to “a manager having his fighter’s back.” Meanwhile, referee Karl Milligan appeared helpless and even hapless as the strange and hilarious events unfolded
This would not be the only bizarre moment in D.C. area boxing.
April 27, 2007
Is that incompetence or something else?” Teddy Atlas asked during the televised fight.
I had just interviewed the affable and former champ “Mighty Mike” Anchondo for an online boxing site and was rooting for him against former amateur standout Darling Jimenez when they squared off at the DC Armory in Washington on April 27, 2007. Mike had lost his WBO super featherweight title to rugged Jorge “Hyena” Barrios. However, the hard hitting Jimenez proved too fast and too tough and took out Mike with a devastating left hook in the ESPN main event. Mike crashed to the deck face-first. He was counted out by referee Joseph Cooper (ring a bell?) at 2:05 of the third round. It was painful to witness, but what was far worse was that he was left on his stomach in a prone position unconscious and unattended for about 30 seconds before he received medical attention. That was ugly and inexcusable.
In keeping with the bizarre events taking place that night, there was the issue of the timekeeper. After Mike had been decked for the first time in round two, Jimenez was poised for the kill. One minute remained. However the bell rang, cheating Jimenez out of a full 60 seconds in which to end matters.
I also noted that the referee was wearing no gloves in the co-feature. Then, in an undercard bout, a fighter suffered a cut around the eye and the doctor in charge checked out the cut from several feet away. “
August 15, 2008
The Washington officials once again “distinguished” themselves when they supported referee Malik Waleed’s mindboggling ruling and held that the house fighter Ishmail “The Arsenal” Arvin “beat” the comebacking and far superior Anthony “The Messenger” Thompson by 4th round TKO. Thompson, who had floored Arvin twice and was comfortably ahead on the scorecards, had sustained a hideous cut over his eye that eventfully would prevent him from continuing.
The cut was caused by a headbutt in the third round. Everyone in the house and everyone watching on television knew it; that is, everyone but ringside officials—even though they saw it as plain as day on the ESPN replay. First, they were shown the clash of heads. Then they were shown the blood immediately flowing as a result of the clash. Two certainly follows one, doesn’t it? Not in D.C. where they apparently believe in killing the “messenger.” To my profound disgust, the decision was left to stand.
Waleed owns this one.
December 10, 2011
The televised fight between the UK’s Amir Khan and Lamont Peterson was fought in front of a packed house at the Convention Center in D.C. After an extremely close, evenly matched fight for 12 rounds, the heavily pro-Peterson crowd was thrilled and pleasantly surprised by the split decision announced in Peterson’s favor. Khan scored a knockdown in the first round, but was penalized twice by home town Referee Joe Cooper, once for excessive shoving with the forearm and later for hitting on the break. The points proved to be the difference on the two scorecards that favored the hometown lad.
The performance of the unknown and untested referee, Joe Cooper, and the scores of the officials dominated the post-fight and threatened to ruin what had been a genuine slugfest.
It is strange that Khan committed the same foul in the final round and even stranger that the referee stopped the flow of a desperate and gripping last round to hand Khan the defeat. It was not a butt or intentional low blow or anything sinister. There just was no need. It was just plain wrong.
Amir Khan also claimed he saw an unidentified man who “interfered” with officials during his defeat by Lamont Peterson celebrating with the winner. “On tape you see him around Peterson’s corner celebrating. It’s bad for boxing we want fair fights and justice, “said Khan
October 17, 2015
“Boxing, I don’t know why people call it a sport…It’s not a sport. This is like organized crime. Where else in the history of sports where you see people around the ring and people beating the crap out of each other?”—Anthony Petersen
Prospect Prichard Colon fought Terrel Williams in what would become a nationally televised tragedy. Williams repeatedly grabbed Colon behind the head and targeted it for one blow after another. Colon kept complaining in the ring to referee Joe Cooper mostly to no avail.
Later, the highly touted Colon, who was being booed by the unsuspecting crowd, reportedly complained to his corner after the seventh frame of dizziness and while he was in his locker room shortly after the contest, he suffered from dizzy spells, vomited (always a dangerous sign) and then fainted. On-site paramedics immediately brought him to nearby Inova Fairfax Hospital in Fairfax, Va. Here is the fight: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3a5cw9
Colon slipped into a coma for one week but finally breathing on his own. His exact prognosis remains unclear
Rick Maese of the Washington Post covers the situation in detail in an article titled: “How a fight turned into a horror for a promising young boxer” See: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/boxing-mma-wrestling/how-a-fight-turned-into-a-horror-for-a-promising-young-boxer/2015/10/23/7db4f38c-78e8-11e5-bc80-9091021aeb69_story.html
An embarrassment n the venue occurred later when local favorite and former 140-pound world champion Lamont Peterson, Anthony’s brother, fought Felix Diaz, an opponent brought in for the hometown favorite to defeat — but no one told Diaz, who clearly out boxed Lamont throughout most of the fight.. Yet Peterson somehow was awarded a majority decision. One judge, Dorothea Perry, scored the fight 117-111 in favor of Peterson. She should never be allowed near a boxing ring again.
March 5, 2016
“Look at the ring, it’s full of blood. But not my blood.”-Luis Ortiz
The latest occurrence in the D.C. area involves the D.C. Boxing and Wrestling Commission investigating local D.C. judge Lloyd Scaife. In the bout in question, Luis Ortiz put a beating on another hometown guy, Tony Thompson, knocking him down in the first, third, and final rounds and thus getting two 10-8 rounds before the end. Scaife, however, had the fight 48-47 for Ortiz, scoring the first and third rounds 10-9. The two other official judges Tammye Jenkins and Paul Wallace both had Ortiz up on the cards 50-43 correctly reflecting the wipe-out and the two 10-8 rounds.
Scaife apparently does not believe in 10-8 rounds despite clean and crunching knockdowns. But what the heck, this is Washington, D.C. and strange things happen here in and around the square ring
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