Boxing
REFEREE DISMISSES DEONTAY WILDER’S CLAIM OF SABOTAGE BY TRAINER
The claim by the defeated Deontay Wilder that he was undone by his manager who threw in the towel in the seventh round of his lost match with Tyson Fury has been dismissed by the referee.
According to Boxing Scene publication, veteran referee Kenny Bayless admited that he was very close to stopping the rematch.
The fight was stopped in the seventh after Wilder’s co-trainer, Mark Breland, threw in the towel. Wilder had been down in the third and fifth, and he was bleeding from the mouth and ear.
Fury had controlled the majority of the entire contest and the tide did not appear to be close to turning at the time the contest was waved off.
Bayless reveals that he warned Wilder of a potential stoppage prior to the start of the seventh round.
“It was a good stoppage in my opinion because in the minute’s rest between rounds before the stoppage I went over to Deontay,” Bayless told SiriusXM, according to Express.
“I looked him in the face and I gave him the line that us referees give the fighters to let them know, ‘hey, you’ve gotta show me something.’
They know that if you go back out there and you don’t show me something, then I might have to do my job and stop it.
“Deontay is a warrior, when I saw the towel come in out of the corner of my eyes and stopped it, Deontay’s first response was, ‘Why did I stop it?’ Then I let him know it was his corner that stopped it, but I was very close to stopping it.”
Bayless became very concerned when he saw blood pouring out of Wilder’s ear, because he initially assumed the boxer’s eardrum was busted. He was advised by the ringside doctor that Wilder’s eardrum was fine and the blood was coming from a cut.
“I thought that the blood was coming from the inside of the ear. At the end of the round when I went over to check, the doctor was already in the ring while I was picking up the scorecard. The doctor looked at me and said, ‘He’s all right’. So at that point I left it alone,” Bayless said.
“It wasn’t until after the fight that the doctor said Deontay wears those things in his earlobes, those rings, apparently that lobe got cut and it was the lobe that was bleeding, not the eardrum.”
U.S. immigration authorities have arrested Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in Los Angeles and plan to deport him, they said on Thursday, just days after he lost a high-profile bout to American rival Jake Paul.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Chavez was determined to be in the country illegally last week after he made fraudulent statements on a 2024 application for permanent residence. He is married to a U.S. citizen, it said.
Michael Goldstein, a lawyer for Chavez, said more than two dozen immigration agents arrested the boxer at his home in the Studio City area of Los Angeles on Wednesday.
“The current allegations are outrageous and appear to be designed as a headline to terrorize the community,” Goldstein said.
Homeland Security said that the 39-year-old boxer, son of Mexican world champion fighter Julio Cesar Chavez, is suspected of ties to Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, which Washington has designated a foreign terrorist organization.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. speaks at press conference in anticipation of his fight against Jake Paul at Avalon Hollywood Theater. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images/File Photo
His wife, Frida Munoz Chavez, was previously married to the son of former Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who is serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison. The son, Edgar, was assassinated in 2008.
Chavez is the target of a Mexican arrest warrant on allegations of involvement in organized crime and firearms trafficking, DHS said.
In Mexico, Chavez’ family said in a statement they “fully trust in his innocence.”
Chavez lost to influencer-turned-boxer Paul, 28, last weekend before a sold-out crowd in Anaheim, California, in a unanimous decision after 10 rounds.
He was allowed to enter the United States temporarily in early January under former President Joe Biden, DHS said. He had previously overstayed a tourist visa, it said.
The agency said Chavez was convicted in Los Angeles in 2024 on weapons charges. Goldstein denied he was convicted, saying he pleaded not guilty and was granted mental health diversion which will result in dismissal of the charges.
Chavez won the WBC middleweight championship in 2011, but lost the title the next year.
His career has been overshadowed by controversies including a suspension after testing positive for a banned substance in 2009 and a fine and suspension after testing positive for marijuana in 2013.
His record stands at 54 wins, six losses and one draw, with 34 knockouts.
Reporting by Brendan O’Brien and Bhargav Acharya, Lizbeth Diaz, Angelica Medina, Diego Ore and Kylie Madry in Mexico City, Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Bill Berkrot
-Reuters
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Manny Pacquiao will come out of retirement to face Mario Barrios for the WBC welterweight championship on July 19 in Las Vegas, the 46-year-old Filipino boxer said on Wednesday.
Pacquiao is the only boxer to win world championships in a record eight weight divisions while he was also the oldest welterweight world champion in history at the age of 40 in 2019.
A Filipino senator from 2016 to 2022, Pacquiao had retired from boxing in 2021 while he also ran for president in 2022.
“I’m back. On July 19, I return to the ring to face WBC Welterweight Champion Mario Barrios at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Let’s make history,” Pacquiao wrote on Instagram.
The southpaw, who has 62 wins, eight losses and two draws in a 72-fight career, was also elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2025.
Barrios, a Mexican-American boxer, has 29 wins in 32 bouts, winning 18 by knockout and losing twice.
-Reuters
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The body of Segun Olanrewaju, the Nigerian boxer who slumped and died in the ring in Ghana on Saturday is still in a mortuary in Ghana. The President of the Nigerian Boxing Board of Control (NBB of C), Dr Rafiu Oladipo, informed Sports Village Square that an autopsy will be conducted on Wednesday.
He said that the NBB of C is closely monitoring the events in Ghana, even as the Director General of the National Sports Commission, Bukola Olopade has asked for updates on the sad incident.
On Monday, a delegation of the NBB of C visited the family of the late boxer in Sango Otta in Ogun State. Oladipo said he was still in shock at the death of the boxer who he considered fit having fought last December 29.
He revealed that one of the members of the Nigerian delegation to Ghana stayed behind to follow up on the autopsy.
He narrated that the late boxer took part on Thursday in the mandatory weigh-in which is normally conducted 24 hours before a fight. Additionally, a medical check-up is also to be conducted.
“But in this instance, there was no medical check. On this ground, Oladipo blamed the Ghana Boxing Authority.
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