DENIS BAKHTOV TKO9 STEFFEN KRETSCHMANN

In the famous line from Hamlet, Horatio is informed that “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”. There was almost something rotten in Germany on Saturday night — almost but, mercifully, not quite.

The Russian heavyweight Denis Bakhtov, having beaten his opponent Steffen Kretschmann into submission in the ninth round of their rematch, seemed, amazingly, on the brink of being disqualified.

As I watched the fight from Hamburg I thought I was going to see a travesty that would have topped even the blatantly wrong disqualification of Humberto Soto against a battered and beaten Francisco Lorenzo.

For a moment I thought that boxing had descended into madness. (Well, OK, I’ve thought that before, but what I was seeing topped anything I have witnessed in the ring.)

Kretschmann had been worn down by body punches and he had been the recipient of a standing eight count — permissible under German rules. Clearly, he didn’t want to continue. He turned away in surrender and Bakhtov clocked him with a right hander from behind. The referee issued a “stop boxing” command.

It all looked straightforward: Kretschmann had resigned himself from the fight and Bakhtov was the winner. Right? Apparently not — at least not at first.

From what I could gather, the referee was telling the MC that he had disqualified Bakhtov. For what? For hitting his opponent when Kretschmann had his back turned? Isn’t it against the rules for a boxer to turn his back on his opponent, as Kretschmann did?

All was confusion, but I have to give kudos to Kretschmann’s promoter, Ahmet Öhner, for his part in saving boxing from one of those all-too-familiar black eyes. Öhner looked sick at seeing one of his stable’s prospects fall apart, but he walked over and lifted Bakhtov’s hand while the ref, MC and ringside officials were trying to sort out what verdict should be given. Öhner’s gesture let it be known that, no matter what the official decision was going to be, his guy had lost and Bakhtov was the rightful winner. Öhner has been criticised for forceful and emotional behaviour at fights (including ringing the timekeeper’s bell when his heavyweight Konstantin Airich was getting pummelled by Danny Williams). On this night, he redeemed himself.

Even though the right man ultimately was declared the winner, Heinrich Mühmert's refereeing left much to be desired. He seemed to be overzealous in his cautions to Bakhtov, which were mainly for low blows although there was one for hitting with the inside of the glove. When a weary Kretschmann indicated he’d had enough in the ninth, the referee gave him the standing count, as if trying to keep the German heavyweight in the fight. It was disturbing to watch. Then came the very real possibility that Bakhtov was going to be declared the loser by DQ. German boxing — and boxing generally — narrowly dodged what would have been its worst fiasco in years.

The fight was oddly compelling. Kretschmann, stopped in the first round by Bakhtov last June, scored well with jabs from out of his standup southpaw stance and landed some solid left hands, but the shorter, stronger Russian fighter belaboured him to the body. Kretschmann took a knee in the sixth round after being hurt downstairs but seemed to have pulled himself back together when he simply caved in mentally in the ninth, his spirit broken by Bakhtov’s persistence and pressure.

For a while I feared that Bakhtov was going to be outrageously denied his hard-won victory, but — to quote from Shakespeare again — all was well that ended well.