ROBIN Reid will discover on January 22 whether he has been handed a rematch against IBF and WBA champion Sven Ottke.
The star of the Collyhurst and Moston gym was denied victory over the unbeaten German by some preposterous refereeing when the two men met in Nuremberg last month.
Reid was denied a legitimate knockdown, German referee Roger Tillermann declaring it to be a slip, and was penalised a point for use of the head when Ottke was clearly just as guilty.
Those two decisions cost Reid a points verdict in a close contest which was awarded to Ottke 115-113, 117-112, 115-113.
Appeal
Reid's promoter Jess Harding was so incensed by the decision - the latest in a series of dubious Ottke wins on his home turf - that he spent nearly £6,000 to have the fight reviewed by five IBF appeal stewards.
They will let Reid know of their findings on January 22.
The super-middleweight ace, who lives in Horwich, was also warned by Tillermann just for throwing a punch as the fight degenerated into farce.
Ottke is unbeaten in 20 defences of his IBF title, largely thanks to some odd judging decisions - his last defence before Reid was against Denmark's European champion Mads Larsen, who came away claiming that he had been robbed.
Harding said: "We want justice and an immediate rematch and, hopefully, that is what the IBF will decide is best on January 22.
"It was awful. Tillermann stopped Robin from boxing, Robbie was terrified to throw punches in case he was disqualified.
"We've gone through the tape of the fight minute by minute and have brought all the referee's mistakes to the IBF's attention.
"All we want is a rematch and a fair crack of the whip.
"I am flying out to see the IBF in Venezuela and hopefully we will get the right result."
Reid was livid after the fight, saying "At least Dick Turpin wore a mask when he used to rob people."
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Good story. Note however that it is the WBA that is headquartered in Venezuela. The IBF is in New Jersey of the United States. I have not seen the fight, being from The States, but heard it was a terrible ref job!
The Ottke / Reid fight was a farse and the only legitimate decision the IBF can reach is surely a rematch.
If this is the case then hopefully the IBF will appoint a suitable referee this time and not a joker who punishes fighters for fighting!
What I want to see which I have not heard mentioned yet is for the IBF to take action against the referee from the last fight (Roger Tillerman) and ensure that he doesn't referee a title fight again!
That said even with a competent referee Reid will have to do much more if he wishes to bring the titles back to England. It is hard for a fighter to go abroad and face an opponent in his own back yard and score a points win. Reid really needs to knock out Ottke to be certain of a "without a shadow of a doubt" win!
Best wishes Robbie, I hope you get the right decision.