By REYNALD MAGALLON
Charly Suarez’s technical decision loss to Emanuel Navarrete has been ruled to a no contest by the California State Athletic Commission with the World Boxing Organization (WBO) ordering an immediate rematch.
Navarrete was initially declared in their WBO junior lightweight championship bout after leading in the scorecard after the seven rounds when the ringside physician deemed the Mexican fighter unable to continue due to a cut above his left eyebrows which was bleeding profusely.
With referee Edward Collantes ruling that the cut was due to an accidental clash of heads, and with CSAC replay official Jack Reis finding inconclusive evidence that the cut was caused by a Suarez punch, Navarrete came up with the victory and retained his belt after a 78-75, 77-76, 77-76 scores.
However, new angles of the sequence, which surfaced hour after the fight, clearly showed that a booming counter left actually tore Navarrete’s skin two layers deep and could have given Suarez a technical knockout win instead.
The new angle played a huge role in CSACs decision to overturn the outcome to a no contest after it held a vote on Tuesday, June 3 (Manila time).
Suarez’s camp was hoping for the decision to be overturned to a TKO win in his favor but nonetheless welcomed the development.
“Nirerespeto po natin yung naging pasya nila. Importante ginawa natin yung best natin para makita nila, maipasa lahat ng kailangan para makita nila,“ said Suarez in a short statement uploaded on his official Facebook account.
“Nagpapasalamat pa rin po ako sa Panginoon na binigyan pa rin tayo ng opportunity na makapag appeal, he added.
Navarrete’s camp has yet to issue a statement regarding the decision though the Mexican fighter was non-committal to a rematch after the immediate aftermath of the controversial bout.
