Osmiri Fernandez found herself puzzled by the premature stoppage of Ismael Barroso's fight against Rolando "Rolly" Romero on Saturday night, which was officiated by Tony Weeks.
Following Barroso's controversial ninth-round technical knockout defeat, his trainer/manager revealed to BoxingScene.com that WBA president Gilberto Jesus Mendoza had expressed the opinion that Barroso should be granted an immediate rematch.
While the WBA's championship committee has the authority to mandate Romero's first title defense against Barroso, it is ultimately up to Romero whether or not he chooses to comply with the WBA's directive.
Romero (15-1, 13 KOs) has the option to relinquish the WBA super lightweight title and explore alternative opportunities. However, both Fernandez and Barroso's promoter, Laura Ching, intend to formally request the WBA to mandate a rematch between Romero and Barroso.
"Romero should be made to have a rematch. If not, he should have the title stripped away from him. Don’t get me wrong, Rolly has no blame in this whatsoever. It’s just that I feel that he was gifted the title."
In the ninth round, Romero managed to deliver a powerful left hook that caused Barroso to waver, resulting in a knockdown. However, despite the belief that it was a push rather than a legitimate knockdown, referee Weeks classified it as such.
As the ninth round progressed, Barroso skillfully evaded most of Romero's punches and even landed a grazing right hand on Romero just before Weeks made the decision to halt their 12-round bout.
"I can accept that the knockdown was a push. They wanna call it a knockdown? OK, whatever. But [with the stoppage], the rules state that you have to be willing to follow the guidelines in order to stop the fight. You can’t just run in and stop the fight like that. We saw that Barroso was the one punching him, not the other way around. When we were in the locker room, that’s what was so frustrating for us, because we couldn’t understand where the decision came from. That’s what rips you apart, really," Fernandez told BoxingScene.com.
Fernandez believes that something fishy caused Tony Weeks who has officiated several high-end clashes to end the night abruptly even though his fighter was very much strong and pressing to end the night with a win.
"We talked to the WBA president, and he said, yeah, he should get a rematch right away because it was a travesty. And then, when you see the cards and that he was winning unanimously, and that the people here saw that he was winning, if everyone sees it but the ref, then there’s something to it, right?"
Beatrice Adamu is a writer for AceTVBoxing.com. She can be reached on Twitter @oh_stillbella or via email: adamubeatrice13@gmail.com.
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