In the wake of Saturday night's controversial 12-round, majority draw between rangy South African lightweight (135 pounds) Ali Funeka and Dominican-born Joan Guzman, which left the IBF title vacant, Funeka's promoter, Gary Shaw, has appealed to organization officials to make his fighter the interim IBF champion.The 31-year-old Funeka, who stands 6-foot-1, appeared to dominate the shorter Guzman (29-0-1, 17 KOs).
Funeka, who slipped to 30-2-3, with 25 knockouts, employed a powerful jab that set up a punishing right hand to bloody Guzman's nose and right eye, staining the unbeaten fighter's white trunks with crimson red by the end of their fight before a stunned crowd at Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.
American judge Joe Pasquale scored it 116-112 for Funeka, and both Canadian judges, Alan Davis and Benoit Roussel, had it even at 114-114.
FanHouse scored it 116-112 for Funeka, having it even before the taller fighter swept the last four rounds. Funeka had won 16 straight, with 14 knockouts before losing February's majority decision loss to Nate Campbell.
"I have spoken with the IBF, the supervisor Larry Hazzard, and they are in the process of reviewing everything that happened," said Shaw, who was heard screaming that Funeka "was robbed" in the ring following the decision.
"They have asked for the tape of the fight officially," said Shaw. " I am asking them to make Ali Funeka the [IBF's] interim champion."
FanHouse has learned that the IBF president, Marion Muhammad, planned to review the fight as soon as Monday night.
At issue for Shaw are the cards of Davis and Roussel, who not only split the six rounds evenly between the fighters, but scored each round exactly the same.
Davis and Roussel gave Guzman rounds one, two, four, five, seven and 12, while awarding Funeka rounds three, six, eight, nine, 10 and 11.
Pasquale had Funeka winning eight rounds to four, with victories in the third round as well as rounds six through 12.
Funeka-Guzman took place on the undercard of an IBF, super middleweight (168 pounds) title bout between Lucian Bute (25-0, 20 KOs) and Librado Andrade (28-3, 21 KOs), which was a rematch of Bute's controversial 12-round decision over Andrade, 13 months earlier, in Montreal.
Although Bute stopped Andrade in four rounds on Saturday night in the fifth defense of his crown, the champion -- in their first match -- had appeared to have benefited from Canadian referee Marlon Wright's long count after being floored with only a few seconds left.
Shaw believes the assignment of Davis and Roussel to Funeka-Guzman, in addition to a Canadian referee, Jean-Guy Brousseau, cast a cloud over an event that featured Bute-Andrade as its main event.
Pasquale, who also worked Bute-Andrade II, was judging his 27th title fight, Davis, just his fourth, and Roussel, his third.
"If these are the best two judges Canada has to offer, then they'd better go back to judge school," said HBO's Pappa after the fight.
"The appearance is bad, in front of 16,000 screaming Canadians," said Shaw. "Remember, members of the press, other promoters, matchmakers, have come out publicly and said something is wrong here."
According to Bob Canobbio's CompuBox statistics, Funeka out-landed Guzman 248-163, throwing 903 total punches (75 per round) to only 493 (41 per round) for Guzman.
Funeka averaged 44 jabs, out-landing Guzman, 142-32. That average of 12 landed jabs per round more than doubled the CompuBox lightweight average.
"Funeka out-threw and out-landed Guzman in every round after the second," said Canobbio. "And Guzman's not a big puncher, so his one-punch at a time had no effect on Funeka."
Following the 11th round, HBO's Harold Lederman had Funeka ahead, 107-102.
"[Guzman's bloody] face tells it all," Pappa said at that point, adding, "at least we at ringside think that Guzman needs a knockout to win."
When the bell ended the final round, Funeka ran to a neutral corner, climbed to the top of the ropes, raised both hands skyward and pounded his chest, triumphantly, with his right glove.
"I think that it's safe to say that Ali Funeka is one of the three best lightweights in the world. Up there along with Juan Manuel Marquez and Edwin Valero," said HBO's Max Kellerman. "Once he got that jab untracked, he found the range, busted-up Guzman's nose and dominated the fight."
"It looks like Ali Funeka is going to go back to summertime in South Africa with a title belt. You could make a case that Funeka won all of the rounds after the first two," said Pappa. "He was sharp with his jab, well-skilled, used his distance properly and did a wonderful job. Impressive performance by Ali Funeka."
Former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis was also part of HBO's ringside team.
"He showed good poise, he was patient, kept his jab out there, kept his hands nice and high, elbows in, great stance, very solid on his feet," said Lewis, adding, "that was unbelievable," when the verdict was announced.
"Wow!," screamed Kellerman. "Obviously, there's been some miscalculation, right?"
Lederman awarded Funeka the 12th, for a final score of 117-111, giving Guzman only the first, second, and, seventh rounds of the fight.
"There's no question in my mind that this was a bad decision," said Lederman.
"The HBO announcing team, that had no stake in the fight, was stunned by the decision. Is anyone saying that Lennox Lewis doesn't know a robbery from a victory?" said Shaw. "Let us not forget, he was a victim of a robbery in the ring. You would think Lennox Lewis, knows a bad decision when he sees it. Remember he has lived it."
Shaw was referring to Lewis' controversial draw with Evander Holyfield in March of 1999.
"Fighters that go onto foreign soil, should feel that they have a chance, and that they are on a level playing field. That they are protected from the wrongs by the commission, sanctioning organization, the broadcast network, and the Boxing Promoters Association," said Shaw.
"This was not the case this past Saturday. The world watched a robbery in progress and no one called the police."
