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Upon reading today’s press release from the World Boxing Council (WBC) that it
was “…naming a committee to review the [Diego Corrales-José Luis Castillo]
fight,” Gary Shaw, president and CEO of Gary Shaw Productions, LLC., Corrales’
promoter, issued the following statement.
“I will be naming my own
committee to review the WBC committee, including the true reason of its
genesis, its true purpose and its final findings,” stated Shaw who is in Las
Vegas where his fighter Winky Wright will be challenging Felix Trinidad this
Saturday night in a middleweight PPV extravaganza. “How anyone can question
the results of one of the greatest fights in boxing history is beyond me. But
for a prestigious organization like the WBC to put any credence into it…well
that’s like questioning Buster Douglas’ monumental victory over Mike Tyson. I
will not sit back and allow Diego’s victory to be tainted, and I will name a
blue ribbon committee to investigate. I have an obligation to Diego, as his
promoter, and as a promoter of the Corrales-Castillo fight, to get to the
bottom of this. This is an outrage. I have asked Steve Springer, winner of
the BWAA 2004 Barney Award for Investigative Journalism, and boxing writer
from the Los Angeles Times to head up the committee, and I encourage
media who covered the fight and select fighters to join too.”
The following is
the complete statement from the WBC release:
“The WBC is very proud of the great
fight between Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales, and we believe that it is
one of the greatest fights in many years. The WBC does not want at all to take
any merits from Corrales or Castillo, and we also respect Corrales’ return
from being practically knocked out to come back and win the title, but there
has been a lot of furor about the fight. There have been many protests from
most of the press in Mexico and Latin America, as well as the Federal Boxing
Commission in regards to the performance of the referee, who, among other
things, let approximately 40 seconds go from the moment of the second
knockdown to the continuing of the action in the tenth round. The WBC is
naming a committee to review the fight.
“The
lightweight championship of the world was held under the trademark of the WBC,
and is our obligation to respond to all matters that receive a request, and we
think that there was something that was done wrong. It is our obligation to
those who trust the WBC’s impartiality, rules, and actions.”
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