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Such was the intensity of last night’s WBC/WBA Cruiserweight title fight in France that the heated action didn’t quite stop after the bell had rung to officially close the twelve contentious rounds.
Bell (26-2-1, 24 KOs), from Jamaica now fighting out of Atlanta, did not agree with the decision. “Mormeck is a monster in the ring,” Bell said. “I spared him the knockout this time but I think I did enough to win.
“I am disappointed by this decision. I thought I won every round. I am appalled by the judges. He never hurt me. I’ve been off for 14 months and my promoter Warriors Boxing needs to answer for that. This is hogwash.”
“I’d like to come back to France and do it again. I’d even do it with the same judges. It wouldn’t go three rounds before I’d knock Mormeck out again.
“I’ll fight Mormeck tomorrow, next week, next month or two months from now, I don’t care. When he’s ready, I’m ready.
“I’ve taken his best shots and he can’t knock me down. He said I was a dirty fighter. Let me tell you something. He hit me with more rabbit punches than any fighter I have ever faced.
“I want Mormeck to look me eye to eye and tell me he won that fight because he didn’t. That cat never hurt me.
Bell prowled the dressing room hallways looking for Mormeck after the fight, and he stormed into the post-fight press conference with his anger festering while he waited for the Frenchman to arrive.
After Mormeck commented on the fight, he responded to a reporter’s question by saying, “I don’t like O’Neil Bell.” Before the translator could say, “but I do have tremendous respect for him as a fighter,” Bell rushed toward Mormeck and a brief melee broke out that promoter Don King would later characterize as “deplorable after such a great match took place.”
After the fracas, Mormeck continued with his post fight statement:
“I am so happy for me and France to have won the titles back. I made a lot of sacrifices to make this happen. Thanks to my team, Don King and to my new trainer Richie Giachetti for helping me win this
fight.
“I felt the whole country of France on my shoulders going into this fight but it helped me. I was fighting for them tonight. We were in it together. I couldn’t let them down.
“Bell was in good shape. He always has surprises for me and tonight was no different. He was still standing after 12 rounds. He is a heavy puncher. I do not respect him as a person but I do have tremendous respect him as a fighter.
“He was nothing before he fought me. His defeat of me was the biggest accomplishment of his career. I promised I would beat him in the rematch and I did. I knew I had a big lead by the middle rounds so I wanted to show Bell I could box too.
“I need to fight more regularly like this, at the highest levels. Now I want to become the undisputed cruiserweight world champion. That means fighting for the IBF title. I developed tightness in my chest during the middle rounds of the fight but I fought through it.”
