Calgary Commission Declines To Sanction Ref In Kim Couture Fight

↵The Calgary (Canada) Combative Sports Commission has ruled that referee Len Koivisto, who failed to notice that Kim Couture had been choked out by Sheila Bird for a full 10 seconds before stopping the fight, did nothing wrong.

↵The fight took place earlier this month at Axe Combat: Execution in Calgary.

↵The Commission released the following statement to the press:

↵“As standard practice, debriefing meetings are always held amongst commission members and officials following any supervised combative sports event held in Calgary,” read a statement from the Calgary commission on Thursday. “The committee discussed the call made by the official for the Couture vs. Bird bout. It was determined that a formal review would be conducted of the circumstances surrounding that call.

↵“After an in-depth investigation, the Calgary Combative Sports Commission members rendered a decision to support the official, Mr. Len Koivisto. No further action or investigations into the officiating of Mr. Koivisto will be required by the Commission.

↵“Mr. Koivisto has been involved in the combative sports industry for close to 40 years, the last 23 in various officiating capacities. He is a well respected boxing referee (nationally and internationally) and has officiated MMA (nationally) for several years in various jurisdictions in close to 400 matches without incident. He has always taken his ring official’s duties very seriously and conducts himself with a great deal of professionalism.”

↵I wonder how long a ref would need to let an unconscious fighter be choked to get sanctioned, 15 minutes, 20?

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