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Belandres Mauls Australia’s Browne But Loses Fight by Wide Margin PhilBoxing.com Sat, 10 Oct 2009 Sydney, Oct. 9 – In what could perhaps be one of the most outrageous judging in international boxing, 23-year-old Filipino Reynaldo “Boy of Steel” Belandres mauled Australia’s Davey Browne, turned the tall Aussie’s face into a bloody mess and nearly sent him to the canvas several times, but lost by a mile in the scorecards of an all-Australian panel that judged the 10-round bout for the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) World Youth Featherweight championship here last night. “It’s disgusting,” said former world champion Jeff Fenech, an Australian, who was doing the television commentary for the fight which was aired in his program Jeff Fenech Fight Night on Fox Television Channel, after hearing that one of the judges scored the fight 98-92 in favour of Browne, meaning that Belandres who pursued Australian all over the ring the whole night only managed to win two rounds. A boxing crowd of about 500, gathered at the Star City Casino Sports Theater, except perhaps for a small group of Browne’s supporters and the three judges, disagreed with the decision and booed after the fight. “Rotten sport!” said one disgusted Australian boxing fan as he raised his hands and stormed out of the sports theatre in disgust after hearing the verdict which the crowd, including the crew of Fox Sports who already had their cameras focused on Belandres prior to the announcement of the results, expected to go to the young Filipino. Even Bill Tracy, owner of the Grange Old School Boxing, an Australian sports company that promoted the fight disagreed with the decision of the judges along with Grange’s chief executive officer, Garrie Francisco. “Your boy clearly won that fight,” Tracy told North Cotabato Vice Gov. Manny Pinol, owner of the Braveheart Boxing Club of North Cotabato in the Philippines which manages Belandres. “We have nothing to do with the selection of the judges,” an apologetic Francisco said to Vice Gov. Pinol. American Mike McCallum, a former world middleweight and light heavyweight champion whose Las Vegas based boxer also lost to a local boy, denounced the decision. “Your boxer was robbed,” he told Vice Gov. Pinol. Former Manny Pacquiao opponent Australian Todd Makelin, who worked in the corner of Belandres, was outraged by the decision. “They are killing the sport here in Australia. Who else would like to come here if this is the way they judge the fights?” he said. Belandres, shorter by about 5 inches, started the fight strong, bringing the fight to Browne starting at the opening of the first round, connecting effectively to the body and the head. In the second round, he opened up a cut over the left eye the Australian and made Browne’s body look like a reddish lechon as he banged the latter’s midsection with powerful punches. In countless times, Belandres’ effective left hooks and right crosses sent Browne reeling to the ropes and on the verge of a knockdown. In the 7th round, Browne apparently wanted to give up the fight as he continued to look at his father, Davey Browne Sr., in the corner. It was also after the end of the round when the ring physician checked the big cut over the Australian’s right eye, which Fenech said was so big that the fight should have been stopped. The 8th was the most telling round for Belandres as he caught Browne with clean punches to the head staggering him several times. But in the end, it was not the courage and the skills of the boxer that determined the outcome of the fight but the pen of the three judges who, according to the Australian’s themselves, shamelessly gave the fight to Browne. “In my long years in the boxing, I have never seen a fight so one-sided with the decision going the other way,” said Vice Gov. Pinol who promised to obtain a copy of the fight to be shown in his Philippine Television program “Tomorrow’s Champions” which airs every Saturday morning on ABS CBN’s Studio 23. “I am not a whiner or a poor loser but I am greatly disappointed because Belandres clearly won this fight,” said Vice Gov. Pinol, who was already about to enter the ring to celebrate Belandres’ victory, when he was stunned by the announced decision which even took Browne by surprise. He said he will also ask the WBC for an immediate rematch. Grange Old School Boxing Promotions owner Bill Tracy said he will support the move.  |
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