ESTHER Phiri’s much-hyped unification title fight against Sandra Almeida, the first South African women boxer to turn professional, ended in a disappointing ‘Technical Draw’ at the Government Complex in Lusaka on Friday night.
The two pugilists were fighting for the interim Women’s International Boxing Association (WIBA) and Women’s International Boxing Federation (WIBF) welterweight belts.
This bout was stopped in the third round after Sandra sustained a cut on top of her right eye, resulting in excessive bleeding and the verdict was technical draw.
Many boxing enthusiasts including Esther were shocked with the referee Eddie Marshall’s decision as they felt the Zambian boxer was denied a clear victory to reclaim the WIBA belt which she was stripped off three years ago.
While Sandra claimed the cut was due to an accidental headbutt, Esther insisted that it was a clear punch which did the damage and claimed she had won.
One of the many disappointed Zambians was Stephen Simpemba, a qualified boxing ring official and former Zambia Boxing Federation (ZBF) president, who called me after the fight to express his feelings.
“The judges put in their own input but the commissioner was supposed to make the verdict. This fight was a straight forward win. We are not siding with Esther because she is a Zambian but it is a fact she won.
Talking from the boxing standards, we don’t have such kind of a result please. It is quite shocking but it was a straight forward win,” Simpemba said.
But according to WIBA rules only the referee can stop the fight. I took some time to research on when a fight can be declared a technical draw.
A bout can end as a technical draw when a fighter is unable to continue due to an accidental injury (usually cuts) or foul.
But I don’t think this applied in the Esther versus Sandra fight as from my own analysis of the video, the cut was caused by a punch.
Another way a technical draw can occur is when a bout has not gone beyond a certain number of rounds (mostly four), thereby not making it an ‘official fight.’
I believe this is what transpired in the Esther bout as it was stopped in the third round and if it was ended after the fourth round, the Zambian could have been awarded a technical knock-out.
There are several examples on the international scene when fights had to be stopped because of injuries.
Retired world heavyweight champion, Lennox Lewis was named winner by technical knockout after the sixth round following a deep cut above Vitali Klitschko’s left eye.
By the time this bout was stopped, Klitschko was ahead on the scorecards 58-56 but because the cut was caused by a blow, Lewis was declared winner.
I remember Lewis was booed by the crowd in attendance but cheered Klitschko as they seemingly felt the stoppage was unnecessary.
Another example was when an accidental headbutt by Evander Holyfield which caused a massive swelling on Hasim Rahman’s forehead saw the bout stopped.
This fight, which had gone beyond the fourth round, was awarded to Holyfield via a technical knockout.
If the referee in Esther’s fight used the rule that the bout did not go beyond four rounds, then a technical draw was the correct verdict.
A rematch should be arranged as soon as possible to end this puzzle. For comments email:malungaf@gmail.com