WBA title: Isaac Ekpo, a victim of daylight boxing robbery-Aboderin

Secretary-General of the Nigerian Boxing Board of Control (NBB of C), Mr Remi Aboderin, has condemned the result of the bout involving Nigeria's Isaac 'Grenade' Ekpo and German Tyron Zeuge in a World Boxing Association (WBA) super middleweight title defence.
 
Referee Paul Caiz stopped the bout in round three last weekend at the MBS Arena, Potsdam,
Brandenburg, Germany, in favour of the bleeding home boy and title holder, Zeuge.
 
Aboderin in a statement said awarding the bout to Zeuge was tantamount to "total daylight boxing robbery."
 
He noted that the defeat of the 2004 Olympian and former Commonwealth super middleweight champion was a miscarriage of justice.
 
"I have watched the bout and in my opinion, the only reason why the victory was awarded to Zeuge was because the bout took place in his backyard {Germany}.
 
"I am stating unequivocally that the decision to award victory to Zeuge by the referee, Mr Paul Caiz and the judges was only because they wanted to
kowtow the wishes of the promoter.
 
"Yes, there was an unintentional cut due to a clash of heads in the third round which made the champion to bleed profusely and if the referee in his wisdom allowed the bout to go on and the home boy now got uncoordinated after the cut, that is not Isaac Ekpo's fault.
 
"I am of the opinion that the bout should have been awarded to Isaac and if in any way the champion needed to be compensated, he {Zeuge} should be given a rematch and not the other way round.
 
"According to reports reaching me from the stable of Don King who is managing Isaac at present, Don King and his management are equally aghast at the result and it appears a rematch has been promised Isaac, I believe this should have been the other way round. It's Tyron Zeuge who by now should have been the former WBA champion that should be assured
of a rematch and not Isaac Ekpo, who by now should have been the new champion," Aboderin said. 
 
He further stated that the NBB of C would in due course formally protest against the March 25 defeat of the 2003 All Africa Games silver medallist.
 
"The NBB of C is solidly behind Isaac on this issue thus, our letter of protest would be lodged with the president of the World Boxing Association (WBA) concerning this result which is a total daylight boxing robbery. 
 

"I am also of the opinion that Don King should do everything humanly possible to make sure that this rematch is not called off, because this won't be good for the morale of Isaac. This is purely a travesty of justice and it must be corrected so that our sport {boxing} will not be seen as that of the money bags paying to get their wards victories in the ring that they did not deserve," Aboderin, who is also the president of the West African Boxing Union explained.
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Caption: Nigeria's Isaac 'Grenade' Ekpo during one of his victorious outings.