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Kirilov files protest with IBF!

Thursday, May 11 2006

By Lee Bates

Dimitri Kirilov officially filed a protest with the IBF Wednesday over his controversial defeat to IBF 115lb champion Luis Perez this past weekend in Wocester, MA. In a fight that many observers had Kirilov clearly winning, including Showtimes’s press row judges, SHOWTIME analyast Al Bernstein and one official judge, Kirilov was disappointed to say the least. "I’m dealing with it a lot better now than I was immediately following the loss because the reality is that I beat Luis Perez and many knowledgeable people in the boxing business agree." Kirilov also stated that being dropped in the eighth round should have not even have been a factor in the fight. "When I was knocked down in the 8th round I got up and honestly fought on even terms with Perez for the remainder of the round, but even if Perez had won that round 10-9 the fight still would have been scored a draw which makes no sense at all. Two of the three judges had Perez clearly winning the fight through seven rounds where it should have been reverse as I was clearly dominating him."


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Kirilov is very optimistic about a rematch. "Something was very wrong with that scoring and I have a legitimate case and expect a response within 24 hours. I fully expect a rematch to be mandated since I beat Perez already. I’m heading back to Russia Friday May 13 since I’ve been away from my family for a while now but I will return here to train for my next fight because without a doubt the best sparring is here in U.S. and it showed in my performance against Perez."