Talk:Jean-Yves Thériault vs. Don Wilson

Wilson versus Theriault

I was the ringside judge who scored this fight for Wilson by 2 points. Regardless of the Black Belt article cited as source, this entry's description of the fight is not accurate. The Black Belt coverage was not written by an eyewitness. For a broader perspective, check out the contemporaneous accounts in the Montreal newspapers, as well as in Official Karate magazine. Also, please see STAR Equalization Finding #3 at the bottom of Wilson's ring record posted on my website at http://starsystemkickboxing.net/DonWilson.aspx. Wilson was never thrown through the ring ropes by a knockdown or otherwise. The entry is correct that Theriault scored one clean knockdown in the ninth, but it was a quick down and up again. Theriault simply caught Wilson off-balance; he never landed a solid punch with Wilson's feet planted. Wilson was not shaken up. But Theriault rightfully earned a 10-8 score for that round.

Outside of that one knockdown, Theriault's power blows universally hit air. Wilson was a ghost, effectively counterattacking out of a mobile defense throughout the entire fight. It was a very strategic, technical match up that, physically, was much closer than it might have appeared to the lay person.

I thought Wilson won a clear but narrow points victory. The Montreal audience, however, apparently disagreed with how close the decision: When the outcome was announced, the audience nearest the ring at first began booing, then chanting "bull-shit, bull-shit, bull-shit" ... then another, louder chorus erupted: "Wil-son, Wil-son, Wil-son." Immediately thereafter, a large gleeful throng rushed into the ring and passed Wilson out of the arena over their shoulders. It looked rather like the ending of the 1986 movie Crocodile Dundee.

In all the fights I witnessed as the STAR kickboxing ratings chief -- and I witnessed thousands -- I've never seen an audience react like that before or since.

The most neutral conclusion that anyone should draw about this bout is that Wilson emerged with a narrow points advantage. But a narrow points advantage was not sufficient to convince the Canadian judges that the local champ had been defeated. Given that both sides agreed to four judges, and to fight only for the STAR ratings title, a draw became the only possible outcome. Without this four judge format, the bout would never have occurred at all since neither champion fully trusted the other corner's hometown judges ... clearly with some justification.

Paul Maslak (talk) 15:08, 31 October 2011 (UTC)