Not the first, not be the last. Green is robbed in Germany

Robert Bennett

18.08 - With his handlers strapping the WBC 168lb title around his waist, a bloodied and bruised Markus Beyer cast his eyes downward at the canvas he had so recently visited. Even the German seemed embarassed by the debacle taking place around him.

Across the ring, covered in the blood of his opponent, Danny Green stared out into the German crowd now only half heartedly cheering the victory of their countryman.

After taking a sustained beating for the best part of fifteen minutes, Beyer (now 28-1, 11 KO's) was awarded a disqualification victory over Australian challenger Danny Green (now 16-1, 16 KO's) in Germany's latest, and possibly most distasteful, controversial decision.

After sending Beyer to the canvas in each of the first two rounds with powerful right hands, Green opened up a deep cut over the German's right eye during the second round. The cut was worsened during the Aussie's domination of the third and fourth rounds, and the fight seemed destined for an early finish. The battered champion undoubtedly had his best round of the fight in the fifth, but was still visibly overwhelmed by the Aussie's aggressive approach.

During the fifth round, Green and Beyer came together and Green lifted his shoulders and head, making contact with the right side of Beyer's jaw. As evidenced by the fight recording, at no time during the incident did Green come in contact with the cut area on the eye of Beyer. In my opinion, the headbutt was a deliberate action on the part of Green, whose aggressive tactics during the fight had carried him very close to his first world title. Referee Bill Clancy initially penalised the challenger two points for the foul, an action that would have proven correct had the fight been allowed to continue. However, immediately following the round, the fight was stopped by the ringside doctor due to the substantial damage sustained above the German's right eye.

After several discussions between referee and doctor, referee and judges, and numerous people that had no business giving their input on the result of the fight, Green was outrageously disqualified. An irate Jeff Fenech, Green's manager, argued the ruling with Clancy, whose lack of spine in backing his own judgement showed a deplorable lack of character in a man who must now be seen as incapable of overseeing bouts in the future.

In this time of technological marvel, it is remarkable that no one acknowledged the video of the incident, which clearly showed the head clash between the two combatants. More importantly, which clearly showed that Green's head did not make contact with the cut above the eye of Beyer. As the headbutt had not worsened the state of the cut, and that the wound had been caused by a legal blow, the fight should have been awarded to Green via stoppage.

Danny Green took the fight with Beyer for a paltry AU$45,000. A miniscule sum for a world championship bout. Unfortunately for Green, the approximate AU$1,000,000 that had awaited him in a potential match up with challenger in the wings Eric Lucas, who himself was the victim of a harsh decision in Germany, now seems all too distant. Because of the corrupt meddling of a nameless few, whose continued disdain for the spirit of the sport continues, the reputation of boxing will suffer further.

Markus Beyer is now almost universally recognised as having gone 0-2 in his last two outings, and yet still wears the tainted WBC championship at super-middleweight. The same commision that so magically removed the draw from the record of Dariusz Michalczewski is unlikely to perform the same service for either Green or Lucas, and a potential match up between the two victims has dissipated, costing both fighters possible career high purses.

Former champion, now manager Jeff Fenech is preparing Green's appeal which will be presented to the World Boxing Council in Mexico City. One only hopes that common sense and the essence of the sport prevails, and that Danny Green is given the rematch for the title he was wrongfully robbed of this week. Unfortunately, the WBC is not known terribly well for acting in the best interests of the fighters it so eagerly claims its sanctioning fees from.

Luckily enough, the so called Green Machine showed in Germany why it will be difficult to keep him down for long.