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ARGENTINA?S CUENCA SCUTTLES YANG LIANHUI?S HOPES OF WINNING A WORLD TITLE DESPITE ARUM'S BITTER CRITICISM REFEREE TAPDASAN DID A DECENT JOB By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Mon, 20 Jul 2015  Argentina?s undefeated southpaw Cesar Cuenca scuttled Yang Liangui?s hopes of winning a world title for China after their brightest hope, two time Olympic gold medalist Zou Shiming faltered in his attempt to win the IBF flyweight title from Thailand?s Amnat Ruenroeng. The Sunday Morning Post in a story by Unus Alladin in Macau said Cuenca ?tamed the ?Wild Man? with a masterful display to deny Yang Lianhui and China a world title at the ?Victory at the Venetian? fight card of Top Rank promoter Bob Arum at the Cotai Arena in Macau which angered Arum who regrettably and without any solid justification vented his ire on Filipino referee Danrex Tapdasan. Yang said Cuenca was good and he lost because of his inexperience. We covered the IBF junior welterweight title fight with Dyan Castillejo and thought Tapdasan did a commendable job in a tough fight to referee because of the huge following of Yang who was the clear favorite and some of the tactics he used in the ring. But Arum thought otherwise and blasted Tapdasan after the fight. AFP reported that Arum was scathing in his condemnation of Tapdasan telling the wire agency ?that referee ruined the fight. It was one of the worst jobs of refereeing I?ve ever seen. It was just horrible. The first knockdown wasn?t a knockdown. He was off-balance and he didn?t go down. He kept to his feet. It shouldn?t have been called a knockdown.? While Bob Arum is correct on claiming that Yang was off-balance in the first round which we ourselves pointed out on television, the slo-mo replay showed that Cuenca did connect with a punch and Tapdasan was right in calling it a knockdown. That Yang was off-balance is of no import. He was caught by a punch and went down. Arum claimed that ?the point he (Tapdasan) deducted at the end was ludicrous. If it should have been deducted from anybody it should have been the other guy. Cuenca?s corner were vocal throughout the fight, complaining to officials at the end of every round about Yang?s tactics.? We were seated near Cuenca?s corner and while it is true they complained about what they perceived as foul tactics like Yang using his head and holding, it certainly didn?t happen at the end of every round because the corner was shouting out instructions throughout. Arum felt ?the constant badgering had got to the inexperienced referee. He let himself be intimidated by the Argentine corner. I really have to question appointing somebody like that who has never refereed anything more than a six round fight.? Mr. Arum was terribly off on the score of Tapdasan?s inexperience. While the Yang-Cuenca clash was his first world title fight Tapdasan has been third man in the ring for over 250 fights, many of then big regional title fights. Last April 25 Tapdasan was referee when Froilan ?The Sniper? Saludar beat Faris Nenggo for the WBO Intercontinental flyweight title and was also third man in the ring when Siirimongkol Singwancha beat Dan Nazareno Jr for the Asia Pacific super welterweight title fight and even refereed the Rex Tso ? Michael Enriquez at the same Cotai Arena last March 7. Boxrec.com shows that Tapdasan refereed as many as 14 fights this year alone. As for the first round knockdown, the Sunday Post reported Yang ?was in trouble as early as the first round when he was sent crashing through the ropes for a standing eight count. Yang wasn?t hurt but just couldn?t outbox the Argentine who scored points almost at will.? Tapdasan correctly warned Yang for low blows and had a point deducted in the last round for trying to takedown Cuenca in a desperate attempt to land a knockout punch. While it is true that at that point Cuenca was holding it didn?t give Yang the right to throw him down MMA style. We can understand Arum?s anguish over the back-to-back losses by Zou Shiming and Yang in world title fights which would affect the potentially huge Chinese market with no genuine world title prospect on the horizon. Even if we assume Arum is right about the 1st round knockdown which would have given Cuenca a 10-8 round and the one point deduction in the final, round it would have had hardly any impact on the result as the scorecards read 117-110, 115-110 and 116-109. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.  |
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