By Jody Kohn
Dereck Chisora’s controversial sixth-round knockout over Malik Scott is going to stand without a review by the British Boxing Board of Control.
Chisora was credited with a knockout on July 20 in London, when he dropped Scott with a right hand. Scott waited on his knee for referee Phil Edwards to make his count. When he got to nine, Scott stood up, clearly beating the count, but Edwards waved off the fight anyway, giving the victory to Chisora. The defeat was the first in the career of Malik Scott.
Scott’s promoter, Dan Goossen, filed a protest a couple days later with the British Boxing Board of Control in an effort to have them review the fight and declare it a no contest. However, that protest was denied when the general secretary of the BBB of C, Robert Smith, responded in writing by saying they would not be looking into the ruling.
“The decision is not unexpected but what I hate to see is something that looks so obviously wrong and have it impact a man’s career,” Goossen told ESPN.com. “Malik Scott worked for many, many years to be at this point in his career and so all you want is to have everything fair and square inside the ring.”
Scott (35-1-1, 12 KO’s) was ahead 48-47 on all three of the judges’ scorecards going into the sixth round when the knockdown happened. He did not appear hurt badly when he took the knee, and was focusing directly on Edwards as he made his count. At the count of nine, he rose, clearly beating the count. However, Edwards waived the fight off, much to the bewilderment of Malik Scott.
In Smith’s response letter to Goossen, he pointed out the specific British rule for knockouts, and also backed up his referee.
“I understand the points you have raised but in answering feel I must first clarify them,” Smith wrote. “Firstly, when describing the process of Mr. Scott rising, you quite correctly make reference to Mr. Scott ‘having nothing on the canvas but his feet’ at the count of nine. However, under British Boxing Board of Control Rules (3.32) a boxer is deemed to be ‘down’ by one of four criteria, one of which is ‘when the boxer is in the act of rising.’ Therefore, the point at which the boxer has nothing on the canvas but his feet is not the point at which the boxer is no longer ‘down.’
“Most importantly, after a boxer is ‘down’ boxing can only continue when the boxer ‘is in a position and a condition to defend himself.’
“Secondly, you state that referee Phil Edwards ‘never reached or uttered the count of 10.’ Again, you are quite right. In the United Kingdom (like many countries) the count of the referee (having picked it up from the timekeeper) is ‘7, 8, 9, out.’ Ten is never called by any referee in any contest in this country. Both of your observations on the conclusion of the contest were correct but ultimately (whilst the processes or assumptions may vary between countries) Mr. Scott received a full count after which Mr. Edwards did not feel that he was in a position to continue. Furthermore, I can assure you beyond any doubt that Mr. Edwards, a very experienced referee at the highest level of our sport (and ultimately the person best placed to assess Mr. Scott’s state), made his decision solely based on the safety and well-being of Mr. Scott.”
In closing, Smith paid some compliments to Scott for his conduct following the fight.
“Mr. Scott conducted himself in an extremely professional manner during his stay in the UK both before and after the contest and should he wish to return to the UK he would be very welcome,” Smith wrote. Scott said after the fight he would like a rematch. Chisora (17-4, 11 KOs), 29, of England, who lost a lopsided decision to Vitali Klitschko in a 2012 world title fight, is scheduled to face an opponent to be announced on Sept. 21 in London.
