Korobov Camp Change Of Heart, Not Accepting Majority Draw Decision In Immanuwel Aleem Bout!

Korobov Camp Wants Investigation Into May 11th Bout With Aleem!

Article by Gary "Digital" Williams,
Boxing Along The Beltway

There is some interesting fallout from the May 11th bout between Richmond, VA middleweight Immanuwel Aleem and Matt Korobov of St. Petersburg, FL that took place at the Eagle Bank Arena in Fairfax, VA and ended in a 10-round majority draw.

The Korobov camp recently filed a protest with the Virginia Department of Occupational Licensing and Regulations and this week, sent formal letters to Virginia Governor Ralph Northam and the state's Attorney General, Mark Herring.  The letters, sent by Korobov attorney, Leon Margules, have items they claim is evidence of what they call "corruption" by the state's commission.

Margules alleges a conflict of interest because the two judges who ruled the bout a 95-95 draw -- Mark D'Attilio and Brian Costello -- are both members of Virginia's Boxing, Martial Arts, and Professional Wrestling Advisory Board.  Costello serves as chair of the board.  Margules says that the two appointed themselves to this contest and he criticizes the appointment of Michelle Myers, who Margules claims is a "relatively inexperienced referee" despite the fact that Myers has been a pro referee since 2009.  The letters question why the Aleem-Korobov bout was the only bout of the three televised encounters on this card that had non-neutral officials.

When the scores were originally announced, Korobov was declared the winner by majority decision.  However, 20 minutes later, media received a scorecard that had D'Atillio's round 10 score for Korobov changed from a 10 to a 9, resulting in the majority draw.  Margules's letter claims that many members of the boxing media, as well as fans, agreed that Korobov won the bout.  New Jersey State Athletic Commission Chair Larry Hazzard, Sr., was in attendance and served as an unofficial judge for the contest.  Hazzard scored the bout 97-92 for Korobov.

The letter also points out a situation in the fourth round when Korobov seemed to send Aleem down with a counter right hand only to have Myers rule a foul on Korobov.  The video, however, seemed to show that Myers was correct as Korobov's punch landed on the back of Aleem's head after Aleem missed Korobov with a punch.