WBF Executive Committee Declares Mathis vs. Hammer No Contest

(JULY 28) WBAN has just received some fantastic news in regards to the Anne Sophie Mathis vs. Christina Hammer controversial fight that took place on July 26, 2014. The WBF has responded to an appeal that was lodged by Christel Aujoux, the Boxing Agent/Matchmaker with Mathis. They wrote the following:

From
Torben Seemann Hansen, Chairman
on behalf of the
Executive Committee of the World Boxing Federation (WBF)

Ms. Christel Aujoux, on behalf of Anne Sophie Mathis, appealed the ruling of the WBF womens world Super Welterweight championship between defending champion Mathis of France and challenger Christina Hammer of Germany in Dessau, Germany on July 26, 2014 on the grounds that:

a.) Three of four ring officials (which were appointed solely by the World Boxing Organization (WBO) due to the promoter requesting sanctioning from the WBF only on the day of the bout) were from the country of the challenger, Germany;

b.) The (German) referee Manfred Kuechler never once warned Hammer about constant holding;

c.) The final punches of Mathis, which led to the termination of the bout due to Hammer being unable to continue, were perfectly legal;

d.) The referee acted improperly upon Hammer being knocked out.

As evidence, Ms. Aujoux included in her protest:

a.) Several internet articles on the bout;

b.) Video footage of round 5.

Maintaining that the correct result would have been W KO 5 in favour of Mathis, Ms. Aujoux requested that:

a.) The bout to be declared a No Contest as a result of the referee giving a wrong judgement and thus Mathis to be reinstated as WBF womens world Super Welterweight champion;

b.) A rematch to be recommended.

After reviewing the evidence and taking into consideration the report of the WBF supervisor on site, Jean Marcel Nartz, WBF Vice President, the WBF Executive Committee has unanimously decided as follows:

1.) The protest by Mathis is justified in its entirety.

2.) The WBF will amend the result from Hammer W DQ 5 into NO CONTEST.

3.) Mathis therefore retains her WBF womens world Super Welterweight title.

4.) An immediate rematch between Mathis and Hammer is strongly recommended.

5.) This ruling is final and not subject to any further appeals or protests.

Copenhagen, Denmark, 28th July 2014.

Torben Seemann Hansen
Chairman
WBF Executive Committee

ANOTHER UPDATE - JULY 29, 2014

FOR ALL OF THOSE WHO WERE QUESTIONING THE VALIDITY OF THIS UNFORTUNATE CALL THE NIGHT OF THE HAMMER VS. MATHIS FIGHT:

German commission (BDB) changes result of female world championship Hammer vs. Mathis to "no contest"

President Thomas P�tz: "We all make mistakes - but we got to do our best to correct them."

The German boxing commission (Bund Deutscher Berufsboxer - BDB) officially changed the result of last Saturday's female world championship between Christina Hammer and Anne Sophie Mathis to a "no contest". By doing so the BDB followed the ruling of the World Boxing Federation (WBF) which already announced that change yesterday. The World Boxing Organization (WBO) still has to decide about the result.

The reason for the decision: In the fifth round of their WBO-/WBF Junior Middleweight Championship bout Christina Hammer blocked Mathis' left arm in a clinch. Referee Manfred K�chler didn't stop the action so Mathis continuously hit Hammer with her free right arm to the left side of her head. Hammer went down from those punches and couldn't continue.

However, instead of declaring Mathis the winner by KO, referee K�chler disqualified the Frenchwoman for alleged rabbit punches. Later on Hammer said that she was knocked out by elbow shots. The slowmotion clearly showed that there were no illegal punches at all but that Hammer was fouling instead by holding Mathis' left arm and still got knocked out.

"The BDB is very sorry for this bad decision", says President Thomas P�tz. "Because it was a world title fight it was not completely under our jurisdiction. Still the referee Manfred K�chler is a BDB referee and we apologize on his behalf. This was clearly no attempt to cheat on Anne Sophie Mathis and her team but just a wrong judgement in the heat of the fight. We all make mistakes - but we got to do our best to correct them. There will be an investigation of the events and a hearing of Manfred K�chler before we decide if he will be suspended. But there is no question that the result of a DQ victory for Hammer has to be changed to a 'no contest'. This way Anne Sophie Mathis keeps her world champion title and the promoters can negotiation a rematch which would definitely make sense from our side."