The distance (boxing) 19, 1987. While the International Boxing Federation, which had recently broken away from the WBA, continued to hold onto the position there was no documented medical evidence to show a 15-round fight is more dangerous than a 12-round fight, they eventually voted to shorten their championship distance to 12 rounds as well on June 3, 1988. The last heavyweight 15-rounder title fight was on October 16, 1987 between Mike Tyson and Tyrell Biggs. The last middleweight 15-rounder title fight was a World Boxing Board title match on June 7, 1997 in which Jose Alfredo Flores won a split decision over
Scott Gammer once again when he boxed John McDermott later that year in an elimination bout. The contest took place in Sheffield but ended up with another defeat for the Welshman. Following this setback Gammer announced his retirement from boxing and McDermott went on to challenge for the title. The retirement did not last that long however as Gammer returned to action in August 2008 when he challenged Francesco Pianeta for the EU Heavyweight championship in Germany. The fight ended with another defeat for Gammer, although this time it was due to a corner retirement when Gammer broke his hand in the