At the “Night of the Heavyweights” in Mannheim, Devrim Gökduman and Franklyn Dwomoh fought to a draw in a spectacular bout. The IBF has now overturned that decision.
On May 15, Devrim Gökduman and Franklyn Dwomoh faced off in a ten-round battle at the “Night of the Heavyweights” event at the SAP Arena in Mannheim. At stake was the IBF European lightweight title. The two previously undefeated local heroes—Gökduman (13-1, 8 KOs) from Karlsruhe and Dwomoh (10-0, 2 KOs) from Frankfurt—thrilled their fans with an exciting bout. The close decision ultimately resulted in a draw. One judge scored it in favor of Gökduman, one in favor of Dwomoh, and one called it a draw on the scorecards.
A draw turns into a win
This would have meant that coach Dominik Junge’s protégé had successfully defended his IBF title at the event organized by the Schwetzingen-based promotion “Ringside Zone” (RSZ). However, the world governing body, based in Springfield (USA), has now ruled otherwise. “The scorecard was corrected retroactively, and the draw has been changed to a victory for Franklyn Dwomoh,” promoter Florian Winter announced. The RSZ head added: “For us, this was a fight that needs to be discussed. A victory for Franklyn is definitely justifiable.”
“Talking about a rematch”
The IBF corrected the official decision to a split decision victory. The scores were 95-94 for Gökduman, and 95-94 and 96-93 for Dwomoh. According to BOXSPORT, an error occurred in Mannheim when tallying the points on the scorecards. Thus, the decision should have correctly been a split decision victory for the Legacy Sports boxer as early as May 15. Winter: “We will be contacting the representatives of both fighters in the coming days to discuss a possible rematch.”
Text: Frank Schwantes