YouTube giant Ludwig Ahgren has revealed that Andrea Botez “should have” won her Chessboxing match versus Dina Belenkaya, which she controversially lost via checkmate.
Ludwig and Mogul Moves’ inaugural Chessboxing event was a resounding success. The event broke viewership records on both Twitch and YouTube and introduced hundreds of thousands of fans to the eclectic hybrid sport.
However, it wouldn’t have been an influencer event without a little controversy. Specifically, Andrea Botez’s match with Dina Belenkaya was criticized for giving the win to the latter, despite Botez seemingly outperforming her opponent.
Now, both Ludwig and Mogul Moves have explained that Botez should have been awarded the victory.
Ludwig confirms Andrea Botez should won at Mogul Chessboxing Championship
In a December 12 statement, Mogul Moves said that Andrea should have been awarded the win after the referee “initiated the fourth standing count of the fight”.
However, this did not happen and Belenkaya went on to win via checkmate. As a result, Mogul Moves have awarded Botez a belt too.
Their statement read: “After reviewing the fight from last night and talking to the chessboxing officials Andrea Botez should have been awarded a TKO after the referee initiated the fourth standing count of the fight.
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“After discussing with the players, we are not reversing Dina Belenkaya’s win because the fighters played it out in the moment and she competed valiantly. However, we have decided to award Andrea a belt for her performance and to correct the decision that was made in the ring.”
After talking to the officials we thought this was the best path forward Impossible to rewind the clock but always best to do right when possibleCongrats to @itsandreabotez and @DinaBelenkaya !!
— ludwig (@LudwigAhgren) December 13, 2022
Ludwig himself added: “After talking to the officials we thought this was the best path forward. Impossible to rewind the clock but always best to do right when possible. Congrats to [both].”
Andrea responded positively to the news, saying: “Double win let’s go.”
So too, did the community, with many praising the effort to rectify the error and ensure the event recognized Botez’s success in spite of the outcome.
Given the event’s success, it’s safe to say we can expect further chessboxing events in the future.