Danny Williams survives incompetent refeering by Jonny Callender Jun 4th 2008

Danny Williams had to overcome previously undefeated German Konstantin Airich - and Spanish referee Alfredo Garcia - to earn a seventh round stoppage last Friday night. Danny, who travelled to Pais Vasco, Spain for the contest had received criticism for taking on such a challenge when he has a date with John McDermott for the British title only a month away on July 4th. Williams had stated that he planned to use the bout as a ‘warm-up', however, it turned into a disastrous trip that Danny will be relieved to walk away from with a win on his card. Airich, who entered the contest with a record of 9-0-1, looked physically strong and obviously confident as he boasted an undefeated record. Danny arrived as the more experienced fighter at 38-6-0 but it looked as if he knew he would have to perform well to come away with the win after a close opening round. The action all heated up in the second stanza with Williams, having already landed low in the opener, throwing a very hard and a very low blow that landed flush on the Germans groin. The referee, strangely, gave Airich a standing eight-count before deducting not one but two points from Williams for only his second low-blow offence. As Danny came out for the third round his corner could be heard yelling instructions, “Hands up…throw combinations…speed, Danny! Speed!” Further into the third, Danny was wobbled by a looping right followed by a left uppercut and was put down soon afterwards by a right hand that the German drilled home. (At this point, Herbie Hide who boxed on the undercard could be seen jumping around excitedly in the crowd.) Williams, to his credit, was up quickly and continued with about eleven inches of tape dangling from his left glove, however, he was in survival mode, and it was not long before he was given another eight count prompted by a flush one-two combination delivered by Airich. As the referee continued to ignore the loose tape hanging blatantly from Williams' glove, Danny was left to unravel the tape himself, throw it to the floor and see out the remainder of the round with the laces on his glove showing. Looking as if he had recovered well from a torrid third round, Williams came out for the fourth looking far lighter on his feet, showing good head movement and taking control of centre ring. Approximately half way through the round Danny landed a perfect right uppercut, left hook combination that stopped Airich in his tracks. The Geman was blowing heavily by this point and was left wincing every time ‘The Brixton Bomber' landed. As he did in the second round, referee Garcia warned Williams again for hitting round the back of the head when it was clearly Airich, who was constantly holding and looking to walk Danny to the ropes, who was making the fight untidy. Garcia was now on Williams' case and looked to stop the Brixton man from working at every opportunity. At the very end of the round, a knockdown was scored against Williams which should not have been as Danny was obviously off balance whilst throwing a clumsy left uppercut and slipped to the canvas. Although he was up in less than a second, Referee Garcia was in no mood to do Williams any favours and promptly began his eight count. Williams came out in the fifth round with the same intent and cool head that he began the previous round with, moving his upper body, jabbing and taking command of the ring. Williams began to put together some hurtful combinations against Airich who was now looking a spent force, out-boxed both on the inside and at range. Danny did have to take a very over-the-top telling off from referee Garcia as he was penalised for hitting after ‘stop' was called, however, there was no need for a halt in the action in the first place and the command was given whilst Williams' punches were already on the way. At the very end of the round, Williams dropped an exhausted Airich with a leaping left hook that sent the German's mouthpiece flying to the canvas. Again, Garcia refused to let Williams take control and began a very long count, taking plenty of time to direct Williams to a neutral corner. Once he had finished with the count, Garcia continued a drawn out dialogue with the German's corner whilst Airich had his gumshield re-inserted and this took precious time away from Williams as the bell came to end the round soon after. Williams could be seen to exchange understandably frustrated words with both the referee and Airich's corner before returning to his stool at the end of the round. The sixth round saw referee Alfredo Garcia at the peak of his incompetence. Danny came out with a sense of urgency as a small cut had opened above his right eye and Airich looked completely exhausted. Williams set about launching a furious body attack that took all the heart away from Airich and he then followed up with clubbing shots that made the German sink to the canvas. Williams then went in for the kill and piled on the pressure, however, just as he landed a flush left hook to the jaw of Airich, referee Garcia jumped in and stopped the action, not to stop the fight, but simply to end the round. This would have been fine if there was not 95 seconds, more than half of the round, still left on the clock. As the fighters walked back to their respective corners, even team Airich looked bemused as they were not sure what had just happened. Whilst the boxers received instructions in their corners, 1:28 of the sixth round was displayed clearly in the bottom left of the screen. However, the fight had now become the ‘Alfredo Garcia show' where rounds could end as and when he pleased. The seventh round brought about an end to the circus as Williams piled on the pressure with left and right hooks, forcing the German corner to launch the towel into the ring. Discussing the confusing and troublesome evening with the BBC, Williams stated, “I knew I had no chance of winning unless I stopped him. "It was incredible. There were rounds ending early and I lost count of the number of points I had taken away. On returning home, Williams has filed a complaint regarding the contest with the BBB of C and general secretary Simon Block said,“I am very concerned. I won't hesitate to take action if it is deemed appropriate”. Williams will need to lick his wounds and clear his head of this nightmare occasion as he has a clash with John McDermott, who has found form recently, on the 18th July for his British title.

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...... Jun 5th 2008, 15:04:00 by theword I like the way Danny recovered and changed his fighting style. The movement he adopted after the first few rounds replicated footage I'd seen of him sparring. Much more fluid, confident and relaxed. I would argue that the ref was pretty bad for the German fighter as well. Ie. the standing 8-counts for Danny gave him a breather after he'd been shaken up. And the bell was rung by the promoter. Allegedly.