The fallout from the most controversial boxing match held in Minnesota in years was the focus of latest meeting of the Combative Sports Commission in Blaine.

The three-and-a-half hour meeting on December 21 spent over two hours focusing on a myriad of problems stemming from the December 4 boxing match between heavyweights Joey "Minnesota Ice" Abell and Raphael "The Silencer" Butler, including questions regarding who was actually promoting the fight, fighters not being paid, and potential punishment for those involved in the post-fight brawl in the ring.

The much-anticipated fight ended up originally being ruled a disqualification win for Butler when Abell knocked out Butler after the end of the first round when both Abell and referee Bobby Brunette apparently didn't hear the bell signifying the end of the round.

After the knockout, a melee ensued inside the ring, when members of each man's corners stormed the ring and started a brawl.

Later that night when the arena had been cleared out, the commissioners in attendance consulted with Brunette and changed the original ruling to a no contest. They concluded Abell was following the official's instructions to continuing fighting and did not appear to intentionally break the rules.

At the commission meeting, Butler's trainer Dan O'Connor argued the original ruling of a disqualification should stand. He said Butler should be awarded the victory since he believed the video showed Abell had heard the bell and proceeded to punch Butler anyway.

O'Connor told the commission he felt Abell was hurt and wanted to get out of the ring with a victory, so he took the shot despite knowing it was illegal.

Referee Bobby Brunette testified he had not heard either the bell or the 10-second warning (it is unclear if any warning was given) and he had brought the fighters together following Butler being knocked down in the waning moments of the first round and instructed them to continue fighting even though the bell had just sounded.

Brunette said he did not hear the bell but could tell by Butler's body language something was wrong and was trying to stop the fight when Abell knocked down Butler.

While Butler was not at the meeting, he recently stated he felt Abell knew that the round was over when he hit him.

"Well, reading some of the articles on the internet, it just doesn't seem like Joey's being honest about his side of the story," Butler told local boxing blog The Fistic Mystic. "And it's also kind annoying me that he doesn't seem to show any remorse for what happened. I do feel like Joey heard the bell. I don't think that Bobby Brunette heard the bell. But Joey was trying to touch gloves when Bobby told us to fight, and I turned back to go to my corner – that's when he hit me."

The commission reviewed three replays of the first round but was unable to discern what Abell's intentions were when he hit Butler after the bell.

Abell's representatives stated Abell would never intentionally break the rules and was only following the referee's instructions to continue the fight. The commissioners then expressed disappointment that Abell had not attended the meeting to give them his side of the story.

At one point the discussion between the two camps and the commission disintegrated into a shouting match between the two fighter's representatives, which required Executive Director Scott LeDoux to finally tell O'Connor to "sit down and shut up."

After over 30 minutes of discussion, Commissioner R.D. Brown made a motion that the ruling of a no contest should stand, since the commission felt there was no way to know if Abell heard the bell or not, and clearly the referee had not heard the bell. The motion was seconded and all commissioners voted in the affirmative.

Following that discussion, the debate turned to what action the commission should take toward the participants in the post-fight melee. Commissioner Brown suggested both camps should face a fine or suspension, since there was no reason for any of them to enter the ring.

There was some debate between commissioners about how much the fine should be, since this would be the first fine handed down from the commission since its reinstatement.

During this debate, O'Connor walked out of the meeting, stating "I'm sure I'll find out" what the commission ended up ruling.

Commissioner Craig Gallop suggested a $5,000 be fine levied against those involved, but then said fine should be stayed for a two-year probation period. If there were no more incidents by the participants during those two years, they would not be forced to pay the fine.

One of Abell's corner men, Jim Maurine, told the commission he still had not been paid for the fight and a $5,000 would be excessively punitive and could possibly keep people from getting involved in boxing if they could end up having to pay the commission more in a fine than they make in a year off of the sport.

He stated he was just following his fellow corner man into the ring in the heat of the moment and was trying to protect his fighter. Maurine said while he knew what he did was wrong; in that situation he would probably do it again.

Commissioner Brown stated that was the reason why a $5,000 fine was needed; because it might make those involved in such situations think first before entering the ring.

Commissioner Bob Stein said he felt that $5,000 was excessive and steep, and the commission needed to look into setting up an exact fine schedule before the next meeting, so people knew in advance what kind of punishment they faced for their actions.

Finally, Commission Gallop made a motion stating O'Connor, Maurine, Ron Lyke and "Dan's kid" all be given a $5,000 fine stayed for two years. The commissioners in attendance all voted in the affirmative except Commission Gary Brintnall, who voted against the motion, stating he felt a smaller fine that would actually be enforced should be levied instead.

Also discussed at the meeting were the questions revolving around who actually promoted the fight and the fact Joey Abell had not been paid for the fight.

At the October commission meeting, a license was granted to Bill Borea to promote the Dec. 4 show at the Target Center. The week before the event, rumors surfaced tickets to the event were no longer being sold and Borea was trying to remove himself from involvement with the show.

Also, in many of the press releases for the event (like the one here), Borea's R & B Promotions was listed as the promoter of the event along with InStep promotions, which is operated by Ron Peterson. Peterson does not have a promoter's license in the State of Minnesota though.

Commissioner Brown wanted to discuss what should happen in cases where a promoter pulls out at the last minute or where there is more than just the official promoter listed as a co-promoter.

The discussion was quickly derailed though when the focus of the conversation switched to questions about Abell's claim he had not been paid, and if the commission should require a larger bond when someone is promoting a show with purses greater than the $20,000 bond currently required.

Abell's representatives said Peterson offered to pay them after the show but they said Peterson admitted to them the check would not clear. They said they told Peterson it was not his responsibility to pay them, it was Borea's. They said Borea had disappeared after the event. Abell's people said they told Peterson they could settle it on a later date. They asked the commission to collect on the bond Borea put up for the show so Abell could collect on his $15,000 purse.

The commission decided to have its office administrator contact all of the fighters on the show and see if the checks they received from Peterson had cleared. If not, they would divide the bond between all of the fighters without outstanding claims.


Notes:
If you want to see for yourself what happened, there are a couple of youtube videos you can check out. First there is this video which gives you the best view of the fight itself:

Then there is this video, where you can clearly hear the bell ring, but can't see what happens after the bell very well:

MMA:
The only MMA discussion of note from the commission meeting is the approval of three people to train referees and judges for licensing. The commission approved UFC veteran fighter Brock Larson, UFC referee Daryl Guthmiller and UFC judge Vinny Gargiulo to hold a training seminar in February. I'll have more details on when the training will take place following the commission's credentialing sub-committee meeting in January.