Note: Representatives of WBA Light Heavyweight Champion Gabriel Campillo and challenger Beibut Shumenov have announced that they have agreed to a rematch, thereby resolving all of their present disputes. The bout will likely take place in Nevada next January.
Las Vegas, Nevada (September 10, 2009) – Beibut Shumenov and his promoter, KZ Event Productions, Inc., have filed a lawsuit in Kazakhstan against Gabriel Campillo, Sampson Boxing, LLC and Sampson Lewkowicz seeking a judicial declaration that, as a result of Campillo’s blatant violation of the drug testing rules of the Kazakhstan Federation of Professional Boxing and the WBA, Campillo, Sampson and Lewkowicz have, under their contracts with KZ, forfeited any moniesotherwise due to them from the August 15, 2009 Campillo-Shumenov fight..
No less than eleven witnesses — including Kazakhstan Government officials and entirely unaffiliated individuals, such as DeMarcus Corley’s legendary trainer, Don Turner — have provided written statements collectively establishing that, immediately after the fight, Campillo breached his contract with KZ by not going to the drug testing room as required by both Kazakhstan Federation’s rules and the WBA Rules, and instead, absconded to a locked shower room with one of his trainers for approximately ten minutes. In fact, Altynbek Nurdauletov, the General Secretary of the Kazakhstan Federation, has already declared that Campillo’s conduct was a violation of theFederation’s rules.
In addition to commencing suit in Kazakhstan (as mandated by the parties’ contract), Shumenov, through his American lawyer, Judd Burstein, has filed a formal challenge to the bout results with the WBA. Mr. Burstein stated: The WBA rules could not be more clear, and indeed, were explicitly explained to Mr. Campillo at the pre-fight rules meeting: he was to go to the drug testing room immediately after the fight. Incredibly, Campillo does not dispute he violated the rule. Rather, he, together with Guy Jutras, the WBA Supervisor, and Pasquale
Procopio, a WBA judge, claim that Campillo was at all times accompanied by Jutras and Procopio after the fight and that he violated the rule only by leaving their sight for ten seconds when he went to his shower room before going to the drug testing room. The problem is that eleven witnesses have contradicted this story, making clear (a) that neither Jutras nor Procopio accompanied Campillo back to his locker room, (b) that Campillo and his trainer were alone in the locker room for at least five minutes, and (c) that once in the locker room, Campillo and his trainer then locked themselves in a shower room.
I think the WBA must take immediate action to ensure that its rules are enforced. There is no way to harmonize the accounts of our eleven witnesses and the “ten second” claim of Campillo, Jutras and Procopio. One side has to be lying. Since some of our witnesses, like Mr. Turner, are wholly independent with no reason to do anything but tell the truth, the reasonable inference is that Campillo is lying, because he knows that he violated the rules, and that Jutras and Procopio are lying, because they don’t want to admit to their gross incompetence. Indeed, their whole story makes no sense. If Jutras and Procopio had been with Campillo the whole time, why would they have allowed Campillo to go to his dressing room after stating in the rules meeting that all fighters had to go directly to the drug testing room before returning to their dressing rooms?
Mr. Burstein also stated: “We are also actively considering commencing actions against Jutras and Procopio. Their conduct smells like a five-week-old, unrefrigerated dead fish.”
Campillo denies Shumenov claim
TEAM CAMPILLO CLAIM SHUMENOV WELSHES ON PURSE
– click here to view the official reports and drug testing – I
– click here to view the official reports and drug testing – II
– click here to view the official reports and drug testing – III
– click here to view the official reports and drug testing – IV
In a situation which reflects the dangers of a boxer being self promoted, Biebut Shumenov through the company of which he is President, has failed to pay the purse of his opponent, Gabriel Campillo. The Campillo/Shumenov Light Heavyweight Title bout took place on August 14 in Kazakhstan and Campillo defeated Shumenov in 12 rounds, knocking Shumenov down.
Shumenov claims that Champion Campillo should have gone directly to a drug testing station but the Supervisor of the bout, Guy Jutras of Canada, has put a lie to that contention, writing in his report of the bout:
“FROM THE MOMENT MR. CAMPILLO LEFT THE RING AFTER THE BOUT, UNTIL THE URINE TEST WAS COMPLETED … HE (CAMPILLO) NEVER LEFT OUR SIGHT EXCEPT FOR THE BRIEF PERIOD OF SOME TEN SECONDS (AS MENTIONED ABOVE) WHEN HE (CAMPILLO) ENTERED THE SHOWER ROOM IN HIS OWN DRESSING ROOM AND EXITED THAT SHOWER STALL IMMEDIATELY UPON BEING ASKED TO DO SO. (Capitalization in the original)
I can categorically state without any hesitation that Mr. Campillo was given no opportunity to escape Judge Procopio’s and or my own diligent observations of his (Campillo’s) every move and whereabouts except for the ‘ten seconds’ referred to which Judge Procopio and I took to enter the shower and request him to leave.
… After reviewing and diligently analyzing the events as described in this and my previous reports, along with Judge Procopio’s written report, I feel confident that the comportment of Mr. Campillo and his team as related to the urine test was in full compliance with the WBA Rules.” (Emphasis added).
Pasquale Procopio, one of the judges and the person assigned to escort Mr. Campillo to the anti doping test has also written a report fully supporting Jutras’ version of events.
Mr. Campillo passed the ensuing drug test. The doping control officer signed a form in which he represented that the test was taken in a fully satisfactory manner.
Mr. Campillo has, through his counsel Patrick C. English, submitted papers to the WBA in which he points out that Shumenov is self-promoted and that his actions show the pitfalls of this.
In his petition to the WBA to have Shumenov’s promotional status stripped, Campillo, through his counsel wrote:
“It is completely clear that Campillo has not been paid because he violated Shumenov Rule 1. He beat him. Obviously Shumenov felt that because he was the favorite, because he was the promoter, and because he was on home turf, Campillo was supposed to “take a dive.” Campillo didn’t and to punish him in direct contravention of his attorney’s written words and the words of the officers of his promotional company [after the bout both promised in writing to pay Campillo] he has not paid his opponent. For a person in boxing this is as despicable an act as there is.”
Full copies of Mr. Jutras’ report and a copy of the drug test that Mr. Campillo passed are annexed.