Campillo & Fans Ripped Off In Rematch; Lousy Decision Given To Shumenov
By William Trillo
Photo: Ray Flores
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It had just gone past 10pm PST when my daughter who was working just outside the showroom at The Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas called me and asked,”What the heck just happened in there?”
Not wanting to tip her off I just answered by saying , “Why do you ask?”
She replied, “Because all of a sudden I could hear everyone booing loudly in the auditorium and then everyone who was coming out into the casino was complaining saying that some guy got screwed and the fight must have been fixed.”
It was then that I told her that one of the worst decisions I had ever seen rendered was handed down and the fighter,Beibut Shumenov, who had just aligned himself and his promotional company, KZ Event Productions, with Golden Boy Promotions was on the receiving end of a very undeserved WBA/IBA Light Heavyweight Championship belt while the dethroned Champion Gabriel Campillo could only wonder how the heck that just happened…go ahead and assume he is thinking along the lines of the aforementioned disgruntled fans.
What do I think? Let me give you a hint.
I had heard a lot about the Beibut Shumenov long before his “controversial” majority decision loss to Campillo last August in Shumenov’s home in Kazakhstan. What I knew was this guy was a well groomed amateur prospect but he had only 9 pro fights to speak of and most of his foes were well past their prime journeymen. It was also common knowledge that he was on the fast track to a World Title and he also came from a very VERY wealthy family. Next thing we know he has a rematch of his only defeat only 5 months later. The fight is in Las Vegas and the co-promoter is Golden Boy.
I am no fortune teller but I’ll bet I know what you are thinking!
In all honesty I blocked that relationship of convenience out of my mind because I heard Shumenov was “The Real Deal” and I wanted to get a first hand look at the prospect for myself. I also heard the first fight was pretty darn entertaining so I gave this fight my undivided attention.
The rematch did not disappoint because it was pretty darn entertaining, but it was not because Shumeov is “The Real Deal”…he is anything but.
What I saw in the Campillo vs. Shumenov rematch was a very slick and seasoned pro who was relaxed and confident fighting a young impatient challenger who threw every punch as hard as he could and when he found that didn’t work he had nothing left in his gas tank to employ Plan B. That’s me being gracious, I am only assuming he had a Plan B because quite frankly I don’t think he did.
With that said Shumenov looked pretty darn intimidating at the start of the fight with his big winging punches and loud grunts with every blow. It’s easy to see how he defeated the hand picked journeymen he rolled up in first few bouts. The guy is scary, I will give him that.
But once you get past all the pomp and circumstance, and Campillo did, there is not much more to Shumenov’s attack. Not only did the Southpaw Spaniard make most of Shumenov’s punches miss but when he did he made him pay almost every time with pinpoint punches to the grill. When he wasn’t slipping punches he was simply beating Shumenov to the punch time and time again, Campillo was in control and by the mid rounds he had the over aggressive Shumeov in retreat.
Hey, maybe that was his Plan B…..RETREAT!
Yes, over the 12 round bout Shumenov did land some hefty shots and he even opened a nice gash over Campillo’s eye but it did not deter the cool veteran Campillo who kept the pressure on.
Going into the latter round Shumenov showed all the signs of a gassed and deflated fighter. Spitting out his mouthpiece, low blows and head butts marred the final rounds and all were perpetrated by Sumenov and referee Jay Nady warned him on more than one occasion.
By the end of the fight Shumeovs face was a crimson mess, at the very best I gave him 3 rounds.
That’s 117-111 Campillo if you’re counting, exactly like the one Las Vegas judge scored it.
Too bad the other 2 judges saw it in favor of Shumenov 115-113 & 117-111.
How one judge could see it 117-111 one way and one saw it 117-111 the other way is sketchy at best and it’s no wonder the crowd booed and suggested the fix was in. They knew what they saw and so did I.
I think the Fox Sports announcers knew what they saw too because although they went out of their way to pump up the “house fighter” Shumenov throughout the fight, they were left speechless when the scores were announced and all that could be heard were ravenous boo’s as the show went off the air.
Everything I heard about Shumenov was highly exaggerated. Maybe after he gets another 15 professional fights under his belt he will be the fighter the ad infinitum press releases told us he was over the past week. But Championship or not, right now he is a B- fighter at best, not a B and not a B+.
If Campillo had any pop at all we would not be having this discussion right now because Shumenov would have been KO’d. Fortunately for Beibut and “all parties concerned” Gabriel can’t break an egg.
So where does Shumenov rate amongst his peers…the other current Light Heavy Champs you ask?
Chad Dawson, Jean Pascal & Tavoris Cloud would dispose of this guy inside of 6. Bernard Hopkins would give him fits and stop him by 9.
The morale of this story is you can pump all the money you want into a fighter and you can hook him up with the best promotional team YOU THINK money can buy. Heck, you can even fix a fight as many of the Hard Rock Casino patrons alleged as they left the building, but at the end of the day all that money can’t buy you an ounce of respect and right now Shumenov’s tainted victory gives him very little of real boxing fans respect…. if any at all.
If the first Campillo vs. Shumeov fight in Kazakhstan was deemed highly controversial what the hell are you going to say about this rematch?
Words that “coincidentally” rhyme with Shumenov:
payoff, rip-off & turnoff
Tune in tomorrow and maybe I will tell you how I really feel!
Is it me, or do the majority of ripoff decisions involving Golden Boy fighters?
Your right, and i think most if not all people would agree with that.
That Doug Fisher guy has no business calling fights that his Daddy Oscar is promoting. How many different ways can you try to spin an incomplete fighters skills? Someone ought to let Trillo call Golden Boy fights because he seems to be the only one since Cosell to tell it like it is.
check out the punch stat numbers, Beibut threw 13 jabs in 12 rounds
this fight was a farce and an immediate rematch is in order
http://www.badlefthook.com/2010/1/30/1284594/compubox-campillo-shumenov-ii
It’s great to see that Golden Boy is consistent, as they always seem to be right smack in the middle of the muck. At least we all know exactly what they are up to because they certainly are not trying to hide it.
The Shumenov fight I thought he should have lost. Campillio landed cleaner blows, Shumenov at times looked awkward and when Campillo would put on the pressure Shumenov had some real problems. Campillo just had more composure and his punches were well placed and accurate. Shumenov, just seemed very uncoordinated and through some very wild punches were well placed. At times I thought he showed some real fear or lack of confidence in his skills when Campillo was the aggressor. I don’t agree with the decision. Shumenov got a pass.