California commission changes result of Navarrete-Suarez to no contest
WBO orders immediate rematch of junior lightweight title fight
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The California State Athletic Commission voted unanimously on Monday at its monthly meeting to overturn WBO junior lightweight titlist Emanuel Navarrete’s controversial technical decision against Charly Suarez to a no contest.
Once the result was changed, the WBO ordered an immediate rematch, which promoter Top Rank was already planning to pursue before the result was changed or the sanctioning body ordered one.
On May 10, the Navarrete-Suarez world title bout headlined a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card at Pechanga Arena in San Diego, where three-division titlist Navarrete made his fourth 130-pound defense and Suarez was in his first world title match.
With Navarrete severely cut over his left eye and bleeding heavily, referee Edward Collantes stopped the bout one second into the eighth round after the wound was examined by Dr. Robert Ruelaz, the ringside physician, and he recommended the fight bout be halted. The matter was sent to the scorecards for a technical decision and Navarrete won the action-packed slugfest 78-75, 77-76 and 77-76 to retain the title.
Suarez had five days to file an appeal and did so, which was heard on Monday.
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The issue was the cause of the gash. Collantes ruled it was from an accidental head butt that occurred early in the sixth round. Commission replay official Jack Reiss, the recently retired referee, could find no definitive evidence to the contrary in any of the replays provided to him by ESPN’s production truck. The replays Reiss viewed — the same ones shown to the viewers and broadcasters — showed Suarez’s left hand landing on the spot of the cut followed by their heads coming together but nothing conclusive as to what specifically caused the cut. That meant the original ruling would stand.
After the decision was rendered, the ESPN production team continued to go through various angles and footage from its 15 cameras while the ESPN+ post-fight show was still streaming.
They came up with an angle, which they zoomed in on and enhanced, and it showed definitively Suarez’s left hand connecting with Navarrete’s eye and blood immediately appearing before their heads came together.
But their heads also came together and Suarez’s glove also apparently scraped across the wounded area, perhaps making it worse.
The commission met in Sacramento and also had participants attending via video conference to discuss the matter and review the various replays of the sequence in which the cut opened.
In the end, they did not see enough to change the result to a Suarez knockout victory but there was enough for the panel to change it to a no contest.
The commissioners said the no contest was “the only fair thing to do.”
“Suarez punched (Navarrete) directly where he got cut, but I’m always against changing a loss to a win,” commissioner Dr. AnnMaria De Mars said during Monday’s meeting.
Carl Moretti, the vice president of Top Rank, which promotes both fighters, attended the meeting via video conference and said the company would put on a rematch in a “timely” manner. Later, he told Fight Freaks Unite, “We respect the California commission and WBO rulings and we will see if we can put the fight together.”
Top Rank chairman Bob Arum previously told Fight Freaks Unite that he hopes to put on the sequel in October in Suarez’s hometown of Manila, Philippines.
“What I’m working on, and I don’t know if I can pull it off, is October is the 50th anniversary of the ‘Thrilla in Manila’ and I’d love to go back to the same building, the Araneta Coliseum, which has now been remodeled, and do this fight in Manila as a celebration of the Ali-Frazier fight,” Arum said last month.
Arum promoted the iconic Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier trilogy fight for the heavyweight championship at the arena just outside of Manila on Oct. 1, 1975.
With the new no contest result the record for Navarrete, 30, of Mexico, reverts to 39-2-1 with 32 KOs. Suarez, 36, a 2016 Olympian, had his record revert to 18-0, with 10 KOs.
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Another example of why boxers need a union to file grievances if necessary. After all, it's the boxers that are taking the physical punches. Respectfully from the Boxers Organizing Committee (BOC).