THE camps of Z Gorres and Vic Darchinyan blasted the referee who they claimed lost control of the action during their controversial bout Saturday night at the Waterfront Hotel in Cebu.
Both Darchinyan and Gorres settled for a controversial split draw of their 12-round world super flyweight title eliminator in a match that was filled with uncalled for tussling and few but crucial calls and non-calls.
The slip-ups started right on the very first round when Gorres fell down after losing his control when he was slightly pushed by Darchinyan. To the surprise of everyone watching the fight, referee Lance Revill of New Zealand called it a knockdown as he gave Gorres a mandatory eight count, causing furor among Filipino fight fans who pelted the ring with coins and plastic bottles.
Gorres came back strong in the second round as he floored Darchinyan with a perfectly timed counter left hook.
?I don?t know what was going on his mind. I can?t figure out how he called it a knockdown as replays clearly showed he pushed me and that I lost balance,? said Gorres.
Gorres carried on his success in the second round by hitting Darchinyan with left straights and few jabs and counter lefts in the third canto, forcing the usually aggressive Darchinyan to step back once in a while. The southpaw Gorres continued his adroit attacks and defense in the 4th and 5th rounds until a head butt in the 6th round stalled what was turning out to be a dominant fight for the Filipino.
?It really bothered me from that point on. I kept asking myself why can?t the referee warn Darchinyan who kept on using his elbows and doing head butts,? added Gorres.
Gorres made Darchinyan miss some wild lefts. The Filipino had another good round.
Darchinyan, also a southpaw, started the 8th canto by covering his left face then went on to connect telling left straights to Gorres face.
In the 9th, Darchinyan floored Gorres as the Australia-based Armenian connects with a left straight on the shoulder that graze through the Filipino?s right side of his face.
The last three rounds were given close scores by the three judges as both Gorres and Darchinyan showed obvious weariness. Gorres again got floored in the 11th frame after being caught by a left straight but the referee?s incompetence again came about as he called it a slip.
Filipino judge Jonathan Davis scored it 114-112 for Darchinyan, Montol Suriyachand of Thailand had it 113-112 for Gorres while Australian Cec Perkins tallied it 113-113.
?The ref felt the pressure after that first round. We admit it was not a knockdown but it was clear the referee was inexperienced for this type of fight,? said Darchinyan?s trainer Billy Hussein.
The winner would have become the mandatory challenger to IBF super flyweight champion Dimitri Kirilov of Russia.
With the result Gorres now has a record of 27-2-2 with 15 knockouts while Darchinyan is now 29-1-1 with 23 KO?s.
Protest Coming
Darchinyan?s American manager Gary Shaw said they will file a protest with the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and added that a rematch may be the most logical thing to do. He however doubts Darchinyan will ever fight Gorres in the Philippines.
?It?s a shame that a great promotion and a great night had to end with a black mark,? said Shaw.
But the American promoter is uncertain the protest will prosper into something that will reverse the controversial decision but will still pursue complaint as a matter of formality.
