SAN DIEGO – Charly Suarez on Monday appealed his technical-decision loss to Emanuel Navarrete to the California State Athletic Commission, and that appeal will be heard at its meeting on June 2, BoxingScene has learned.
Suarez, of the Philippines, was dealt his first defeat in 19 fights on Saturday night at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego in a contest for the WBO junior-lightweight title after the ringside physician Dr Robert Ruelaz stopped the bout one second into the eighth round due to a cut that Navarrete suffered at the left eyebrow in the sixth round.
Because the referee Edward Collantes initially ruled that an accidental clash of heads caused the cut, and the video replay official Jack Reiss couldn’t immediately find any footage to refute that claim, the bout was sent to the scorecards instead of being ruled a technical knockout victory in favor of Suarez, as it would’ve been if the cut had been caused by a punch.
The scorecards all favored Mexico’s Navarrete, via scores of 77-76, 78-75, 77-76, and he retained his 130lbs belt.
An additional replay later emerged showing that Suarez delivered a crushing left hand that appeared to open the cut that Navarrete said went “two layers deep” and required multiple stitches to close afterwards.
Navarrete, 30, said he believed the cut was caused by a headbutt due to its severity, because blood flowed heavily into his left eye during the bout, leaving him to paw at it several times with a glove while in combat with the game Suarez.
In his appeal on Monday morning, Suarez asked the California commission to either award him the TKO victory or to label the bout a no-contest, which a member of the commission first told BoxingScene would be a possible outcome on Saturday night after the additional replay emerged.
The WBO president Gustavo Olivieri told BoxingScene on Sunday he would wait for the commission’s decision before moving to order a rematch.
Calling the bout a no-contest would essentially allow the California commission to rule that the bout never existed, representing a mediator’s stroke that would answer both fighters’ positions that they each believed they deserved victory.
Stripping Navarrete entirely of a victory he left the arena believing he had achieved and calling Suarez, 36, a loser given what the late replay revealed are both seen as unfair, extreme responses, and so labeling it a no-contest empowers the WBO to order an immediate rematch when Navarrete heals.
Then, the thinking goes, Navarrete and Suarez can, once and for all, settle the matter in the ring.