Management Team Of Dmitry Bivol Protests 116-112 Scorecard Of October 12 Fight, Sanctioning Body Supervisor Revealed To Have Been Congratulating Top Rank Representatives Prior To Announcement Of Scores

Dmitry Bivol and his management team are heading into a different battle following Bivol’s loss to Artur Beterbiev on October 12. Though Bivol missed the opportunity to become the light-heavyweight undisputed champion, a small victory may be gained as his manager reveals they will be looking to hold the judge, that scored the fight 116-112 in favor of Beterbiev, accountable for his inaccurate score. Potential corruption might have been involved, first with the appearance of Chechen head of state Ramzan Kadyrov at the Beterbiev-Bivol show, and more recently with the revelation of one of the sanctioning bodies’ supervisors having gotten a glimpse onto the scorecards prior to the announcement of the result―which is illegal.

Former WBA light-heavyweight (175 lbs) champion Dmitry Bivol’s (23-1, 12 KO’s) manager, Vadim Kornilov revealed during a recent interview that Dmitry Bivol and his team would seek to protest the 116-112 scorecard by Polish judge Pawel Kardyni on Monday, October 14, citing several observations that put a question mark on the proceedings regarding scoring and judging.

“It’ll [the 116-112 scorecard in favor of Artur Beterbiev] be protested on Monday. I’m talking to Eddie [Hearn], I’m talking to everybody,” Kornilov stated to BoxNation. “At the end of a day, we all know that [protesting scores] doesn’t work, but the judge has to at least [take] some sort of [accountability], in his mind, for what he did.“

The 116-112 score by Kardyni that went in favor of Artur Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KO’s) was highly questionable given the close-edged nature of the fight which could have seen Bivol coming out on top depending on the judges’ scores.

Kornilov also mentioned an instance of an unnamed representative of one of the sanctioning bodies having knowledge of the scores prior to their announcement.

“It’s [bad scoring] is becoming very destructive to the sport,” Kornilov continued. “There’s these organizations [sanctioning bodies], these organizations have supervisors, these supervisors are all friendly with these judges―they’re hugging the promoters, and it’s like a big scheme. It’s beginning to look like a scheme.

“This judge [Pawel Kardyni] has done a lot of fights, and he’s been very good at other fights. It would be good if they can sit him down and have him count the punches landed. I want to see where he saw his 116-112 card, and how did he count the landed punches from Beterbiev on Bivol―and which ones he was counting to get to that scorecard.“

According to Kornilov, one representative of a sanctioning body was seen congratulating members of the US-based promotional outfit Top Rank prior to the announcement of the Beterbiev-Bivol scorecards. While it is not disallowed for certain officials, such as WBC-appointed supervisors, to witness or even tally scorecards prior to the announcement, none of the sanctioning bodies’ rules state it is allowed for any promoter or representative of a promotion to know the scores prior to the announcement.

Management Team Of Dmitry Bivol Protests 116-112 Scorecard Of October 12 Fight image 1 — WBC Rule 2.45 indicating what a supervisor’s role is when it comes to scoring in professional boxing fights.

The allowance of sanctioning body representatives having any supervision over scoring is an issue, given sanctioning bodies such as the WBC itself have been prone to corruption―particularly as it pertains to helping other promotions or fighters. And with Top Rank recently implicated in having had knowledge of the scorecards before the announcement―which while not strictly illegal certainly does warrant some questions, the corruption within the sport seems to only be stewing rather than diminishing.

The Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC), which sets the standard rules for boxing across the United States through organizations such as the state athletic commissions, does not appear to have specific rules on who should oversee the scoring, but commissions are allowed to specify their rules. Such is the case with the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) whose own rules indicate only the referee, judges and a representative of the NSAC is allowed to view the scorecards of a fight prior to the announcement.

Management Team Of Dmitry Bivol Protests 116-112 Scorecard Of October 12 Fight image 2 — NSAC Rule 467.605 indicating how scorecards are handled according to their jurisdiction.

While rules on how scorecards are handled according to each governing or sanctioning body’s own specific regulations, a promotional outfit―usually the organizer of the show―should not have any sort of knowledge of the scorecards as this would compromise the integrity of the sport.

BIvol’s manager, Kornilov, has emphasized that he did not expect their protest of the 116-112 score to bear any fruit, but he has inadvertently discovered a deeper underlying issue in boxing given his claims of a sanctioning body supervisor informing/congratulating a Top Rank representative before the scorecards were announced―which speaks of a relationship that transcends the conventional rules set in place in boxing.

As such, the Beterbiev-Bivol match has delved into a different territory; one where suspicions seem to linger around the result, as evident by the recent revelation of notorious Chechen head of state, Ramzan Kadyrov, having attended the October 12 event―which carries with it its own implications given Kadyrov has been accused of a slew of human rights violations by the Human Rights Watch.