Wants Collins-Rodriguez to remain no contest

Last Friday on ESPN2, the Delvin Rodriguez-Keenan Collins welterweight fight was stopped due to a cut sustained by Collins and ruled a no-contest after the referee told the ringside doctor that the cut was caused by a headbutt.  When the replay was shown, however, it seemed as if a punch landed on the spot where the cut was opened. Now the New York State Athletic Commission is considering overturning the decision in favor of a second round TKO for Rodriguez. Collins' trainer and co-manager Marshall Kauffman complains that if the Commission does overturn the original outcome, it could establish a pattern that would apply to other major fights.  Kauffman explained his concerns, saying "I was not trying to get the fight stopped because Keenan was fading.  If I thought it was a punch that caused the cut I would have told him to go out there and knock Delvin out.  Delvin Rodriguez did not lose the fight and Keenan Collins did not lose the fight.  If they overturn the fight they not only hurt Keenan but they hurt the referee because he stated that it was 'absolutely a head butt.'  They are hurting boxing by taking it out of the referee's hands and the judges' hands. Keenan was not fading, he was covering up because he could not see."
 
Kauffman continues, "Why risk further damage to Keenan's eye if the cut were from a head butt?  If they take this fight and try to overrule it, I would definitely take further action.  We want a rematch!  Keenan clearly won the first round and was winning the second round until he got cut.  Keenan never faded!  He was covering up because he could not see.  He was in complete control until the cut happened.  His jab was landing at will and that
right hand was coming right behind it and it would have caught up to Delvin Rodriguez.  I feel that it is totally unfair that the New York State Athletic Commission will possibly over rule this fight.  If it was not on TV, how could the commission overrule anything?  This is a rule that cannot be universally applied to the entire sport.  How many decisions would have been overturned if knockdowns and slips in close fights were all reviewed and overturned?  If this is a rule for the state of New York, then they should be taping every fight that takes place in the state." 

"Keenan took this fight on 9 days and looked great until the cut.  To add insult to injury, Keenan feels he was totally disrespected in how the Ron Scott Stevens approached the entire fight.  Stevens did not even speak to Keenan leading up to the fight.  He acted as if Rodriguez was the only one in the main event that night by not even mentioning Keenan's name at the weigh-in. Everything was about Delvin.  So I could only imagine how the commission will handle this, for Delvin. I appreciate that [television announcer Teddy] Atlas stated that I was being a very intelligent cornerman in lobbying the doctor that it was a headbutt, but the referee told me it was a headbutt.  I did not lobby the doctor to stop the fight.  As soon as the doctor saw it, they called the fight.  That was the worst cut I have ever seen.  We are very confident in our cutman Syd Brumbach and he thought it was a terrible cut as well.  Syd stopped the bleeding but we had no opportunity to allow Keenan to continue.  If given the opportunity with the cut as it was, Keenan would have went for it all, the KO." 

New York recently overturned one decision, in a fight between Raul Frank and Terrance Cauthen, changing a stoppage toa no-contest. If instant replay does become the standard in boxing it would undoubtedly introduce more accuracy in decisions, stoppages and results of certain fights.  Replays and reviews could also not be universally applied considering that only fights with larger purses are taped.  If replays and reviews were adopted as a regular norm of regulation, it would automatically assume that certain professional fights are less important and it would not necessarily matter that the rules do not apply universally to all fights.

A

Send questions and comments to: boxingtalk@gmail.com