Unprofessional Timekeeping Bungle Highlights GGG Bout With Daniel Geale
Editorial By Robert Brizel, Head RCM Boxing Correspondent
Readers Note: This is the opinion and observation of Robert Brizel, not necessarily the opinion of Real Combat Media.
New York, NY (July 28th, 2014)– The New York State Boxing Commission should take a hard look at the circumstances surrounding the Home Boxing Office main event bout between Gennady Golovkin and Daniel Geale on July 26, 2014, in which Golovkin was allowed to retain World Boxing Association and International Boxing Organization versions of the World Middleweight title. The championship bout, in this writer’s view, could be declared a No-Contest to certain unprofessional aspects. There are some good reasons behind this reasoning, which shall be elaborated.
GGG recorded his seventeenth knockout in a row. Asked whether the knockout is important, GGG replied “Yes, it is important, not just for me, (but also) for my team, for everybody. It’s a show. This is big.” Commenting on footage of the final knockdown, in which Geale aggressively hit him with a right hand to the head, and GGG took the shot and countered with an equally aggressive right hand to Geale’s face, sending Geale to the canvas, GGG stated “This fight like Mexican style. This is not game, this is fight. I love a fight.”
Speaking of his next move, GGG stated “I want (to fight) the best. I want unification fight, who is the best in the middleweight division. Who is the world champion? A lot of champions. Peter Quillin. You need show, you need amazing show, just call me. I’m ready for everybody. Miguel….I respect him….Cotto. One hundred percent. I respect him. I respect his style. This (fight next would be) is really the best present for everybody, for the fans, for boxing.”
The first round of Golovkin versus Geale went over four minutes long, the worst such timekeeping violation in a WBA world title bout of magnitude since Greg Page knocked out Gerrie Coetzee a full 40 seconds after the round should have ended, on December 1, 1984, to win the WBA World Heavyweight title bout in Sun City, Africa. The timekeeping discrepancy in GGG versus Geale created more than a full extra minute for injury to occur. In Page versus Coetzee, the WBA ruled the championship rules were in force, and the outcome was valid. In regards to the timekeeping infraction itself, the WBA would not overturn the outcome of GGG versus Geale for that reason alone.
A review of the fight footage revealed the following in round one: Geale was warned once for hitting Golovkin behind the head; Geale went down to the canvas at 2:35 of round one after tripping over a cameraman’s strap his foot got caught inside; and the five second warning which is sounded before the round ends came a full minute after the round by commission rules was supposed to have had ended. A review of the fight footage also reveals Geale’s cut man Brian Wilmott feverishly working on the corner of Geale’s right eye due to a cut after the end of round one. Since the cumulative effects of 3:01 to 4:05 of round one, an illegal and improper minute, contributed to Geale’s eye injury, changing the fighter’s mindset, the fight must then fairly be ruled a No-Contest. Also noted is the possibility the fighter could have been injured due to the camera strap fall was completely overlooked, with no rest period and no doctor’s examination of the fighter. The extra minute, the Geale eye injury, and the camera strap were bungles for which the commission can be held at fault, but not the fighters or the referee.
This was not the end of the drama.
Reexamination of the fight footage in the second round reveals Geale was dropped by a straight right hand blow to back of the head 21 seconds into of round two, and not the front of the head. If instant replay were legal in New York State and other states, the blow would have been categorized as a rabbit punch to the back of the head, whether illegal or unintentional, mandating a ruling of no knockdown, a rest period, and a warning or penalty to Golovkin. Geale is clearly indicating the blow had landed to the back of the head while on the canvas one second later. Geale got up immediately and indicated again he had been hit behind the head at the 27 second mark of round two.
Reexamination of the fight footage at the start of in round three revealed referee Mike Ortega of Connecticut had Geale’s right eye examined by the ringside doctor out of concern, an injury originating from the four minute first round. Eleven seconds somehow ticked off the ringside clock although Ortega had Geale examined before the fighters had begun. Geale was knocked down at 2:31 of round three, and got up at four, and then the fight was stopped.
Once the first round went four minutes, and the fighter incurred an injury of any kind from the round, the bout should have been called. Also, when one considered in totalthe three trips Geale made to the canvas: a cameraman’s strap looped his foot and took him down;a behind the head punch knockdown;and then the final knockdown-there was enough to constitute a strong argument for a ruling of No-Contest. True, the stakes were high, but the mistakes were high.
Illegal blows to the face or head, and the factors which cause them should be more under the microscope in New York State after heavyweight Magomed Absusalamov incurred brain injuries after his fight with Mike Perez at Madison Square Garden on November 2, 2013. Abdusalamov incurred a left forearm to the face thrown by Mike Perez which staggered him, and was later hospitalized for a blood clot on the left side of the brain which ended his career. Abdusalamov fought the bout with a broken nose and a broken jaw, damage at least partially caused by the unintentional forearm. Mago’s brain injuries, as previously reported by this reporter, appeared to come from his previous bout with Victor Bisbal, who fought Mago recklessly in an offense only war in Atlantic City which was covered by Real Combat Media.
Any type of illegal blow, situation or circumstance which could create loss of equilibrium, brain injury, other physical injury or a combination of these factors, is grounds for stopping a boxing bout.A forearm, a four minute round allowing for greater injury, a cameraman’s strap knockdown, a blow to the back of the head knockdown, are all factors which clearly affected the outcome of both GGG versus Daniel Geale, and Mike Perez versus Magomed Abdusalamov, both major bouts at Madison Square Garden.
There was a strong argument for declaring the Abdusalamov versus Perez bout a No-Contest after the forearm landed, whether legal or accidental. A major problem with Madison Square Garden and other well-promoted television ‘Mega Fights’ is the consideration ‘the show must go on’ seems to have taken precedence over issues of ring safety. The extent to whether or not the incidents which occurred in the above mentioned two fights contributed to and / or caused major safety issues is a judgment call. The fighters will fight on by instinct in big stakes money prize fights. Merely because they fight on doesn’t make it right.
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