A cut on Emanuel Navarrete’s eyebrow in the sixth round forced the fight to be stopped two rounds later, but the referee’s decision seems wrong and that impacted the result.
Edward Collantes ruled that the Cowboy’s injury was the result of a headbutt with Charly Suarez and after completing the sixth and seventh rounds, the technical decision was made to stop the fight and go to the scorecards.
The judges favored Vaquero Navarrete 78-75 and two with 77-76 to take the unanimous decision in his defense of the WBO super featherweight world championship.
Emanuel Navarrete could lose his championship
The Mexican fighter’s victory was due to the referee’s judgment, who pointed to a headbutt, when in the replay it is observed that it was Suarez’s glove that caused the cut, something that was not corrected by replay official Jack Reiss, who did not find conclusive evidence to change Collantes’ decision.
If the referee or Reiss had ruled that Navarrete’s injury was the result of contact with Suarez and then stopped the fight on the instruction of doctor Robert Ruelaz, the State of Mexico boxer would have lost by technical knockout and with it the title.
“Our rules on replays state that unless there is no discussion, the referee’s decision will prevail, and this was very debatable. I saw it several times, but nothing up close and nothing from the right angle,” Reiss told BoxingScene.
California would overturn Vaquero Navarrete’s victory
The Boxing Scene reports that the California State Athletic Commission, which oversaw the event in San Diego, could determine the fight as a no contest and that would lead to a rematch.
In addition, Top Rank, the promoter, said there will be a rematch, through Carl Moretti, the vice president of operations of Bob Arum’s company.
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