By James Slater: More on this past Friday’s highly controversial Commonwealth light-middleweight title fight between Ghana’s Obodai Sai and Britain’s Jamie Cox:
According to an exclusive that has gone up on Boxrec.com, The Commonwealth Boxing Council will review the fight, the Ghana Boxing Authority has protested the 12-round UD Cox received, and Simon Block, Honorary Secretary of The CBC, has received more e-mails concerning this fight than any other he can recall.
As fans who saw the fight between defending Champ Sai and challenger Cox will know only too well, the visiting fighter appeared to comprehensively outbox Cox in a number of rounds, catching the Swindon hope with repeated right hands to the head. Also the victim of some outrageously low blows (of which only two resulted in a point being taken from Cox, when many fans have said sternly that a disqualification of Cox should have occurred), Sai was deemed a robbed fighter when he lost both his belt and unbeaten record and headed back to Accra with nothing.
An investigation was called for by many fans (including a number of ESB readers) and this outcry has seen to it that one will take place.
“I cannot recall receiving the amount of emails that I have following this contest than for any other,“ Block said to Boxrec. “Clearly the decision was controversial and I have received an official protest from the Ghana Boxing Authority, with which I shall be dealing. Consulting with Directors from all over the Commonwealth renders any immediate announcement from unlikely, but I can confirm that the protest I have received will be dealt with as expeditiously as possible.”
It seems unlikely the Commonwealth title will be stripped from Cox, and nor should it. The fight did have a number of close rounds, and Cox did win some sessions. The main issue of contention, the thing that so annoyed anyone who saw the fight, was the repeated low blows from Cox. Should referee Mark Green have DQ’d Cox? Would another referee have done so?
An immediate rematch seems to be the obvious and logical course of action. This Sai totally deserves, as does Cox, so he can try and redeem himself.