Fight Fixing in Boxing

http://boxing.fanhouse.com/2010/07/22/danny-green-ko-of-paul-briggs-sparks-inquiry-into-fight-fixing/

Danny Green KO of Paul Briggs Sparks Inquiry Into Fight Fixing

Danny Green is best known in the United States for his first-round TKO win over Roy Jones last year. But in his native Australia he's a star beyond just that fight, and that makes the inquiry into his victory in a fight on Wednesday a potentially significant scandal.

Fighting a fellow Australian named Paul Briggs, Green won by knockout after just 29 seconds. The fight consisted of Green throwing a left jab that didn't even appear to land cleanly, Briggs staggering forward and then falling, and the referee counting Briggs out. The fans booed what looked like a complete lack of effort by Briggs, and Green first shook his head in disgust and then went over to Briggs and shouted something.

The clear inference from everyone watching is that Briggs, who was fighting for the first time in three and a half years, took a dive. Michael Schiavello, one of Australia's most respected combat sports commentators, called it a "disgrace" and "the most disgusting and horrid boxing dive ever."

The suspicions go beyond fans and the media, and extend to at least two sports books, which say they saw a huge number of bets placed on Green winning by first-round knockout. The sports books suspect that some bettors knew all along that Briggs would take a dive.

"This is the most farcical thing we've probably seen in many years in this country," Centrebet media director Neil Evans told the Associated Press. "We probably held more individual wagers on a round one knockout in this fight than we have in combined fights in this country in the last 20 years."

Now the Western Australian Professional Combat Sports Commission will hold an inquiry into the fight. No matter what the inquiry finds, this fight is already a black eye for boxing.

International Boxing Organization President, Ed Levine, whose title Green was defending, issued a statement concerning the bout.

"Serious questions have been raised after a shocking ending in which Paul Briggs failed to beat the count after an apparent grazing punch from Danny Green sent him to the canvas in the first round of their IBO Championship bout," reads the statement. "[Levine] has demanded a complete and thorough investigation of this fight by all authorities in Australia to get those answers."

Levine is angered by the situation.

"Boxing can not stand another black eye," said Levine. "We need and expect answers to some very serious allegations concerning the questionable ending of this fight."



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EdbKsVIAk4&feature=player_embedded

Disgrace

some dive..ha ha