For boxers being punched in the face is part of the job, for referees however it can be an occupational hazard, just ask the unfortunate Ukrid Sarasas who was laid out by a stray punch back in 2007.

Back in October 2007 a young Japanese Welterweight by the name of Yoshihiro Kamegai was 5-0 (5) and was seen as a genuinely promising hard hitter. He was stepping up to the 10 round distance for the first time in his career as he faced the tough Yashuhiro Kondo (10-4-2, 5). What few expected was that Kamegai would end two careers in the same night.

With around 20 seconds of round 3 left the fighters are separated by Sarasas who takes a sweeping and powerful left hook from Kamegai clean to the side of the head and drops instantly. Although Sarasas tries to recover to his feet he simply can't and eventually falls flat on his face before finally getting up (with assistance) and wobbling over to Kamegai in a neutral corner, and then replaced for the rest of the fight by Vinny Martin.

The following round Kamegai scored a knockout over the correct man, stopping Kondo at the very end (2:59) of round 4.

Following the bout Kondo never returned to the ring, retiring 10-5-2 (5) and Sarasas never returned to referee a bout (as far as we're aware). Kamegai however is seen by some as one of the most promising Welterweights in the world and currently has a record of 21-0 (18) having also made an excellent US debut last year stopping     Hector Munoz in 6 rounds. In fact Kamaegai is currently ranked #11 by the WBA.

The video below (which sadly just shows the events of the knockdown) is courtesy of cmbnoticias
 

Alexander Petkovic v Cisse Salif

07/09/2012

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We at weirdboxing expect to see some unusual and stupid bouts but we don't really expect to see some that we feel are are truly corrupt. Sadly however we occasionally get a bout that looks so rottenly officiated that we can't help but question whether or not the bout was on the level.

This bout, from October 2011 featured American based journeyman Cisse Salif facing the German based Serbian Alexander Petkovic. Sadly it wasn't about the fighters it was more about the referee (Manfred Kuechler) who really stole the show as he appeared to royally screw Salif with some thoroughly disgusting decisions that left serious questions over his neutrality.

The bout started pretty evenly with Petkovic landing the better blows in the opening 2 rounds before Salif started to show some more confidence in the 3rd round. Inside the opening minute of the 4th round Salif dropped Petkovic with a beautiful straight and it was obvious that Salif had the power to hurt Petkovic and it wasn't long until Petkovic was down for a second time. Salif let Petkovic off the hook and seemed to allow Petkovic to survive the round.

It was in round 5 that Manfred Kuechler first put himself into the action and took a point from Salif for a shot on the hip. Soon after the point had been taken Petkovic was dropped with a solid body shot, rather than starting a count the referee ruled the blow a low blow, taking a second point from Salif. Petkovic was then dropped from a clear head shot and again the referee warmed Salif threatening a disqualification. It started to seem that anything Salif was landing was punishable as Keuchler swiftly destroyed any semblance of a boxing contest. Sadly it wasn't just a case of Salif getting punished for hitting Petkovic's head but Petkovic's own low blows were being ignored by the referee.

Salif set off in the 6th round to finish Petkovic and dropped him early in the round, Petkovic got straight back up and dropped from another body shot with the referee instantly disqualifying Salif to a loud chorus of boos from the crowd who felt completely ripped off.

Whilst the referee was at the centre of the controversy we also feel the need to point out that controversial promoter Ahmet Öner is in charge of Petkovic's career. Öner was also the promoter when Danny Williams faced Konstantin Airich and has a history of being involved in controversial bouts.

Video below thanks to 5StarFighting
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Boxing can genuinely be the most unpredictable of sports and can surprise even the most hardcore of fans. This bout from 1988 featuring John Meekins and Mohammad Kawoya may have one of the most memorable endings seen in a ring, yet one that seems to have some how flown under the radar of boxing fans in recent years. It's one of the (very) few time that we can think of where the winner is actually left crawling and struggling to get back to his feet.

Going into the bout the 23 year old Meekins (18-1-2, 11) was expected to defeat the Ugandan Mohammed Kawoya (11-3, 5) with out too many problems and soon afterwards move on to a world title fight. Sadly for Meekins the bout wasn't as straight forward as it was supposed to be and Kawoya, despite being dropped in round 2 fought back hard and actually dropped Meekins in the opening seconds of round 3.

Meekins had gotten up from the knock down and had seemed annoyed at being dropped and swiftly dropped Kawoya again. This knockdown seemed to be the start of the bouts bizarre ending, which saw Meekins close in for the kill trying to get rid of Kawoya quickly. The referee (Paul Venti) aware of Meekins' reputation of being a hard puncher stepped in as soon as Meekins started unleashing a volley of shots on Kawoya. Almost as soon as Venti stepped in to stop the bout Kawoya landed his best shot of the fight that not only dropped Meekins but completely scrambled his senses.

Kawoya started celebrating instantly thinking he had scored a genuine knockout over Meekins though the referee had already ended the bout and went on to award Meekins the win by TKO. A decision that Kawoya and his team seemed rather annoyed by. Later the men agreed to a rematch but Meekins later pulled out and Kawoya retired with out fighting again.

Meekin's would continue to fight and actually beat the legendary Saoul Mamby in his next fight before being stopped by Meldrick Taylor in an IBF Light Welterweight title fight. This was to be the start of the end for Meekins who lost 3 of his following 7 bouts and retired in in 1994 with a record of 24-5-2 (17).

The video below is thanks to supsterjr, if you just wish to see the controversial ending we advise you watch the video from 10:10.