(OCT 17)  On October 11th, Raja Amasheh faced French challenger Amira Hamzaoui to defend her WBC Silver and WBF flyweight champion titles in Saarbrücken (Germany). After competitive and entertaining ten rounds WBC judge Steve Mertz (Germany) scored the bout 98:94 for Amasheh while WBF judges Vincent Dupas (France / 96:94) and Toni Tiberi (Luxembourg / 97:94) gave the nod to Hamzaoui who won by split decision to capture Amasheh’s titles.
Remarkably, all other officials at ringside (including referee Jürgen Langos, the representatives of the local commission as well as the WBC and WBF supervisor) thought Amasheh had won the fight “close but clear”.

The 1,500 fans in attendance at Saarlandhalle were also shocked when the scores were announced. Therefore, Team Amasheh and promoter DOG Event Boxing filed an official protest against the scoring.

WBC supervisor Malte Müller-Michaelis handed in his report directly after the fight, and WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman immediately ordered a review of the championship bout by a neutral panel of officials. Because of the controversial result and after discussing the facts surrounding the decision the WBC female championship committee already determined that an immediate rematch must be ordered. The WBF accepted the official complaint on Tuesday.

The complaint is based on the scoring of the two WBF judges who were the only two officials who scored the fight for Hamzaoui. The master scorecard shows inconsistent scoring (especially in rounds 1, 8 and 9). Team Amasheh and DOG Event Boxing assume that the WBF judges made a mistake and confused the corners in those specific rounds.